Tet Offensive essays

Tet Offensive essays Vietnam was not only a war to the American people it was a massacre. The Tet Offensive was a Vietnamese lunar holiday, which celebrated the year of the monkey, which was usually a very peaceful and calm period but not at this time. This certain day was supposed to be a celebrated cease-fire holiday until the NLF(National Liberation Forces), NVA(North Vietnam Army), and the Vietcong forces unleashed the biggest surprise to the South Vietnamese and U.S. sources. Many historians thought it of as the turning point of the war but if not that it at least marked a crucial time in the Vietnam War. It was a great wake up call for the Southern Vietnamese and U.S. troops. The American intervention in Vietnam began in 1963 with the direct aim of stopping the South falling into 'communist' hands. In August of that year, Lyndon Johnson, who had taken over the American presidency in the wake of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, ordered the first air strikes on the North. Only 6 months later the rolling thunder air campaign was constructed. In just this campaign alone more bombs were dropped on North Vietnam than in all of World War two. Seven million tons of bombs and other hazardous weapons were dropped leaving an outstanding number of 2.6 million Vietnamese dead. On the night of January 31,1968 there were 70,000 Vietnamese soldiers launched as The Tet Offensive. It began so sudden that the allied forces, which were South Vietnam, and the US were left stunned and had to plan their revenge. All these 70,000 men were made up of mostly NLF (National Liberation Forces) and NVA( North Vietnamese Army) attacked the US and South Vietnamese military and government instillations throughout the country. It was a campaign that had been in preparation since a study carried out by General Giap in September 1967 had concluded that the war had reached a 'stalemate' situation and that something needed to be done. Out of this report ar...