1968 in the Vietnam War
| 1968 in the Vietnam War | |||||
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← 1967
1969 →
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 Cholon after Tet Offensive operations 1968 |
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| Belligerents | |||||
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Anti-Communist forces:  South Vietnam United States South Korea Australia Philippines New Zealand Kingdom of Cambodia Thailand Kingdom of Laos Republic of China
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Communist forces:  North Vietnam Viet Cong Khmer Rouge Pathet Lao People's Republic of China Soviet Union North Korea
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| Strength | |||||
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US: 549,500 |
NVA/VC: 420,000 | ||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||
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US: 16,592 killed 87,388 wounded South Vietnam: 27,915 killed 172,512 wounded |
Unknown (US estimates: 191,000 - 208,254 killed ) | ||||
Anti-Communist forces:
Communist forces:
US: 549,500
South Vietnam: 820,000
South Korea: 50,000
Thailand: 6000
Australia: 7660
Philippines: 1580
The year 1968 saw major developments in the Vietnam War. The military operations started with an attack on a US base by the Vietnam People's Army (NVA) and the Viet Cong on January 1, ending a truce declared by the Pope and agreed upon by all sides. At the end of January, the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong launched the Tet Offensive. Although militarily the operation was a failure for the Vietnamese communists, for them it was a propaganda victory, as on the home front the American public were shocked by the images they were seeing on their televisions.
Reflecting this public outrage the media made a number of iconic news stories including Peter Arnett quoting an unnamed US major as saying, "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it." Eddie Adams' iconic image of South Vietnamese General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan's execution of a Vietcong operative was taken in 1968. The year also saw Walter Cronkite's call to honourably exit Vietnam because he thought the war was lost. This negative impression forced the US into the Paris peace talks with North Vietnam.
US troop numbers peaked in 1969 with President Johnson approving an increased maximum number of US troops in Vietnam at 549,500. The year was the most expensive in the Vietnam war with the American spending US$77.4 billion (US$ 533 billion in 2017) on the war. The year also became the deadliest of the Vietnam War for America and its allies with 27,915 South Vietnamese (ARVN) soldiers killed and the Americans suffering 16,592 killed compared to around two hundred thousand of the communist forces killed. The deadliest week of the Vietnam War for the USA was during the Tet Offensive specifically February 11–17, 1968, during which period 543 Americans were killed in action, and 2547 were wounded.
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