My Research on The Tet OffensiveA David Hommer Production

Problems:Limited books written on the subject.Translation of Vietnamese into English for some documents.Material written on the subject usually written with a bias. Either nationalistic, incredibly pessimistic or overly optimistic.

Successes Finding material on the Tet Offensive is relatively

simple. The event is recent enough in history to be quite

well documented. Footage from the event. Finding source material from both sides has

proven to be a relatively uncomplicated matter. American and Vietnamese sources are both easy to locate. The best information on Communist forces in Vietnam comes from their record center in Hanoi directly.

Interesting Discoveries There is no official death toll

or participation count for Viet Cong forces in the Tet Offensive.

American intelligence knew about the plot, but without hard evidence decided to do nothing.

Of all of the sources on the Tet Offensive available for research, I have located 20 in total that seem useful and scholarly in their composition.

The Tet Offensive has been used ever since 1968 by guerilla and insurgent forces, as a military example of how to break a nation’s will with the aid of mass media.

Most Helpful Research Methods Academic Search

complete= First most useful. Books=Second most useful.

Google has its merits for research, but it is by no means the best.

A very special thank you to the United States National Archives.

Time Allocated to Research 10 visits to the

Simpson Library on campus so far.

About 4-5 hours a day reading through classified documents and written material on the web.

Several hours per week reading through ten books on the Tet Offensive, checked out from the library.

Expected Future Paths for Research My research on my topic is virtually

complete. The only real improvements to my

research would be speaking to someone who was fighting in the Tet Offensive as it happened, or possibly looking at actual footage of the Tet Offensive military strikes. Such video footage is rather plentiful.

Bibliography (AP Photo/Johner) Saigon Photo. Destruction of Saigon.

http://namvietnews.wordpress.com/a-look-back-at-the-vietnam-war-on-the-35th-anniversary-of-the-fall-of-saigon/35th-anniversary-of-the-fall-of-saigon-7/.

Arnold, R. James. Tet Offensive 1968: Turning Point in Vietnam. Osprey Publishing, September 18, 2012. Bassford, Christopher and Edward J. Villacres. Reclaiming The Clausewitzian Trinity. Parameters of the U.S. Army War College

Autumn, 1995. Clausewitz, Von Carl. Vom Kriege: On War. Translated by Colonel J. Graham. Produced by Charles Keller and David Widger.

Copyright 1874. New And Revised Edition. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1946/1946-h/1946-h.htm. Clarke, C. Jeffrey. The 1968 Battles of Quang Tri City and Hue-The Fight for the Triangle and the Citadel, West of Hue, Stalemate

in the Citadel. U.S. Government, Department of Defense, U.S. Military, U.S. Army. September 9, 2008. Ford, E. Ronnie. Tet 1968: Understanding The Surprise. (Frank Cass and Co. LTD. 1995). Gilbert, Jason Marc and William Head. The Tet Offensive. Praeger. (West Connecticut, London. 1996). Hess R. Gary. The Unending Debate: Historians and the Vietnam War. Wiley Blackwell, 1994. Kocher Matthew, Adam Pepinsky and Thomas N. Kalyvas, Aerial Bombing and Counterinsurgency in the Vietnam War. American

Journal of Political Science. Apr2011, Vol. 55 Issue 2. National Archives. Vietnam War. August 2013. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

http://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/electronic-data-files.html#landop. Oberdorfer, Don. TET! The Turning Point in the Vietnam War. John’s Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London. 1971. Paret, Peter. Clausewitz and the State. New York. Oxford University,1976. Robins, S. James. This Time We Win: Revisiting the Tet Offensive. Encounter Books, October 16, 2012. Schmitz, F. David. The Tet Offensive: Politics, War, and Public Opinion. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, INC. 2005. Summers,G. Harry. On Strategy: A Critical Analysis of The Vietnam War. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1982, Westmoreland, C. William. Seminar on Night Operations in Vietnam. Department of the Army, (United States Military Assistance

Command, South Vietnam April 13, 1969. Wills, Bradley. E-International Relations. Could the United States Have Won in Vietnam? King’s College London. December 2012.

(Accessed September 20th, 2013.) Willbanks, H. James. The Tet Offensive: A Concise History. Columbia University Press, New York, 2007. Wirtz, James J. The Tet Offensive: Intelligence Failure in War. (Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London 1991).