Tet Offensive: The Vietnam Turning Point

Tet: a word which has two very different meanings depending on who you ask. To the Vietnamese, it means the festival celebrating the Lunar New Year. To the American GI, it means hell and the turning point for America in the Vietnam War. On January 31, 1968, over 100 cities and villages in south Vietnam were attacked by the communist Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese People’s Army of Vietnam. By the end of 1968, over 14,000 American soldiers were dead as well as hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese. The Tet Offensive was considered a devastating military failure for the communists, however, today Vietnam is a communist country, ruled by The Socialist Republic of Vietnam. So, who really won?

Episode Edits:

1.  This is our 18th episode, not our 19th as was erroneously put forward in this episode. We are, however, taking ideas for our upcoming 20th episode (after we do the 19th, of course,) so, please reach out either through our website, historicallyspeakingpodcast.com or at [e-mail]
2.  For clarity, 5,000 American soldiers died in the first phase of the Tet Offensive. The number of 14,000+ includes the entire year of 1968 and all three phases of the Tet. 

Books: 

• America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975 by George Herring
• The Best and The Brightest by David Halberstam
• The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Vietnam War by Phillip Jennings
• Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow
• The Oxford Companion to American Military History edited by John Whiteclay Chambers II

 Film:

• Battlefield – Vietnam TET (2010) – Narration by Gavin McFayden, with war footage. 
• The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (2017) 10 Episodes.