...The Tet Offensive is an important event in American history because it was a battle that marked a climacteric turning point in American participation in the Vietnam War. It was a series of attacks against South Vietnam. Tet is a holiday on the Vietnamese calendar that has been valued by many people. It had been an occasion for an unofficial peace agreement in the Vietnam War between the South and North. On the eve of the holiday, South Vietnam found themselves caught up in war. North Vietnam attacked the city of Hue, on the eve of the New Year holiday, knowing that everyone had let their guards down that night. The attacks were meant to stir up uprising among the South Vietnamese population and scale down American involvement in the war....
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...investigation is “To what extend did the Tet offensive change the United States’ public perception and military plans regarding Vietnam?” The essay will compare and contrast how the United States reacts to Vietnam before and after the Tet Offensive, while also evaluating any other factors that might also had a role. Since the Tet Offensive is a series of events, the essay will analyze all effects since the start of the offensive through the end. Source 1: “Tet” section of “Vietnam: A history” by Stanley Karnow Stanley Karnow worked for Time, Life, the Washington Post, and NBC to cover Asia from 1959-1974. He started to write this secondary source book when he arrived in Vietnam on July 1959. The book serves to...
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...The Vietnam War was one of most hated wars of the United States history. This war was almost last twenty years long. This war was heavily covered in the media of the time period due to fact that it was an uncensored war. The media coverage at the beginning of the Vietnam War was for war was for the war, but there was a turning point in the media coverage that changes public opinion. This event was the Tet Offensive which is a very famous military event of the Vietnam War. This event was one of major changing point of the Vietnam War and public opinions of the Vietnam War. This can be seen in the newspaper articles that were published after the Tet Offensive. This essay with focus on the newspaper for the Vietnam War to argue the point of...
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...To what extent can the Tet Offensive of 1968 be described as the key turning point in the Vietnam War 1968-75? A ‘turning point’ of the Vietnam War could be interpreted in different ways. For example, the Tet Offensive, which took place January 31st, 1968, could be understood as a turning point in the US state of the war (were they winning at this point?) as well as entirely changing the opinion of the US public – literally splitting them in two as to whether the war could be justified. Alongside the Tet Offensive, several other factors could also be interpreted as a turning point in the war. The Cambodian Offensive, of 29th March 1970 could be used alongside President Richard Nixon’s resignation and the entire withdrawal of soldiers in Vietnam. As the largest set of battles during the course of the War, causing severe losses to the communist side of the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) and Viet Cong, the Tet Offensive was the first majorly reported part of the Vietnam War and thus changed many people’s opinion on the war after realization of the tragic event. Approval rating of current president Lyndon B. Johnson plummeted by almost 20%. Despite Walter Cronkite’s interview stating that the war was “unwinnable”, opinion on the war had changed long before. Violent protests took place in Washington during 1968, forcing Johnson to stop the sending of 200,000 troops – this effectively marked the end of the gradual escalation policy in Vietnam. Tet could be argued as a severe turning...
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...of the war because the American strategy from the start would have inevitably caused the loss of the war anyway; the U.S media just helped to speed up that defeat. The Vietnam War was the first televised war. According to the now retired Lt. Gen. Phillip B. Davidson "The war was literally piped into the living room, bedroom, and kitchen of most Americans”. Furthermore the former U.S. Commander in South Vietnam, General William C. Westmoreland noted that Modern technology "provided the press a means of indirectly involving the American public with the war on an almost hourly basis." Despite initially positive media coverage of the war, it soon became increasingly negative, in some cases falsely so. It has been suggested that the media coverage of the Tet Offensive was an exaggeration of the true course of events that helped shock the American Public. But did the media coverage of this major battle really change public perception leading to America withdrawing from the Vietnam War? With the outbreak of the Tet Offensive the Vietnam War had hit the urban areas and had subsequently become more reported on than at any other point previous in the war. Many of the Journalists had not experienced war at first hand to such a scale and were shocked by what they were seeing and the ferocity of the attacks. The surprise nature of the attack coupled with the warfare inexperience of many journalists present in Vietnam saw many of them change their verdict on this war in Vietnam. They...
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...Finally, Military involvements in wars demonstrate how America cared much more for their influences and motives than being passive. General Westmoreland’s involvement in Vietnam war and his military strategy is a great example, as well as the Tet Offensive event that partook in the war. Once more going back to the Vietnam War, General Westmoreland partook an important role. He was the permanent commander of MACV and given command of all US forces in Vietnam. General Westmoreland perceived the escalation of the conflict and had “535,000 troops under his control when he departed in 1968” (Hickman 1). He was a terror, and to no surprise portrayed by their own media as a hero. Even named “man of the year” by Times magazine at one point. Military Expert, Kennedy Hickman...
