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Tet Offensive Analysis

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While researching the Tet Offensive, there is a lot of information about Non-Vietnamese communist and Americans perspectives, and how they were preparing for an attack. However, there are limited resources out there that talk about the Vietnamese communist and what led them to the Tet offensive. In the reading the reading "Decision-making Leading to the Tet Offensive (1968)—The Vietnamese Communist Perspective" Ang Cheng Guan gives readers more insight on the communist perspective and what their plans were for the Tet Offensive. Guan shares what General Nguyen Chi Thanh explains "General Nguyen Chi Thanh explained that the strategy involved amassing both military and political strength to carry out a series of surprise attacks in places where …show more content…

Two articles who describe General Westmoreland differently are "Ground Pounder: A Marine's Journey Through South Vietnam, 1968-1969" by Gregory V. Short and the "Tet The Surprise" by Jake Blood. Bloods article focuses more on the perspectives of what Americans thought of Westmoreland. Blood states "The American public accepted the optimistic view of General Westmoreland, a view based upon the intelligence coming out of the Military Assistance Command-Vietnam (MACV) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)" (4). Note that Blood used the words "accepted" and "intelligence" these words help to describe how the Americans viewed Westmoreland by accepting everything he told them because he was part of the MACV and CIA and they have great knowledge. It is important to have the Americans perspective because it allows readers to understand why the Americans thought he was a good general. Westmoreland was viewed completely different by a Marine. Short is a marine who talks about Westmoreland in a different perspective. In his reading, Short writes "General William Childs Westmoreland (Westy) had not been ill prepared for the job Commanding General" (65). By Short using the words "ill prepared" to describe Westmoreland as a Commanding General it helps the readers know exactly how Short, a Marine who was fighting in the Vietnam War felt …show more content…

How it leaves its mark is different with each war. With the Vietnam War, the Tet Offensive is still being used as an example in wars after Vietnam and our current war. Two reads that describe how Tet affected the Americans afterward is "An Old, Old Story" by James S. Robbins and "Decision-making Leading to the Tet Offensive" by Ang Cheng Guan. Throughout Guans articles it talks about the Vietnamese Communists plans for the Tet Offensive, however towards the end, Guan states "The General Offensive—General uprising is a good example of how difficult and complex it was to carry out Mao's three-stage strategy of war" (353). Notice how Guan uses "good" and "example" he is letting the readers know that the Tet Offensives also known as General uprising is a good example of what not to do because it was so complex and difficult. It is important because it allows readers to know that Guan felt it was not a good strategy for the war. However, Robbins share in his writings that the Tet Offensive is still affecting us today and even though the Vietnamese communist lost the Tet Offensive it is still being used by our enemies. "The Tet story line is always lurking when U.S. forces are engaged against weak, unconventional enemies who lash out under limited and exceptional circumstances and briefly capture attention of the media" (Robbins50). By Robbins stating that "the story line is always lurking" Robbins is letting readers know that

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