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How Did The Tet Offensive Affect The Vietnam War

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The Vietnam War was a war which many people felt negative about, this attitude became especially true after the Tet Offensive took place. Northern Vietnamese forces attacked the South and Americans on the Tet Holiday in hopes to start revolutions in major cities. The outcome was decreased support for the war in America, slowed economy in the south, and a loss in moral for the north. The Tet Offensive proved to be a smart offense by the North, yet did not reach the desired outcome and was not a victory for either side. The Tet Offensive was a large turning point in the Vietnam War, especially on the American attitude toward the war. North Vietnamese forces and the allied communist forces planned several attacks on targets in Southern Vietnam. …show more content…

For the anti communist forces, America and the South Vietnamese, the war did not have this impact. The Southern Vietnamese people were able to continue normal economic activities after the attacks. This was thanks to the North Vietnamese not attacking major economic facilities in the south and the large stockpiles of supplies people had in preparation of the Tet holiday (Directorate of Intelligence). These problems were very short term and could be solved relatively easily. However, there were several long term problems such as movement between towns and refugees from the offense. Transportation became much more difficult due to the attacks on roads and bridges. Along with these, houses and buildings had been damaged with an estimated number of 460,000 people left as refugees (Directorate of Intelligence). Which forced the government to use the advantage of still having a strong economy to help deliver food, supplies, and housing to the people in these devastated cities. America, though not having its territory directly involved, was largely impacted by this. As soon as the offensive took place, American support for the war plummeted. This was caused by the sight of the incredibly harsh and rough fighting that the media captured. The people noticed that no matter how hard America tried, the North Vietnamese would continue to try and fight, making it a war that could not be

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