Thursday, 13 July 2017
The Tet Offensive
Learning Objective:
1. To know what the main events of the Tet
Offensive were.
Thursday, 13 July 2017
The US beginning to win..?
• By 1967, President Johnson stated
that a crossover point had been
reached – he believed that the USA
were gaining the upper hand in the
war.
• This meant American troops were
supposedly killing the enemy faster
than they could be replaced.
• However, this was not strictly true.
• The Vietcong controlled a third of
villages in South Vietnam…
• ...and they had plans.
• Watch this film clip to find out what
happened…(4:30-8:30)
Thursday, 13 July 2017
Your Task
• Draw up a table like this in your books. You then need to
fill it in as we go along, or by using your text books.
The Tet Offensive January 1968
Background
Event
Outcome
Thursday, 13 July 2017
Background: The Tet Festival
• Every year on the last day of January, the
Vietnamese celebrate the lunar new year and
pay tribute to their dead ancestors.
• In 1968, an unofficial truce had been
declared.
• However, unknown to the Americans, the VC
had secretly celebrated the Tet festival two
days early.
• Why?
• They were planning a massive surprise attack
on the US and on towns and cities in South
Vietnam.
• The 31st January would be the day that the
USA was least expecting an attack.
Thursday, 13 July 2017
Why did the VC change tactics?
• Why did the VC change tactics and fight this
way?
• By 1968 the USA were losing support at home
and their morale was low.
• The VC had steadily grown stronger and now
had access to better weapons supplied from
Russia and China.
• The VC believed that now was the time to
emerge from secret fighting in the countryside
and launch a surprise attack in the towns and
cities which would finish off the Americans.
• They hoped that the local South Vietnamese
population would rise up to support them and
throw out the Americans.
The Tet Offensive January 1968
Background
• The VC planned a
large surprise
attack in January
• .
1968.
• This would be
during the Tet
Festival ceasefire.
• They wanted to
catch the US off
guard.
• They planned to
change tactics and
attack towns and
cities including
Saigon.
• They hoped that
the people of
South Vietnam
would rise up with
them and throw
the US out.
Event
Outcome
Thursday, 13 July 2017
Event: The Tet Offensive
• On the evening of 31st January, 1968,
67,000 VC soldiers launched a surprise
attack on more than a hundred cities
and towns in South Vietnam.
• These were carefully co-ordinated to
take place at exactly the same time for
maximum impact.
• This was a complete change of tactics.
• The VC were no longer fighting a secret
guerrilla war of hit and run.
• They were now fighting in the open and
directly taking on the USA.
• This showed how confident they had
become.
Thursday, 13 July 2017
Initial success
Watch original footage of
the Tet Offensive as
reported on TV. US
General Westmorland
claims that bombs
exploding off camera were
duds – they were not.
• The VC attacks did initially catch the US off guard.
• They had not previously openly attacked city centre targets.
• The most high profile of these was the South Vietnamese capital
Saigon.
• Here the VC briefly captured part of the US embassy and the
main radio station.
• Open street fighting was taking place in city locations for the first
time.
Thursday, 13 July 2017
The USA fight back
• Although initially caught off guard the USA soon regained its
composure.
• With the help of the South Vietnamese army (ARVN) they
fought back and within 48 hours the VC had largely been
repelled.
• Fighting went on for a further month but the US eventually
regained control.
The Tet Offensive January 1968
Background
Event
• The VC planned a
large surprise
attack in January
• .
1968.
• This would be
during the Tet
Festival ceasefire.
• They wanted to
catch the US off
guard.
• They planned to
change tactics and
attack towns and
cities including
Saigon.
• They hoped that
the people of
South Vietnam
would rise up with
them and throw
the US out.
• Over 100 cities and
towns in South
Vietnam were
attacked by 67,000
VC soldiers .
• In Saigon, the radio
station and part of
the US embassy
were captured.
• The US were
caught off guard.
• The attacks were
reported live by TV
crews and reported
around the world.
• However the US
and ARVN quickly
fought back and
regained control
within 48 hours.
Outcome
Thursday, 13 July 2017
Tet Offensive Outcomes
• It took 3 weeks and 11,000 US troops to clear Saigon of the
Communist forces.
• Nearly 9,000 US & South Vietnamese soldiers died; around
17,000 Communists died out of the 67,000 who took part.
• The VC were disappointed the South didn’t rise up to support
them and took 4 years to recover from their massive losses.
• Superficially the USA had won a clear victory.
• The first time the VC had emerged to fight on a large scale,
and in the open, they had been easily defeated.
• Surely now the USA had the upper hand in the war and could
go on to achieve total victory?
• WRONG.
• Why?
Thursday, 13 July 2017
Tet Offensive Outcomes
1. The US had 500,000 troops in South
Vietnam. The war was costing $20
billion a year. Yet the VC were still able
to launch a huge attack.
2. In the US fight-back, many civilians
died and the ancient city of Hue was
destroyed.
3. Journalists began to report the war in a
negative way. Walter Cronkite (more in
a future lesson) was a top journalist
who reported on Tet and said ‘What the
hell is going on? I thought we were
winning this war.’
4. Therefore all of these reasons caused
people in the US to start to turn against
the war.
Thursday, 13 July 2017
A media defeat?
• Public opinion in the USA and around
the world was already beginning to turn
against the USA before the Tet
Offensive.
• Now it significantly turned against them.
• American military generals were
claiming victory and asking for another
200,000 soldiers to be sent out to ‘finish
off the job’.
• But many of the general public and the
politicians were now firmly against the
war.
• The Tet Offensive proved the VC had
inexhaustible supplies of men and
women to fight.
Thursday, 13 July 2017
Johnson Resigns





