Tet Offensive

Tet Offensive Sự kiện Tết Mậu Thân
Part of the Vietnam War
Map indicating towns and cities in which significant fighting occurred during the Tet Offensive of 1968
Date Phase 1: January 30 – March 20, 1968 (2 months) Phase 2: May 5 – June 15, 1968 (1 month, 1 week and 3 days) Phase 3: August 9 – September 23, 1968 (1 month and 2 weeks) Location South Vietnam 11°N 107°E / 11°N 107°E / 11; 107 Result U.S. and South Vietnam tactical victory North Vietnam and Viet Cong political and strategic victory[1][2][3][4] (See aftermath for details and long-term consequences)
Belligerents
South Vietnam  United States South Korea  Australia  New Zealand  Thailand	North Vietnam Viet Cong
Commanders and leaders
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Cao Văn Viên Lyndon B. Johnson William Westmoreland	Lê Duẩn Lê Đức Thọ Văn Tiến Dũng Hoàng Văn Thái Trần Văn Trà
Strength
~1,300,000[5]	Phase 1: ~80,000 Total: ~323,000 – 595,000[6]
Casualties and losses
In Phase One: South Vietnam: 4,954 killed 15,917 wounded 926 missing Others: 4,124 killed 19,295 wounded 604 missing Total casualties in Phase One: 45,820 casualties: 9,078 killed 35,212 wounded 1,530 missing[7][8] 123 aircraft destroyed, 214 heavily damaged and 215 medium damaged[9] Total for 3 phases: Unknown	In Phase One: RVN/U.S. claimed: 45,000+ killed 5,800 captured[10][11]: 162  One PAVN source (Saigon only): 5,000+ killed 10,000 wounded 7,000 captured[12] Phase One, Phase Two and Phase Three: Trần Văn Trà reports (Phase One and Two): 75,000+ killed and wounded[13] PAVN source (total for 3 phases): 111,179 casualties: 45,267 killed 61,267 wounded 5,070 missing[14][15]
Civilian: 14,300 killed, 24,000 wounded, and 630,000 refugees[16]

The Tet Offensive^[17] was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) launched a surprise attack on January 30, 1968 against the forces of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the United States Armed Forces and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam.^[18] The name is the truncated version of the Lunar New Year festival name in Vietnamese, Tết Nguyên Đán, with the offense chosen during a holiday period as most ARVN personnel were on leave.^[19] The purpose of the wide-scale offensive by the Hanoi Politburo was to trigger political instability in a belief that mass armed assault on urban centers would trigger defections and rebellions.

The offensive was launched prematurely in the early morning hours of 30 January in large parts of the I and II Corps Tactical Zones of South Vietnam. This early attack allowed allied forces some time to prepare defensive measures. When the main operation began during the early morning hours of 31 January, the offensive was countrywide; eventually more than 80,000 PAVN/VC troops struck more than 100 towns and cities, including 36 of 44 provincial capitals, five of the six autonomous cities, 72 of 245 district towns and the southern capital.^[20] The offensive was the largest military operation conducted by either side up to that point in the war.

Hanoi had launched the offensive in the belief that it would trigger a popular uprising leading to the collapse of the South Vietnamese government. Although the initial attacks stunned the allies, causing them to lose control of several cities temporarily, they quickly regrouped, repelled the attacks and inflicted heavy casualties on PAVN/VC forces. The popular uprising anticipated by Hanoi never materialized. During the Battle of Huế, intense fighting lasted for a month, resulting in the destruction of the city. During its occupation, the PAVN/VC executed thousands of people in the Massacre at Huế. Around the American combat base at Khe Sanh, fighting continued for two more months.

The offensive was a military defeat for North Vietnam, as neither uprisings nor ARVN unit defections occurred in South Vietnam. However, this offensive had far-reaching consequences for its effect on the views of the Vietnam War by the American public and the world broadly. General Westmoreland reported that defeating the PAVN/VC would require 200,000 more American soldiers and activation of the reserves, prompting even loyal supporters of the war to admit that the current war strategy required reevaluation.^[21] The offensive had a strong effect on the U.S. government and shocked the American public, which had been led to believe by its political and military leaders that the North Vietnamese were being defeated and incapable of launching such an ambitious military operation. American public support for the war declined as a result of the Tet casualties and the escalation of draft calls.^[22] Subsequently, the Johnson Administration sought negotiations to end the war. Shortly before the 1968 United States presidential election, Republican candidate and former vice president Richard Nixon encouraged South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu to become publicly uncooperative in the negotiations, casting doubt on Johnson's ability to bring peace.^[23]

The term "Tet offensive" usually refers to the January–February 1968 offensive, but it can also include the so-called "Mini-Tet" offensive that took place in May and the Phase III offensive in August, or the 21 weeks of unusually intense combat that followed the initial attacks in January.^[24]