History 1810E Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Tet Offensive, Participatory Democracy, Port Huron Statement
3 Nov 2016
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The vietnamese had home field advantage; they were fighting for national survival. They established a network of tunnels- allow them to escape from american bombing, move around undetected, supply depots, etc. The tunnels would help with hit and run tactics- they used to terrain to level the playing field against american technology. The nlf set booby traps- to hurt american soldiers. Minimizing the impact of the vastly superior american firepower. Victor charlie turned into mr. charles as a sign of respect. The nlf wanted to mobilize popular southern support. Emphasized the class based struggle, emphasized social justice. Initially these patriot appeals worked but as the war dragged on support for the nlf began to wane. Several reasons- (1) this was a protractile war- blamed the nlf for being unable to protect them, (2) land reforming ended pretty quickly, (3) people just wanted an end to the fighting. Becomes important for the next generation of nlf leaders.