President Johnson was advised by
his Secretary of Defence (foreign
minister) that the USA could not win
the Vietnam War and recommended
a negotiated withdrawal.
Ironically this was at the time when
the USA had been having its greatest
military success in Vietnam.
After Tet the mood turned against
them.
President Lyndon Johnson was a
casualty.
He assessed the situation, reduced
air raids and decided not to seek reelection as US president.
The Tet Offensive January 1968
Background
Event
Outcome
• The VC planned a
large surprise
attack in January
• .
1968.
• This would be
during the Tet
Festival ceasefire.
• They wanted to
catch the US off
guard.
• They planned to
change tactics and
attack towns and
cities including
Saigon.
• They hoped that
the people of
South Vietnam
would rise up with
them and throw
the US out.
• Over 100 cities and
towns in South
Vietnam were
attacked by 67,000
VC soldiers .
• In Saigon, the radio
station and part of
the US embassy
were captured.
• The US were
caught off guard.
• The attacks were
reported live by TV
crews and reported
around the world.
• However the US
and ARVN quickly
fought back and
regained control
within 48 hours.
• This was a big military victory for the
USA.
• The VC failed to achieve their aims
and lost over 17,000 men.
• It took the VC 4 years to recover.
• Also the people of South Vietnam
didn’t rise up against the US.
• HOWEVER…
• People began to question why
500,000 US soldiers were unable to
prevent Tet.
• Also many civilians died and Hue
was destroyed in the fight-back.
• Journalists like Walter Cronkite
began to criticise the war.
• All of this turn people in the US
against the war.
• Therefore it turned into a media
defeat.
• President Johnson decided against
running for re-election.
Thursday, 13 July 2017
Your tasks...

Read pages 175-176 of your set book.

Task:

Write a script for Walter Cronkite to read on
the evening news reporting on the Tet
Offensive.

Bonus Task:

Write a script from a VC point of view.

Bonus, Bonus Task:

‘The Tet Offensive of January 1968 was a
military victory for the USA, but more
significantly, a media defeat’.
Write out this quote and an explanation of
how the USA could both win and lose a battle
at the same time.
