The Tet offensive

The Tet Offensive

American History Since 1877

May 14, 2016

Abstract

In the mid to late 1960s the Vietnam Conflict (later known as the Vietnam War) was the subject of great controversy. This was an undeclared war and had no clear objectives. The conflict was fought between the Northern Vietnamese Army (NVA), with the aid of guerillas known as the Viet Cong and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and the United States. The Tet Offensive was the turning point in the Vietnam War. The Offensive was significant to not only the governments of Vietnam but to the United States of America government and its citizens as well. For the American government and the public the Tet offensive is viewed as the turning point which led to American Forces withdrawing from Vietnam. For the South, the offensive was something they could not recover from and essentially cost them not only the war but their country as well. For the North all though there losses were heavy and it seemed like the Offensive was a failure it turned into a strong psychological victory for the Northern Communists.

The Tet Offensive was a series of battles which took place during the Vietnam War. This was a major offensive launched by the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong. It began with diversionary attacks on Khe Sanh on January 21, 1968 to draw the Unites States attention away from South Vietnam. While the attack on Khe Sanh was drawing the attention of U. S. Soldiers and the ARVN away from South, General Vo Nguyne Giap set out to launch an all-out offensive attack on the South during the Vietnamese holiday of Tet. The objective was to take the Nationalist and the US armies by surprise since North Vietnam's government proposed a ceasefire for the celebration of the Lunar New Year. This offensive attack was based on three points: the South Vietnamese army would not fight and would collapse from the shock of the initial strikes; the people of the South Vietnam would rally to the communist cause; and finally that American morale would be broken from the fall of the South Vietnamese Army and the Vietnamese people turning on them.

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