the face of massive retaliation by the U.S. Somewhere between 8,000 and 15,000 Communists soldiers were killed in the uprising (U.S. dead: 367; ARVN: about 700). It was a strategic defeat as well, because the civilian population failed to rise against the South Vietnamese government as the Communists had propagandized their own troops into believing would happen. Indeed, many in the South were further alienated by the Communist violation of the sacred Tet holiday.
Though a military defeat, the Tet Offensive was a tremendous propaganda victory for the