At 3:00 a.m. on January thirty-first, 1968, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces suffered numerous simultaneous assaults against South Vietnamese and American forces in major cities, towns, and military bases throughout Vietnam of the South. The fighting, the fiercest war, occurred on the same day as the New Year, or Tet, and has since been called the offensive text. It was a turning point in the war, but in its painful demonstration of the limits of American power in Asia and in the mental impact it would have on Americans at home it was much more than that. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The audacity of the Tet attackers reached into the depths of Saigon and, most surprisingly, to the walls of the American embassy. Some Viet Cong, in South Vietnamese uniforms, manned sections of the embassy for the first six hours of the offensive. According to Hanoi Radio, the aim of the attacks was to overthrow South Vietnam's president, Nguyen Van Thieu. The next day, the president of South Vietnam declared martial law throughout Vietnam. The offensive is believed to have ended on February 25, when the last enemy units were driven out of the imperial citadel of Hue. But the battles in Vietnam continued for seven years; eventually, the angry and disheartened United States withdrew from the war, and, eventually, the communist North Vietnamese army passed through the demoralized forces of South Vietnam. By mid-February (two weeks into the offensive ). Washington estimated enemy casualties at 33,249. Allied casualties were estimated at 3,470 dead, a third of them Americans, and 12,062 wounded, nearly half of them Americans. On February 25, the commander of the United States forces, General William C. Westmoreland, compared the Tet Offensive to Nazi Germany's last major action at the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, "advantage, but defeat." “Although the enemy gained some temporary psychological advantage, he suffered a military defeat,” the general said in Saigon. But American officials in Saigon also said the South Vietnamese and American governments were working to "pacify" the country. they were stopped following the offensive. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In the United States, a February poll showed President Lyndon B. Johnson's handling of the war. In March the poll was disapproved by 50% of the population and supported by 35%. The poll showed a wave of doubts about the war. That same month, former Secretary of State Dean Acheson, in a private meeting with the President of the United States, stated that victory in Vietnam would not be possible within the limits of public tolerance. On March 31, the president announced that he would not run for office. re-election. By then, approximately 4,000 Americans had died since the beginning of the year in battles that raged in most of South Vietnam's 44 provincial capitals. The North Vietnamese had lost 58,000 soldiers. More than 14,000 South Vietnamese civilians had also died.