The Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major assault by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong against South Vietnam and the U.S. forces situated there. It was not only a psychological advance for the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong, but also gave the United States a notion that the war wasn’t going to be an easy win, and the chances of winning the war were, in fact, very slim. The war initially was an attempt to limit the spread of communism throughout Asia. Similar to Korea, Vietnam was in a civil war divided by political ideologies. (2) The Domino Effect is the idea that when one nation falls to communism, other nations around it in time will fall (2). Under the fear of this happening in Vietnam, the United States joined forces with the South Vietnamese to fight the spread of communism (5). Though most of South Vietnam was indeed against the spread of communism, there were some who sympathized with the North, known as the Northern Liberation Front, or Viet Cong (VC). The VC hid amongst the other South Vietnamese civilians, and used guerilla tactics to fight for communism. (5) The Tet Offensive was an all out attack by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the VC during the Tet cease-fire (6). The cease-fire was a peaceful and hospitable agreement made between the U.S. and the NVA to stop all assaults during Tet, the annual Vietnamese festival for celebrating the lunar New Year. On the first day of the festival, January 31, 1968, NVA and VC launched a series of attacks on major cities and military bases located in South Vietnam. (6) Strategically, the assault was a failure (5). The communist attackers had failed to permanently capture any of their targets, and overall, had lost more men than the democratic defenders (6). However, the deviousness and planning involved in the offensive was so great that the overall psychological effect had gained an advantage for North Vietnam and the VC (5). The Vietnam War was the most reported conflict in history (3). TV cameramen from all over the nation flew to Vietnam to document the sights and stories, so that viewers at home would have a feel for the war they were paying for. Sometimes the media’s output had a negative effect on the war effort, showing graphic senseless violence. (3) They also proved wrong the claims laid by General Westermoreland of ... ... middle of paper ... ...d Historical Society, Inc. 1998 This book is written by the commanding officer of Bravo Company. It goes through the happenings of a platoon through the Vietnam War, and describes the events on the first night of Tet, and carries the topic for the two weeks that followed. 4. Pimlott, John. Vietnam: the Decisive Battles. New York, New York. Macmillan Publishing Company. 1990 This book goes through the planning, and execution of the Tet Offensive, and describes in detail the effects of the attack, and how it was “decisive.” 5. Knopf, Alfred. Walter Cronkite: a Reporter’s Life. New York, New York. Randomhouse, Inc. 1996. Since Cronkite was one of the most influential political commentators during the sixties, his opinion was valued highly. This book gives an overview of how his opinion toward the war changed after the Tet Offensive, and how that changed the feelings of the American public. 6. Martin, Earl. Personal Interview. 21, March 2001 Martin was a civilian relief volunteer during the war. He gave me an account of the change in moral of the volunteers and the civilians under pressure after the Tet Offensive had taken place.
...h Americans used planes and helicopters to deploy sustained heavy bombardment over Vietnam. During this one operation there were more bombs dropped than in the entire WW2 – 864,000 tonnes in total.
Only in the Vietnam War was the United States’ participation criticized. This is such a gigantic change from prior wars that it bears study as to why it happened, and better yet, should have it happened. This paper will discuss the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, by asking the simple question, Should have the United States’ gotten involved in the first place? This paper will prove that, in fact, America should not have gotten involved in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War took place between 1947- 1975.
It has been known that the Vietnam War affected many American soldiers who were involved in the war physically and psychologically. The Vietnam War was one of the most memorable wars in history. Many Americans’ lives lost for no objective at all. Chapter 10 informed us about how the Vietnam War started and what really happened during that time. It also gave us background information about Vietnam Veterans and nurses who were involved in the war and what they went through during the war. I had the opportunity to interview a Vietnam Veteran also.
President Dwight Eisenhower conditionally pledged to support South Vietnam’s new nation in 1955. In the time period between 1955-1961 the United States pumped seven billion dollars in aid so that Vietnam would not “go over quickly” like a “row of dominoes” (McNamara 31). In the next 6 years Vietnam would cost America billions of dollars, thousands of lives, and the disaffection of much of the United States public. Yet in the end, South Vietnam would fall to the North less than 2 years after the United States military involvement ceased.
