The Tet Offensive took place on January 31, 1968. It was among the largest military movements during the Vietnam War that was launched by the Viet Cong forces and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the US, and their allies. This war was a series of unexpected attacks on the citizens, control centers and the military bases in South Vietnam. The speed of the attack and the amount of the violence that it carried almost caught the US and South Vietnamese forces off-guard (Ford 66). However, the next morning, when the collectivist operations began, the offensive had covered almost all parts of the country. The US and South Vietnamese’s armies were confused by the nature of the attacks, which made them lose control over some cities. Nevertheless, they sought immediate response to defend the attacks, which caused outstanding loses of the collectivist forces.
Originally, Tet was a name of a very important holiday in Vietnam. It celebrated the festival of the lunate New Year; the holiday was an event that marked an informal truce in South Vietnam’s conflict with the North Vietnam and Viet Cong (Willbanks 178). However, during that year, the military commander of the North Vietnamese, General Giap, chose the New Year holiday as the day of the attack. This was done with a primary aim to violate and break the ties with Vietnam. His goals for the attack were to strike Southern Vietnamese towns, cities, parastatals, and ARVN military headquarters. The military commander believed that the relations between the United States and South Vietnam were not very secure. He expected that Tet Offensive could urge the leaders of America to give up their power to South Vietnam.
During the bitter war, communists sustained a large number of casualties. Approximately 40,000 were killed at war and about 7,000 were captured. Viet Cong Forces executed over 5,000 civilians who they believed were on the side of South Vietnam. When ARVN took over the city, many people were killed, as they were thought to have collaborations with VC. During the war, about 150 U.S Marines were killed in combat along with 400 troops on the South Vietnamese side (Arnold 91). By the end of the Tet campaign, Hue was destroyed along with its majestic palaces, temples, and other significant monuments.
The Tet Offensive incident had a psychological effect on the public opinion of the Americans; they suddenly realized that the war was not going to end quickly and easily. When the Vietcong attack on the U.S embassy in Saigon was shown on TV, it pointed out the vulnerability of the U.S during the Vietnam War. Before, Americans were sure that the war was going to end with a great success for them. However, very soon they lost their faith in President Johnson and stopped believing that he could win the war against communalists. Due to a very low rating, President Johnson didn’t run for the reelection.
President Johnson’s decision not to launch another presidential campaign helped Nixon, his successor, win the election with the policy of “Peace with honor.” President Nixon realized that the American people and the Congress would no longer support or finance the war that the U.S. was unlikely to win. He launched negotiations that would allow the U.S to withdraw from Vietnam peacefully and without losing the national pride. Since this question had already been discussed before the Tet campaign, it had a negligible effect on the war (Hall 111).
In conclusion, even though the Tet Offensive was a complete disaster for the North due to the massive losses it brought, it turned out to be a politically advantageous step because of the effect it had on the American war policy. U.S agreed to revert to their previous policy of assisting ARVN, which was the beginning of “vietmisation.” It also led the U.S. to the reduction of its military operations in Vietnam due to political and economic reasons. In the end, the Vietnamese people`s quest for non-alignment with the U.S. military was granted.
Works Cited.
Ford, Ronnie E. TET 1968: Understanding the Surprise. New York. Frank Cass Publishing Company Limited. 1995.
Arnold, James R. Tet Offensive 1968: Turning Point in Vietnam. Oxford. Osprey Publishing. 2012.
Willbanks, James H. The Tet Offensive: A Concise History. Columbia. Columbia University Press. 2007.
Hall, Mitchell K. The Vietnam War. New York. Taylor & Francis Publishers. 2009.
