Vietnamese Lunar New Year has been a traditional celebration that brings the Vietnamese a sense of happiness, hope and peace. However, in recent years, it also brings back a bitter memory full of tears. It reminds them of the Tet offensive, which occurred on January 31, 1968, the bloodiest military campaign of the Vietnam War, the north communists launched against the south. The Tet Offensive proved to be a political and a psychological victory for the Vietnamese communists. And, although it only lasted for about one month, it was one of America's most notable battles that taught the Americans and the Vietnamese valuable lessons about life and war. .
The Vietnam War, a military struggle fought in Vietnam from 1959 to 1975, involving the North Vietnamese and the national liberation front (NLF) in conflict with United States forces and the South Vietnamese army was a complicated war. Vietnam, a former French colony, had been partitioned in 1954 into a communist-dominated regime in the north and an anti-communist regime in the south. The south was controlled by Vietnamese who had collaborated with the French. North Vietnam, under the leadership of the skilled guerilla fighter Ho Chi Minh, was lending military support to a group of communist insurgents in the south who were attempting to overthrow the South Vietnamese government in order to become a unified communist nation. .
The United States became involved in Vietnam because it believed that if all of the country fell under a communist government, communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia and beyond. This belief was known as the "domino theory." (Bender, 14) The U.S. government, therefore, supported the South Vietnamese government. In 1962, the United States sent 4000 troops to prevent the South Vietnamese government from collapsing. .
While the offensive was being planned, there were anti-war demonstrations taking place in the U.