The Tet Offensive caused chaos all over South Vietnam. Approximately 5,000 South Vietnamese soldiers were killed, and approximately 45,000 deaths in total in the first phase of the Tet Offensive alone. 14,000 civilians were also killed. This was a crucial turning point for North Vietnam in the Vietnam War. It caused many casualties and forced the U,S the withdrawal. The Tet offensive began on January 31, 1968. It was named after the most important holiday in Vietnam. It was thought to be planned by General Vo Nguyen Giap. They planned to surprise attack the South Vietnamese and U.S forces. Over 80,000 North Vietnamese forces attacked over 100 major cities in South Vietnam. One of these cities was Hue. In February, 1968 North Vietnam …show more content…
It was thought of to be a diversion to get the attention of the U.S soldiers. This battle started on January 21, just before the Tet Offensive was officially launched. Approximately 20,000 Viet Congs attacked the base, causing chaos throughout. Only 6,000 U.S soldiers stood to defend. Heavy mortar fire rained over the base. In return the U.S troops used 39,000 tons of ordnance to help defend them. The North Vietnamese started to withdrawal with 5,000 soldiers killed. The U.S only lost about 700 lives during the battle, that ended on april 8. During the Tet offensive the U.S started to lose support from the people. The Vietnam War in total cost the U.S $173 billion. This caused President Lyndon Johnson to ask Congress for a tax increase, but the only way they would is if he cut $6 billion from domestic spending. This tax increase cause the economy to slow to a crawl. It also damaged the U.S balance of trade. The Tet offensive was considered a success. It was the turning point for North Vietnam. They attacked over 100 cities causing chaos all over South Vietnam. It led to many casualties of both armies. It also caused the U.S to increase taxes and withdrawal from the
The Vietnam War was the most publicized war during its era; moreover, this was the most unpopular war to hit the United States. All over the country riots began to rise, anti-war movement spread all over the states begging to stop the war and chaos overseas. This truly was a failure on the political side of things. For the public, all they saw was a failed attempt in a far away country. Events such as the Tet Offensive where the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong established an all out attack on key locations around Vietnam, and although the Viet Cong was virtually wiped out, this still had a large affect psychologically on the troops as well as the populist back in the United States.
Senior Leaders have analyzed wars for years in hopes of finding the most efficient way to conduct war. This paper explores the events of that took place during the Battle of Bien Hoa in 1968. Research was conducted through internet and non-internet sources to provide the most accurate facts concerning this battle. The 29th of January 1968 was the beginning of Battle of Bien Hoa when the Bien Hoa Air Base went under attack. On 31 January the first Tet Offensive began by the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam in order to shift the invading army and regain control by the Vietnamese. A total of 39 encounters were recorded in this battle fought by brave Soldiers from the 17th Calvary, the 11th Armored Calvary, the 101st Airborne Division, the 47th Infantry Division (Mechanized), the 199th Infantry Brigade, the Air Force, Marines, and the South Vietnamese Army, against enemy forces (North Vietnamese Army, and the Viet Cong). Pleiku, Phan Theit, Ban Me Thuot, Thu Duc, An My, and Kontum are some of the cities near the Saigon area where the encounters took place. (Starry, 1931) Before the battle begun there was a huge dilemma about engaging armored vehicles in Vietnam; however once fully engaged the results created an atmosphere of change, innovation, power, and confidence that changed the strategies of war forever.
defeat of the Vietnam War was due to the economy, being there were financial issues at the time due to war. At the time the war cost was very high, and the nation was spending more than what was needed on the war. In one political cartoon from the time (Document 1) it depicts president Johnson with a sword slicing a man's head off. In the image the sword represents war cost, and the man represents Great Society hopes. Great society was a set of domestic programs with a goal to eliminate poverty in the U.S., however due to the high war cost the hopes began to break for such a goal to be reached as it made it more difficult. The war cost that broke this dream was hated by many, as many thought putting so much money into the war was useless. In 1972 George McGovern, a U.S. senator, addressed this, stating he proposed “we conserve our limited resources” and “no longer underwriting the appalling waste of money and manpower that has become such a bad habit”. McGovern along with many others saw the amount of money and troops being dedicated to the war was not only useless, but an issue causing the nation to have problems as it diverted money from the nation's domestic programs and necessities. The financial issues caused by the war was a big trouble to the U.S. during the time and had a huge impact leading to the nation's
The political and societal ramifications of Vietnam's Tet Offensive indubitably illustrate the historical oddity of 1968. 1967 had not been a bad year for most Americans. Four years after the profound panic evoked by the assassination of John Kennedy, the general public seemed to be gaining a restored optimism, and even the regularly protested Vietnam War still possessed the semblance of success (Farber and Bailey 34-54). However, three short weeks following the eve of 68, Americans abruptly obtained a radically different outlook. The Tet Offensive, beginning on January 30, 1968, consisted of a series of military incursions during the Vietnam War, coordinated between the National Liberation Front's People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF), or "Viet Cong," and the ...
