Vietnam War
This is not only one of the most famous wars in recent times, but it is also one of the longest and most complicated conflicts in which the United States has ever taken part! It actually dates back to World War II, when Japan invaded Vietnam, but the conflict didn’t end until 1976, and even after they became the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, violence continued on the ground.
The United States joined the war back in 1955, after the two sides had split the territory of Vietnam, and the length of this war went over four presidencies: Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon. In terms of how much money was allocated, President Johnson was the one who gave the most military support and financial aid for the Vietnam War, despite the unrest and demonstrations against the war around the country.
The war had around 3 million casualties, out of which around 58,000 were U.S. soldiers, and about half of the total deaths were Vietnamese civilians! Back then, the war cost $111 billion, and if we translate that to today’s money, it would be around $533 billion! That is a lot of taxpayer money going to warfare.
