A Brief History
On January 30, 1968, the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong guerillas launched surprise attacks all over South Vietnam during a supposed “cease fire” period to celebrate the Asian Lunar New Year, known as Tet.
Digging Deeper
At this point in the Vietnam War, Americans were getting a bit war weary and were repeatedly told by their leaders that the US and South Vietnam were winning the war. The uncharacteristically massive scale of the enemy attack destroyed American public belief that the war was going well or perhaps was even winnable.
The North and VC involved in the widespread attacks numbered about 600,000, against around 1.3 million US and South Vietnamese troops. Despite the shock of the attack and initial success, the US and South Vietnam turned the tide and inflicted over 111,000 casualties on the communists against perhaps 50,000 Allied casualties.
American resolve was shattered and the war was essentially lost during this battle.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Moise. Edwin. The Myths of Tet: The Most Misunderstood Event of the Vietnam War. University Press of Kansas, 2017.
Willbanks, James. The Tet Offensive: A Concise History. Columbia University Press, 2006.
The featured image in this article, a map of the Tet Offensive, a work of a U.S. Army soldier or employee, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, it is in the public domain in the United States.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