In conclusion, the Tet Offensive changed the US's attitude towards the Vietnam war by leading to further anti-war protests, a credibility gap in America, and for President Johnson to negotiate peace and not seek reelection.
and the VC during the Tet cease-fire (6). The cease-fire was a peaceful and hospitable
In fact, the Tet Offensive broke out on the Tet's Eve - in the early
On January 31, 1968, the Tet Offensive officially began (Feldmeth). The Offensive began on the first day of Tet, which was the Vietnamese festival of the lunar New Year. The North Vietnamese armies surprised the American and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) armies as they attacked almost every major city in South Vietnam (Battle of Khe Sanh). Although, many of these attacks were resisted, Americans at home saw the Offensive as an American defeat. For the first time in history, the whole war was broadcasted on television, allowing the American public to watch all that occurred in Vietnam. When they saw the Tet Offensive, they realized the power that North Vietnam possessed was greater than they expected. While this brought public opinion of the war down, it also affected their belief in the government. Before this had occurred, military leaders such as General Westmorland were telling Americans that the United States army had everything under control and other sanguine views of the war (What Was the Tonkin Resolution?). This occurrence proved to be contradictory to previous statements made about the war. This Offensive affected President Johnson as well. After the Tet Offensive, he lost popularity as Americans began to question Johnson and his presidency. His loss of popularity increased so much that in the end he decided to drop out of the next presidential elections all together.
The third major battle of the Tet Offensive took place in and around the city of Saigon. Around five battalions of NLF had infiltrated the city. The headquarters of the ARVN was attacked by around 700 men and there was heavy fighting but only 110 American casualties. The Vietnamese casualties in this assault and other actions in Saigon were over 1,100 men but aided in their gained control of large parts of the city. Fighting lasted almost a week and some sections of the city were in ruins due to US airstrikes and artillery.
...citizens. The war changed the lives of the Vietnamese citizens forever. Some people could never go back to the lives they had before. The Vietnam War had a horrible aftermath on both Vietnam and The Untied States. The Vietnam War is definitely a vital war that changed Vietnamese society forever. This war was definitely a major topic in Vietnamese society and wiped from history. The war gained national attention and caused chaos and pandemonium nationwide. Communism played a key role in the citizens’ lives that they were willing to fight for all the freedom they deserved. The war was clearly a great calamity and caused distress worldwide. The war was so vital that some of the impacts can still be seen in Vietnam today and some people are still trying to recover from it. The war was definitely a remarkable time in American history and will be in our memories forever.
There were many events that lead up the Vietnam War, it started in 1945 with the hostilities between the French and Vietminh. “Geopolitical Strategy, economics, domestic US politics, and cultural arrogance shaped the growing American involvement in Vietnam” (Anderson 1). As a matter of fact, the Vietnam War was several wars, but it was not until 1962 that America had their first combat mission, however, Americans were killed during ambushes by the Vietnamese before the first combat mission. There is much controversy over the reasons for the Vietnam War, supported by the several different books and articles written about the war. “The most famous atrocity occurred in a tiny hamlet called My Lai in March 1968” (Detzer 127). History shows that the reaction of many Americans to the attack by US soldiers on the village of My Lai during the Vietnam War was opposition, and the actions of the US soldiers during the My Lai Massacre will be forever remembered as a significant part of the Vietnam War and American History.
French forces took control southern Vietnam and opened talks with the Vietnamese communists. These talks fell through vin 1946, and French warships bombarded the northern Vietnamese city of Haiphong, killing thousands.In response the Viet Minh(a vietnamese fighting group) started an attack against the French on December 19 1945 in the second largest city in vietnam Hanoi this action was beginning of the First Indochina War. while the eight year war Mao Zedong’s Chinese communists helped the Viet Minh while the United States aided the French and anti communist Vietnamese forces. In 1954 the French had a major defeat at Dien Bien Phu in northwest
They killed about 6,000 Vietnamese people. After that, it was only a few weeks before the Indochina War began. The Indochina war between the French and the Vietnamese went on for several years. The Viet Minh used guerrilla warfare to weaken the French. During this time, the United States was developing its foreign policy, known as containment. Therefore, the United States wanted to keep the Viet Minh out of control to keep communism from spreading. So, the US president at the time, President Harry S. Truman, sent military aid and money to the
The Vietnam War took action after the First Indochina War, in fact the Vietnam War is also known as the Second Indochina War. This war included the communist North Vietnam and its allies of the Viet Cong, the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies going against South Vietnam and its allies, the Unites States, Philippines and other anti-communist allies. It was a very long and conflicting war that actually started in 1954 and ended in 1975. The war began after the rise to power of Ho Chi Minh and his communist party in North Vietnam. More than three million people were killed during the war, this included approximately 58,000 Americans and more than half of the killed were actually Vietnamese civilians. The Vietnam War ended by the communist forces giving up control of Saigon and the next year the country was then unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Many people, including both men and women were directly and indirectly involved within the war itself. Women worked many different roles in the Vietnam War, and they are most definitely not credited enough for all that they actually did.
Kennedy and Diem were both killed in 1963 and 1964. Johnson took control of the situation by increasing the amount of money and manpower put into Vietnam. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving the president full military power. After Johnson dramatically escalated the amount of soldiers in Vietnam, The North Vietnamese mounted a surprise attack during the Vietnamese new year, and this strike was called the Tet Offensive. It made America more aware of what they were up against, that the communists were capable of fierce, guerrilla warfare, unlike anything Americans had ever fought before. Images of the terror and disarray reached back home, and the U.S. began to wonder how effective their involvement in Vietnam really was.