The Tet Offensive was a series of interconnected attacks done in the early morning by a North Vietnamese force that happened on January 30-31 1968. The force had 85,000 soldiers and attacked and harassed 5 significant cities, dozens of military bases, and in smaller towns and villages. The attack got its name from the word tet the Vietnamese name for Lunar New Year which is when the attacks were done. 

Preceding the attack during July 1967 the North Vietnamese leaders decided to make a bold and risky plan to provoke the U.S. to stop the standstill. By December of 1967 the previous capital of South Vietnam Saigon (today being Ho Chi Minh City) there were signals of the North Vietnamese plotting an attack. Meanwhile the Vietcong were trying to make a revolt against the South Vietnamese government by riling up the citizens; this ended in a failure. 

In spite of the warnings of the North Vietnamese the South Vietnamese made no preparations for defense. This let the North Vietnamese through January 30-31 attack with greater force than the U.S. had expected. The North Vietnamese were able to capture parts of Saigon, 36 of the total 44 provincial capitals. While in Saigon they broke through the president's building and U.S. buildings. Northern troops located in Cho Lon marched to Hue the ancient capital of Vietnam. They stayed there and ruled over the fort until all troops were driven out by the U.S. and South Vietnamese on February 24th. After that only 7,000 to 17,000 of Hue's homes were left standing. 

Even though the North Vietnamese and Vietcong scarred South Vietnam psychologically and physically they did end up paying the price. A total of 60,000 communists died during the offense and the South Vietnamese seized 24,000 weapons. This was the highest casualty count the North Vietnamese and Vietcong had ever suffered. The U.S. and the Army of the Republic of South Vietnam (ARVN) had 12,727 casualties with over 2,600 deaths. 7,721 civilians were killed plus 18,516 hurt this also made 670,000 people refugees making a total of 1.5 million refugees in South Vietnam. 

The Vietcong and Northern Vietnamese had their mission halted by the ARVN and U.S. this also led to an anti Vietcong sentiment because of the losses and chaos they caused. After the offensive the U.S. became extra strict against the Vietcong and the execution rate became more than 500 per week which led to the anti Vietnam War attitude.