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...Book Review: Tet Offensive 1968: Turning Point in Vietnam Organized by the North Vietnamese General, Vo Nguyen Giap, the Tet Offensive aimed to impregnate an uprising in South Vietnam. However, horrific battle scenes that took place in Saigon, Hue and other cities resulted in a cataclysmic defeat for the North. James Arnold, author of Tet Offensive 1968: Turning Point in Vietnam, does a substantial assessment of detailing the plans and purposes involved in the key battle of the Vietnam conflict. The author explains how, despite American and South Vietnamese victory in the battle, the American public and their political leaders came to perceive the war as lost. The book, with just over ninety pages long, articulates a major military offensive from two perspectives. It is a book that leaves out essential key components because to offer an imperative discussion of such a massive engagement like the Tet Offensive in limited space is nearly impossible. However, the author offers a surprisingly well written introduction to the operation. Arnold includes illustrations captioned with a description for a concise understanding of the offensive through visual effects. The illustrations are used to portray American soldiers, North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers, and VC (Viet Cong) soldiers as isolated individuals who were physically and emotionally deprived. Photographs are also used in Arnold’s book. Some photos included in the book are Russian weapons used by the NVA and VC, camouflaged...
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...The Tet offensive is considered one of America’s greatest intelligence failures. The word Tet means Vietnamese New Year and it come from the word Tet Nguyen Dan, which means “Feast of the First Morning of the First Day”. The Tet celebrations is very important to the Vietnamese people and is the busiest time to the country. Most of the Vietnamese population travel throughout the country visiting family and friends. For the Vietnamese people the Tet celebration is a fresh start and a time where debts and paid, old disagreements are forgotten, and a house cleaning is done removing all the clutter. This is all done in the name of receiving good luck and fortune in the new year. On January 30, 1968, which was the start of the Vietnamese Buddhist Tet holiday, the Vietcong and North Vietnamese emerged from their tunnels and launched a colossal military offensive that proved to all that the war was not close to being over. The surprise attack was against the Dang base and the American embassy. The Communist forces saw a great number of casualties, but the Tet offensive drove the United States military out of the country. The United States and allies underestimated the over eighty thousand North Vietnamese force used during the offensive. Due to this underestimation “the allied intelligence had failed in its...
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...Conflict in Vietnam, 1963-75 Revision Notes Part 1; Reasons for the US involvement in Vietnam What was the background to the Vietnam War? • Vietnam was ruled by the French till 1954. Then it was divided into two countries. • The communist ruler of North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, wanted to unite the North and South under his control. He supported the Vietcong in South Vietnam. • President Diem ruled South Vietnam. He was strongly anti-communist, but was also a brutal and unpopular leader. Who were the Vietcong? • The Vietcong (or the National Liberation Front) were the communist guerrilla soldiers fighting to overthrow President Diem and his government. • By 1964, there were over 100,000 Vietcong in the South and they were killing thousands of South Vietnamese officials every year. Diem's army could not get rid of them. Why did the Americans get involved? • America said it wanted to ‘save’ the South Vietnamese people from the evils of communism. • But, remember that this was the time of the Cold War. Americans were obsessed with stopping Communism, both abroad and at home in the USA. • The Americans wanted to "contain" (stop) the spread of Communism in the world (the Truman Doctrine). The USA wanted to support non-Communist governments which were threatened by Communists. It knew that the USSR and China, both Communist-ruled, were sending aid to Communist North Vietnam. • The Americans also believed...
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...How accurate is it to say that the Tet Offensive of 1968 was the most important reason for US withdrawal from Vietnam? There are many reasons that lead to the US withdrawing from Vietnam, like the Tet Offensive which can be seen as the most crucial turning point in the war for America as it was the first wide-scale organised attack by the Viet Cong and raised doubt among American public about the causes and the outcome of the war. However it is not the only reason that could have led to withdrawal; the election of the tough President Nixon, the media’s unflattering coverage of US forces and influencing public opinion, the process of withdrawal and the decreased threat of communism due to the Sino-Soviet split. Without any one of these major events or situations I don’t think withdrawal from Vietnam would have been in 1973 but possibly later. The Tet offensive was extremely significant as it was first and foremost a moral boost for the NVA who saw the success if short-lived of strategic surprise on the US troops and bases in the South. The US troops did not understand the willingness the NVA were to die for their cause and so it was in huge contrast to their own feelings about fighting in Vietnam- the Viet Cong weren’t going to give up easily. It was more of a shock to Americans than a defeat as Tet is a national holiday in Vietnam and was typically a truce but using their large numbers and weapons; the Viet Cong did not succeed in maintaining any control in the Southern cities...
