Historical Context: The Vietnam War
Dates of the Vietnam War: 1959 -- April 30, 1975
Emory E. Toops 1LT,USAF
477th security police squadron,ton son Nhut AB,Republic of Vietnam
"From the U.S. point of view militarily Tet was a Victory. At the Battle of Hue The men said "We had to destroy the city in order to save it"
"From The NLF point of view military the cadres destroyed as planed but were defeated"
"but from a NLF standpoint politically Tet was going to bring a natural uprising of South Vietnamese people as a country and become communist this was a failure but later it did work in a way they were'nt expecting . From a U.S. standpoint politically though it was a defeat cause the public then saw what was happening and turned against the war there for making troops slowly return home."
The Vietnam War was the prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the United States (with the aid of the South Vietnamese) attempting to prevent the spread of communism.
The Tet Offensive was an event in early 1968 that turned much of the American public support against the war as many viewed it as a war that they had no way to win, U.S. leaders own attitudes towards the war also began to change and they started to prepare to gradually withdraw U.S. troops .
In the morning of 31st January 1968, about 70,000 North Vietnamese soldiers, together with guerrilla militia fighters of the National Liberaton Front (NLF), launched the Tet Offensive (named for the lunar new year holiday called Tet), a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam, using carpet bombing, raids, and defolients.
General Vo Nguyen Giap, leader of the North Vietnam army called Communist People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), planned the offensive in an attempt to force rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to fall back its support of the Saigon regime. Though U.S. and South Vietnamese forces managed to hold off the Communist attacks. Despite heavy casualties, North Vietnam achieved a strategic victory over South Vietnam with the Tet Offensive, as the attacks marked a turning point in the Vietnam War. Beginning of the slow, painfully injured Americans withdrawed from the region.The Tet Offensive was one of the worst attacks in Vietnam history and was the major turning point of the Vietnam War.
Bibliography: http://www.marxist.com/tet-offensive-part-one.htm
Edited by: Alex Alexander and Jared williams
Originally written by Alan Woods Wednesday, 30 January 2008
477th security police squadron,ton son Nhut AB,Republic of Vietnam
"From the U.S. point of view militarily Tet was a Victory. At the Battle of Hue The men said "We had to destroy the city in order to save it"
"From The NLF point of view military the cadres destroyed as planed but were defeated"
"but from a NLF standpoint politically Tet was going to bring a natural uprising of South Vietnamese people as a country and become communist this was a failure but later it did work in a way they were'nt expecting . From a U.S. standpoint politically though it was a defeat cause the public then saw what was happening and turned against the war there for making troops slowly return home."
The Vietnam War was the prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the United States (with the aid of the South Vietnamese) attempting to prevent the spread of communism.
The Tet Offensive was an event in early 1968 that turned much of the American public support against the war as many viewed it as a war that they had no way to win, U.S. leaders own attitudes towards the war also began to change and they started to prepare to gradually withdraw U.S. troops .
In the morning of 31st January 1968, about 70,000 North Vietnamese soldiers, together with guerrilla militia fighters of the National Liberaton Front (NLF), launched the Tet Offensive (named for the lunar new year holiday called Tet), a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam, using carpet bombing, raids, and defolients.
General Vo Nguyen Giap, leader of the North Vietnam army called Communist People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), planned the offensive in an attempt to force rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to fall back its support of the Saigon regime. Though U.S. and South Vietnamese forces managed to hold off the Communist attacks. Despite heavy casualties, North Vietnam achieved a strategic victory over South Vietnam with the Tet Offensive, as the attacks marked a turning point in the Vietnam War. Beginning of the slow, painfully injured Americans withdrawed from the region.The Tet Offensive was one of the worst attacks in Vietnam history and was the major turning point of the Vietnam War.
Bibliography: http://www.marxist.com/tet-offensive-part-one.htm
Edited by: Alex Alexander and Jared williams
Originally written by Alan Woods Wednesday, 30 January 2008