Tet 1968: The Battles that Changed the Vietnam War and the Global Cold War
FAIN: FZ-231797-15
Lien-Hang T. Nguyen
Columbia University (Lexington, KY 40506-0001)
The writing of a book chronicling the planning, unfolding, and global repercussions of the Tet Offensive, marking the event's fiftieth anniversary.
North Vietnam’s Tet Offensive of 1968 was the single most important event of the Vietnam War, yet nearly 50 years later, its history has not been fully told. This book will chronicle the political intrigue that pervaded the warring capitals on the eve of the offensive in 1967, the bloody battles fought in South Vietnam, the civil unrest in America in 1968, and the offensive’s global ramifications by early 1969. Its central purpose is to change our understanding of the Tet Offensive and its impact on the Vietnam War and the wider Cold War. Using recently declassified archival materials from Vietnam, the United States, and Europe, this book will argue that the Tet Offensive was a defeat for all sides in the Vietnam War. Far from hastening the end of American intervention, Tet 1968 served only to prolong the fighting in Vietnam and to complicate international relations during the Cold War for the remainder of the conflict.