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The Tet Offensive brought home the fact that this was going to be a long and bloody conflict and that they could expect to see body bags being shipped home for years to come.
Westmoreland
No
1968 TET Offensive
Taught the American people (public) not to believe what their government was telling them. Example: We're winning! (Then comes the TET offensive).
Millitary Success, but an overall morale defeat.
The Tet Offensive brought home the fact that this was going to be a long and bloody conflict and that they could expect to see body bags being shipped home for years to come.
Westmoreland
No
The Tet offensive was military a massive failure by the Vietcong in which they achieved no strategic success and lost a large number of fighters. However, it was terrible for the american army morale, who had been frequently told that they were winning and the North Vietnamese were on the brink of collapse, which was clearly not the case based on the size and penetration of the Tet Offensive showed this was untrue, and it also showed that many South Vietnamese were supporting the Vietcong and not the Americans, which again damaged morale. The same sort of thing happened to the US public, which made the Vietnam War slowly become a huge public discussion, and a political liability to the government which supported the war that the American public collectively believed could not be won. For a military historian the Tet Offensive was an American victory, for the wider historian it was the beginning of the end of America's admitting defeat in Vietnam.
The Tet offensive was military a massive failure by the Vietcong in which they achieved no strategic success and lost a large number of fighters. However, it was terrible for the american army morale, who had been frequently told that they were winning and the North Vietnamese were on the brink of collapse, which was clearly not the case based on the size and penetration of the Tet Offensive showed this was untrue, and it also showed that many South Vietnamese were supporting the Vietcong and not the Americans, which again damaged morale. The same sort of thing happened to the US public, which made the Vietnam War slowly become a huge public discussion, and a political liability to the government which supported the war that the American public collectively believed could not be won. For a military historian the Tet Offensive was an American victory, for the wider historian it was the beginning of the end of America's admitting defeat in Vietnam.
1968 TET Offensive
Tet offensive
Appeal to american patriotism to support the war effort
Taught the American people (public) not to believe what their government was telling them. Example: We're winning! (Then comes the TET offensive).
psychological victory for them dropped morale at home American public opinion increased
The Tet offensive was military a massive failure by the Vietcong in which they achieved no strategic success and lost a large number of fighters. However, it was terrible for the american army morale, who had been frequently told that they were winning and the North Vietnamese were on the brink of collapse, which was clearly not the case based on the size and penetration of the Tet Offensive showed this was untrue, and it also showed that many South Vietnamese were supporting the Vietcong and not the Americans, which again damaged morale. The same sort of thing happened to the US public, which made the Vietnam War slowly become a huge public discussion, and a political liability to the government which supported the war that the American public collectively believed could not be won. For a military historian the Tet Offensive was an American victory, for the wider historian it was the beginning of the end of America's admitting defeat in Vietnam.