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"History.com." History.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 05 Jan. 2017.

"Outline of the Vietnam War." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 05 Jan. 2017.

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Easter Offensive (March 30 – October 22, 1972)

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Easter Offensive (March 30 – October 22, 1972)

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The Easter Offensive was a conventional offensive conducted by the PAVN against the ARVN and U.S. army from March 30 to October 22, 1972 following the failed South Vietnamese Operation Lam Son 719 in 1971. This largest invasion since the Korean War was launched in an attempt to influence the 1972 U.S. presidential election as well as to improve their negotiating position at the peace talks in Paris. The PAVN launched the attacks on 3 fronts simultaneously: Quang Tri, Hue Kon Tum and Binh Long where the battle of An Loc took place. Despite their initial success, PAVAN’s advances were hindered by heavy casualties, inadequate tactics and particularly American destructive air power. When PAVN troops halted on all fronts, ARVN forces began to counter-attack and quickly re-captured Quang Tri and other lost bases.

The Easter Offensive turned out to be another military defeat, the North Vietnamese did achieve two important goals. First, they continued to occupy approximately 10% valuable territory of South Vietnam which would remain theirs after the Paris Peace Accord. That was crucial for their next and final offensive in 1975. Second, they gained a better bargaining position as both North & South Vietnamese were now more willing to make concessions during the peace negotiations in Paris.

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Battle of Hamburger Hill (May 10-20, 1969)

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Battle of Hamburger Hill (May 10-20, 1969)

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The Battle of Hamburger Hill was fought between the U.S. and ARVN against PAVN forces from May 10 to 20, 1969. It took place on Hill 937 which would be later known as “Hamburger Hill”  due to its grinding nature as a reference to a similar battle called “The Battle of Pork Chop Hill” during Korean war. The battle was part of Operation Apache Snow with the goal of clearing PAVN from the remote A Shau Valley in Thua Thien, Hue province, South Vietnam. Although the hill was of little strategic value, U.S. commanders ordered direct assaults, causing unnecessarily high casualties, only to abandon it soon after on June 7. As a result, the battle caused lots of public outrage and controversy when reaching Washington.

Some consider this battle as a turning point for the U.S. in Vietnam as the conflict became more and more unpopular at home. Many American people felt the Battle of Hamburger Hill was such a pointless battle in a meaningless war. In fact, many started to doubt whether they should be involved in Vietnam and the anti-war movements were reaching its peak. Under extensive public and political pressure, General Creighton Abrams dropped “maximum pressure” in favor of “protective reaction” policy to lower casualties, while at the same time President Nixon announced the first troop withdrawal from South Vietnam.

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Battle of Khe Sanh  (January 21 – April 9, 1968)

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Battle of Khe Sanh  (January 21 – April 9, 1968)

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The Battle of Khe Sanh took place in Khe Sanh, northwestern Quang Tri province, South Vietnam from January 21, 1968, when PAVN troops began a heavy artillery bombardment on the U.S. Marine garrison at Khe Sanh. For the next 77 days, ARVN and U.S. Marines fought an extensive fight until Operation Pegasus ended the siege. Khe Sanh turned out to be one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.

Both sides claimed victory despite heavy casualties on the communists and the fact that the U.S. had to abandon a key combat base for the first time due to enemy pressure. Although U.S. officials expected a full-scale offensive from the North Vietnamese troops, it never came. Instead, Battle of Khe Sanh seemed a diversionary tactic to distract American & South Vietnamese forces from the Viet Cong build-up in the South for the “Tet Offensive”.

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Battle of Ia Drang (November 14-18, 1965)

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Battle of Ia Drang (November 14-18, 1965)

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Battle of Ia Drang was the first major battle between regular U.S. and People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) troops. The 2-part battle occurred from November 14 to 18, 1965 at the Landing Zone X-Ray and Albany in Ia Drang Valley, Central Highlands of South Vietnam. Despite heavy casualties on both sides, both claimed the battle was a victory of their owns. As a matter of fact, Ia Drang Valley battle was considered essential as it set the blueprint for tactics for both sides during the conflict. American troops continued to reply on air mobility and artillery fire to achieve their battlefield objectives.

On the other side, the Viet Cong learned that by quickly engaging their combat forces close to the enemy (fighting at close range), they could neutralize American advantages.

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The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the decisive engagement in the first Indochina War. After French forces occupied the Dien Bien Phu valley in late 1953, Viet Minh commander Vo Nguyen Giap amassed troops and placed heavy artillery in caves of the mountains overlooking the French camp. Boosted by Chinese aid, Giap mounted assaults on the opposition’s strong points beginning in March 1954, eliminating use of the French airfield. Viet Minh forces overran the base in early May, prompting the French government to seek an end to the fighting with the signing of the Geneva Accords of 1954.

Dien Bien Phu was important because it was the battle that resulted in the French giving up and leaving their colony in Indochina.  They had been fighting since soon after WWII to try to regain control over their colony, which had been taken from them by Japan during the war.  Their opposition was a group called the Viet Minh, which was led by communists.

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Ap Bac was a village in the Mekong Delta, about 40 miles southwest of Saigon. The Battle of Ap Bac began to develop in December 1962. Three Viet Cong companies built defensive positions along a mile-long canal connecting Ap Bac with the village of Ap Tan Thoi. The Vietcong dug in behind trees, grass, and shrubs with clear view of the surrounding rice fields. The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) Seventh Division attacked the position, and although they outnumbered the Vietcong by ten to one, they were defeated. ARVN was characterized by incompetent officers and terrible morale.

At the end of the battle on January 2, 1963, the ARVN had lost five helicopters and sixty dead, while the Vietcong suffered only three casualties. Although American military advisers in South Vietnam tried to claim the battle a victory because the Vietcong abandoned their position, the engagement showed how difficult a guerrilla war would be and how much learning the United States would have to do about the nature of warfare in Southeast Asia.

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On August 2, 1964, the U.S. destroyer Maddox exchanged shots with North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. Two days later, the Maddox and another destroyer reported once again coming under fire. The second of those attacks never actually occurred, it served as the pretext for an immediate ramp-up of the Vietnam War. By the end of the day, President Lyndon B. Johnson had ordered retaliatory air strikes, and by late 1965 some 180,000 American troops were on the ground, with more on the way.

The outcome of these two incidents was the passage by congress of the Gulf of tonkin resolution, which granted President lyndon B. Johnson the authority to assist any southeast asian country whose government was considered to be jeopardized by "communist aggression". The resolution served as Johnson's legal justification for deploying US conventional forces and the commencement of open warfare against North Vietnam.

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On January 31, 1968, some 70,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched the Tet Offensive(named for the lunar new year holiday called Tet), a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam.The tet offensive was a major turning point in the war.

On January 31, 1968, 70,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched an attack with the intent of breaking the alliance between the United States and the South Vietnamese and forcing the United States to negotiate or withdraw altogether. As vivid reports of the fighting were broadcast in the United States, it became clear to the U.S. public that the continued fighting had created a credibility gap between the administration's optimistic reports and the harsh reality of the war, and American support for the war dwindled.