Beyond body counts: Vietnam war ground combat data

Gregory L Smith

Conflict Management and Peace Science, 2026, vol. 43, issue 5, 581-605

Abstract: This paper presents one of the first systematic efforts to clean, chronicle, and visualize data files related to ground combat operations collected by the US government during the Vietnam War. These files document incidents initiated by both friendly and enemy forces. The paper begins by providing a high-level overview of the US military's data collection efforts in Southeast Asia and argues for the importance of open-source efforts to clean and preserve ground combat data. The second section gives a general overview of the 12 original data files that accompany this article. The third discusses how the data files can expand research programs on conflict dynamics and political violence. The fourth section documents the steps taken to process and clean the files. The article concludes with a quantitative overview of the ground war and the Tet Offensive. In general, the paper presents a new direction for international relations and conflict scholarship.

Keywords: battlefield effectiveness; COIN; data; political violence; US foreign policy; Vietnam war (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:compsc:v:43:y:2026:i:5:p:581-605

DOI: 10.1177/07388942251391081

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