The Vietnam War that made 1968 a Unique Year - Essay Example

Number The Vietnam War that made 1968 a Unique Year The Vietnam War significantly contributed to 1968 being a uniqueyear in the world history. In his March 31 1968 diary, Lady Bird Johnson clearly indicates how this war shook the World and was recorded in historical books. Relevant information about the war is also recorded by Barbara Ehrenreich and John Ehrenreich, in the book, The International. This essay borrows most of the information from the two authors plus others and shows what they had in common.

This will clearly bring out the full information regarding this horrific war in the rest of this essay. Vietnam War contributed to 1968 being a unique year in world history. It was on January 31, 1968, when the Tet Offensive was launched by the North Vietnamese together with Viet Cong forces which caused mass destruction and heavy losses to the U.S. and the South Vietnamese (Ehrenreich & John, 121). This was the lunar New Year holiday which was called Tet when attacks were made in the South Vietnam, out of which more than 100 towns were fiercely attacked.

North Vietnam which is actually a communist society was in fight with their allies South Vietnam, a communist society and which obtained a back-up from the US army troops to fight the North Vietnamese (Kurlansky, 106). It was General Vo Nguyen Giap who came up with the plan of carrying out offensive attacks to South Vietnamese. The fight was so fierce and despite the fact that the U.S and the South Vietnamese were able to hold off the attacks made by the communists, they lost the battle to the North Vietnam (Ehrenreich & John, 122).

However, North Vietnam suffered many casualties but victoriously pushed out America from the region and this was regarded as the first phase of the battle which became to be the most famous. Thus, Vietnam War contributed to 1968 being a unique year in world history. The Tet Offensive was able to end the career of the president who was serving by then named President Lyndon B. Johnson (Gould, 33). The second phase started and it involved attacks on smaller towns which stretched from March 4 to June.

After this, another phase occurred but only lasted for one and a half month after which the U.S. and South Vietnamese obtained the control of the towns which the National Liberation Forces (NLF) had taken. They managed to take control of these towns but their military and civilians suffered heavily. May 10, 1968 was the day when the U.S. and the North Vietnam held peace talks which did not bore any fruit until Jonson gave a stop order towards the bombing of North Vietnam (Gould, 11). This war is said to have claimed so many lives of people out of which records shows that 30,000 Americans lost their lives by time Lyndon left the office and the fact that he refused to send more troops to Vietnam is a clear indicator that he admitted to have lost the war (Kurlansky, 149).

Richard Nixon succeeded President Lyndon and the main issue during the elections of the 1968 was that of the Vietnam War (Gould, 153). In conclusion, the Vietnam War has significantly contributed to 1968 being a unique year in the world history. This is because of the battle between the North Vietnamese who were in conflict with the South Vietnamese who were backed-up by the U.S. and were involved in serious battle recorded in the world history. In this war, the North Vietnam which is a communist society is said to have won the battle though the two sides suffered heavy casualties.

Work Cited Ehrenreich, Barbara, and John Ehrenreich. Long March, Short Spring: The Student Uprising at Home and Abroad. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1969. Print. Kurlansky, Mark. 1968: The Year that Rocked the World. New York: Ballantine, 2004. Print. Gould, Lewis L. 1968: The Election That Changed America. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1993. Print.