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...The North Vietnamese Communist leadership's ability to reassess and adapt during the Vietnam War was reflected in how well they combined guerilla and conventional operations to achieve their strategic goal of unifying Vietnam under communist rule. Throughout the conflict, the Viet Cong (VC) were employed to conduct guerilla operations while North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and VC "main force" units were used to transition to conventional operations. Guerilla operations enabled Hanoi to inflict a steady flow of casualties on US forces which increased anti-war sentiment in America. NVA and VC main force conventional operations reinforced the US Army's conventional approach to the fight which caused the Americans to alienate the people of South Vietnam. By alienating the South Vietnamese people, the Americans enhanced the VC's ability to conduct guerilla operations and control rural population centers which weakened the credibility of the Government of South Vietnam (GVN). The combined effects of guerilla and conventional operations supported the North Vietnamese strategy of a protracted conflict that was sure to weaken the resolve of the United States and eventually defeat the GVN. The relationship between conventional and guerilla operations was a key element of the Vietnamese communists’ “Dau Tranh” strategy to fight and win the Vietnam War. A brief description of the Dua Tranh (meaning struggle) strategy is appropriate since it was the basis for North Vietnam’s success. The strategy...
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...French colonial war: The French colonial war was a series was a clash associated with France and its total colonies and other surrounding nations. U.S. support of Diem and opposition of Ho Chi Minh: Ho Chi Minh, had spent his life following Vietnamese independence from France. The U.S support had been given to the French and Indochina was exchanged to a state of French colonial rule much to the disquiet of the Vietnamese people. When this occurred the French installed even more restrictive control in Vietnam, and millions died of starvation while Vietnamese rice was transported to France. In 1940 Ho Chi Minh and other Vietnamese leaders made continuously claims to Truman and other American officials to help them receive independence from french colonial rule. These rules had been ignored though. Ho tried every possible...
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...usually a formula for sure defeat. Therefore, the Battle of Hue City is an important engagement to analyze: there are many lessons that can be taken from its study regarding military operations in urbanized terrain (MOUT) and the effects of combat elements such as timing, heavy gunfire support, armor, communications, and geographic obstacles. 1968 was the pivotal year during the Vietnam War mostly because it was the year that marked the Tet Offensive, the turning point in the war. The Tet Offensive was an operation that the North Vietnamese conducted that called for a simultaneous attack on every major city in South Vietnam; its shock value would prove to be a major blow to American support for the war at home even though it was a great tactical victory for Allied forces. Perhaps the most significant victory for the Allied forces during the Tet Offensive was at Hue and the Allied victory there is truly a military marvel. The Battle of Hue City began on the night of January 30, 1968 during the Vietnamese lunar New Year, called Tet, and was the most important holiday and celebration in Vietnam. Therefore, most of the South Vietnamese military were on leave, and because a truce was traditionally observed with the New Year, the...
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...In an article, Robert Elegant, a former Vietnam War reporter, wrote: "For the first time in modern history, the outcome of a war was determined not on the battlefield but on the printed page and, above all, on the television screen . . . never before Vietnam had the collective policy --no less stringent a term will serve--sought, by graphic and unremitting distortion, the victory of the enemies of the correspondents' own side." His point of view on the war summarized the effect of media on ending the Vietnam War. To obtain understandable on the roles that media played during this war, it is important to first explore the history of the war. The longest war in the history, a proxy war between those that support communism and those that did not. The United States supported the South against the North that advocated for communism. In 1954, Eisenhower wrote a letter to Ngo Dinh Diem offered to aid Diem in preventing Vietnam from being a communist country. Following Eisenhower’s promise to Diem, Kennedy aided South Vietnam with military support to fight against North Vietnam. The Vietnam War was a catastrophic since it fought against itself and destroyed its own people. It is significant to take notice of the fact that at the beginning many Americans supported United States in this war. Many Anti-war protests occurred on college campus across the nation because of events like the Tet Offensive and My Lai Massacre. United States finally withdrawn in 1973. Therefore, without the media...
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...The Vietnam War was the longest lasting military conflict in American History. What was originally fear of communist expansion became one of America’s most expensive and strenuous efforts, consuming over fifty eight thousand American lives. As casualties increased throughout the 1960’s, so did the domestic opposition to the war. In turn, large-scale protests and a lack of trust between government and its people rose. Today many of the war’s details remain unclear; however, Hollywood has had its hand at depicting what occurred. This paper provides an analysis of the Vietnam War, as well as its depiction in the 21st century film industry. “The Deer Hunter,” “Born on the 4th of July” and “Casualties of War” are three different interpretations of the war in both foreign and domestic settings. Each film offers a different point of view, varying from social, political, and military perspectives. Following the Second World War, the French set forth an effort to regain their former colonial possession of Indo-China, which had been occupied by the Japanese throughout the war. After nearly a decade, the French were unable to establish a presence in what they called their “inheritance”, and as a result withdrew under the Geneva Accord in 1954. Meanwhile conflict within the regions of Vietnam created instability. A communist regime called the Peoples Army of Vietnam (PAVN), headed by Ho Chi Minh obtained power of the North. In contrast Ngo Dinh Diem established an interim government that...
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