That is one heck of an escalation...
Vietnam War (1965-73): 1 700 000
Most historians of the Second Indochina War concern themselves primarily with the American Phase of the conflict, 1965-73; however, many do not specify whether their estimated death tolls cover only this phase of the war or the whole thing. An asterisk(*) indicates that the number seems to cover the entire conflict rather than just the American Phase, but check the "Sources" section to see exactly which years are covered by each authority:
South Vietnam military
185,000 to 225,000 (Britannica)
220,357 (Lewy, Ency. Americana)
223,748 (Summers; also 3 April 1995 AP)
224,000 (Kutler, Olson)
250,000 (Clodfelter, Grenville*)
254,257 (Wallechinsky*, COWP [1965-75])
650,000 (Small & Singer)
[MEDIAN: 224,000]
North Vietnamese military and Viet Cong
444,000 (Ency. Americana)
500,000 (S&S)
660,000 (Olson)
666,000 (Lewy, with the possibility that as many as 222,000 (1/3) of these were actually SVN civilians mistaken for VC)
666,000 (Summers)
700,000 (COWP [DRV 1965-75])
700,000-1,000,000 (Wallechinsky*)
900,000 (Britannica; Grenville*)
1,000,000 (Clodfelter)
1,100,000 (Tucker*, Official VN* [1954-75])
[MEDIAN: starred*: 1,000,000. unstarred: 666,000]
South Vietnamese civilians
250,000 (Olson)
287,000 (Clodfelter = 247,600 war deaths + 38,954 assassinated by NLF)
300,000 (Kutler; Summers)
340,000 (Lewy's estimate, with the possibility that an additional 222,000 counted as VC (above) belong in this category)
430,000 (The Sen. E. Kennedy Commission, according to Lewy, Olson)
522,000 (Wallechinsky*)
1,000,000 (Britannica [in both North and South]; Eckhardt; Grenville*)
2,000,000 (Tucker*, Official VN* [N&S, 1954-75],)
[MEDIAN: starred*: ca. 1,500,000. unstarred: 300,000]
North Vietnamese civilians: 65,000 (Kutler, Lewy, Olson, Summers, Wallechinsky) by American bombing.
USA
47,378 KIA + 10,799 other = 58,177 (Official US DoD, 1964-73)
58,159 (Kutler)
58,153 (Wallechinsky*, COWP)
58,000 (Britannica)
47,244 KIA + 10,446 other = 57,690 (Olson; Summers, 1961-80)
57,605 (Ency. Americana)
56,146 (Lewy: 46,498 KIA + 10,388 other + 719 MIA)
56,000 (S&S)
Things are getting worse in Iraq, not better. It's going to be 5 times worse than Viet Nam. |
