VW8: The Tet Offensive

Key Battles of American History

History

4.7 • 861 Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

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Summary

In late January 1968, the NVA and the Viet Cong launched a massive campaign of well-planned and coordinated attacks, hitting targets all up and down South Vietnam. Although the Allied forces fought off the attacks and inflicted thousands of casualties on the attackers, the offensive showed the American public that the war was far from over, and it ultimately led to the end of the Johnson presidency. Join Sean and James as they discuss this pivotal turning point of the war.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding
0:10.7	right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its
0:16.4	size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.
0:23.9	Welcome to Key Battles of American History,
0:26.7	a podcast in which we discuss American history
0:28.9	through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.
0:32.7	Here is your host, James Early.
0:43.3	Thank you. host, James Early. Hello and welcome back to Key Battles of the Vietnam War, a 10,000-foot survey of the war
0:48.1	that defined a generation. I'm your host James Early, as always. And as always, I'm joined by my co-host, Sean McIra.
0:57.7	Well, Sean, we've reached the mother of all Vietnam battles, actually a series of many, many, many battles.
1:04.2	This is the big one, the Tet Offensive.
1:07.3	You think you can handle this, Sean?
1:09.6	Yeah, I think so.
1:11.1	Yeah, it's pretty easy just to talk about it.
1:13.1	I'm glad we didn't have to go through it.
1:15.3	But before we jump into that, how about we recap our last episode?
1:20.7	So to refresh the audience's memory as well as our own, in our last episode, we began by discussing how the fighting between the U.S.
1:28.6	and its allies intensified in I-Corps, which is the most northern part of South Vietnam, in early
1:33.9	1966. The heaviest fighting occurred near the demilitarized zone, or the DMZ, for short.
1:40.6	Allied bases there were under constant artillery barrages and threats of NVA attacks.
1:46.2	We then discussed a series of American offensive against the VC and the NVA,
1:52.0	most notably Operation Masher White Wing, which occurred from January to March of 1966,
	...

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