The Tet Offensive

The Vietnam War was notably one of America’s greater military controversies. Officially it began in 1967 under the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson. What created the sparks in the hay, so to speak, was the “Tet Offensive”. The People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) joined forces with the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (Vietcong or VC) and launched a massive offensive directed at swiftly taking over the government, and eliminating any and all resistance.

The name of the operation, “Tet offensive” was actually of Western coining. The PAVN and VC invaded on 30^th of January, 1968, which was Tết Nguyên Đán -- a hallowed holiday in Vietnam where the people celebrate the lunar New Year; similar to Rosh Ha Shanna in Israel. They choose to strike on this day because it would catch the military of South Vietnam off guard and allow them to effectively coup the government in one swift move.

On this historic day, the PAVN and the VC struck 5 large cities and over 100 towns in an operation that combined both of their forces to make up a massive army that numbered more than 80,000. Of the hundreds of targets they attacked, most were not taken. However they did manage to take many key outposts and wrest control of critical command centers around the country. The biggest surprise to allied forces was the sheer numbers and width of the attack.

Technically, the “Tet Offensive” is considered a failure due to the excessive casualties that were inflicted upon the PAVN and the VC. Additionally, most of the targets they struck they did not take over. However, it did serve to wake up the allied forces and made them realize that these two armies were a very serious threat to the stability of the region. What ensued after this was long and bloody war that would claim more than 500,000 lives, a war that has in principle never officially been ended.