How has America's feelings toward war in general been affected by Vietnam?

Answer 1

As in almost ALL WARS, the generation that experienced them will not normally want to experience or have anyone they care for experience war again. As each country's war generation passes on, the lesson's that WERE LEARNED will often pass on with them. When the NEXT generation comes of age, they will start wars all over again. The younger generation that fought in WWII, was not the same generation of World War I (the Great War). And yet, they were only 21 years apart in time. The Russian-Japanese (Russo-Japanese) War of 1904-1905, saw the 20th century's first mass slaughter with the tri-pod mounted, belt fed machingun. Germany, France, Russia (who was using it in that war), and the US all had observers in that war, that witnessed it's effectiveness against massed infantry assaults. And yet, only ten years later in 1914, the very same countries that witnessed the slaughter from the machingun, "sent massed infantry" assaults against it again in WWI (1914-1918). There seem to be two confirmed lessons regarding man's war's, and that is; that "those that cry the loudest for war, are often the one's that don't end up fighting it". And as for the age old question of "why do men fight war's?" actor Robert Mitchum said it best during one of his 1960's war films: "THEY LIKE IT."