Warfare can be conducted for many reasons. In the case of the Vietnam conflict, the conflic...
eager to fight Communism in Vietnam. But, unlike most wars of American time, the action in
In 1975 many tired troops finally came home from Vietnam, defeated. Their efforts did not end communism and left countless numbers of Americans and Vietnamese people dead. The United States weak strategies, the public’s anti-war attitude, and the Vietnamese’s opposition to the government the United States had set up all contributed to the United State’s defeat in Vietnam. The most tragic part about the Vietnam War was that it took about sixteen years to lose a war that from the beginning we were not going to win.
France occupied all of Vietnam by 1884. Independence was declared after World War II, but the French continued to rule until 1954 when communist forces under Ho Chi Minh, who took control over the north, defeated them. Eisenhower’s advisers believed that Ho Chi Minh’s powerful communist-nationalist appeal might set off a geographical chain reaction. As Ho Chi Minh’s government established itself in North Vietnam, Eisenhower supported a noncommunist government in South Vietnam and ordered covert operations and economic programs to prevent Ho Chi Minh from being elected the leader of a unified Vietnam.
A variety of very important events that have happened in the past 100 years, many of which are wars. They have change many things from big necessities like medicine and medical practices to little ones like bandages. No matter the winner every war has good and bad consequences. Some wars have ended in triumph for the U.S.A. and its allies, however some didn’t end well at all. A very important war with many consequences, and an example of a loss for the U.S.A., is the Vietnam war. This paper will cover the Vietnam war from both the perspectives of the Americans at home as well as what's going on in Vietnam between the years of 1955 and 1975.
North Vietnam chose to attack with conventional warfare by using mass troops. South Vietnam stuck to guerilla warfare and use unorthodox strategies. The United States and South Vietnam relied heavily on air dominance, and overwhelming firepower. With this, they were able to conduct search and destroy operations involving ground forces, artillery, and airstrikes. Over the course of the entire war, the US conducted a bombing campaign.
The Vietnam War was one of the most outrageous and long-drawn out wars in history. The other name for the Vietnam War was called Cold-Era proxy War. The war had been battled in order to stop the spread of invasion from communism in the southern parts of Vietnam. The American played the role of a supporter to the southern part of Vietnam, trying to prevent communist from approaching the southern part of Vietnam. The Americans was influenced by the French government to help with the war. France did not support communism due to their loss to the communist previously in the Indochina War, resulting in the French loosing its colony. Later, both of the countries ended up strongly, supporting the southern part of Vietnam. The length of the war, the high number of United States casualties, and the exposure of U.S. involvement portrayed a strong hatred by the U.S population on the Vietnam War.(www.ebscohost.com) Southern Vietnam was supported by the United States, while North Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh was the leader of North Vietnam, who fought to liberate his country from Japan and France. He was the person who successfully unified North and South Vietnam. The United States first involvement in the Vietnam War began when the U.S supported France financially in the first Indochina War in 1946, which was under the power of President Eisenhower. Later, the two US Navy vessels gave the next President; President Johnson more power to fought against the Vietnam War. In 1968, a huge, crucial attack known as the “Tet Offensive” threatened the Un...
The America’s Vietnam War in Indochina was predominantly spiralled by the tensions between two opposing ideologies, Communism and Democracy. The phrases of the American’s intervention in the conflict of Vietnam can be duly conveyed in three main stages – initiation, escalation and withdrawal. In 1959, the gradual intensification of the military conflict between North and South Vietnam gave rise to the growing frustration in North Vietnam as the US intervention and defiance of the 1954 Geneva Accords proceeds to refuse any reun...
The Vietnam War was the first major war American’s had suffered defeat. The Vietnam war was a war of confusion, competition and biasness. The outcome of the war was far greater than an upset American nation, but a severe breakdown of the Vietnamese culture, economy, environment and government. It also had a tremendous impact on American society even up to present day. It was unclear from the beginning of the war if the American’s should even be involved. It was a war between Northern and Southern Vietnam but the U.S saw it as an indirect way to challenge the USSR’s sphere of influence in Southern Asia and to prevent the domino effect and the further spread of communism. The Vietnam War completely changed the way the United States approached military action and helped establish the role of the United States within the new world order.
For the first time every the horrors of war were brought into the homes of countless American families. In fact, the Vietnam War was the first war that the United States allowed full freedom to the press to cover whatever they wanted with zero censorship. Along with the freedom to film, photograph, and record anything about the war the cold truth was seen and eventually lead to the withdrawal of America from Vietnam.
These were the ultimate outcomes of Tet offensive that is why it is recognized as the " turning point" in the Vietnam War.