Gerilla Savaşının Stratejisini Anlamak: Tet Saldırısı Örneği, 1968

Yıl 2023, , 181 - 212, 27.04.2023

Mustafa Özveren , Kaan Kutlu Ataç

https://doi.org/10.17752/guvenlikstrtj.1202285

Cited By: 1

Öz

Bu çalışma, Vietnam Savaşı’nın dönüm noktası olan Kuzey Vietnam Ordusu ve Viet Kong’un 1968’de gerçekleştirdiği Tet Saldırısı’nın askeri bir mağlubiyete rağmen politik zafere nasıl ulaştığını analiz etmektedir. Genelde savaş, özelde ise gerilla mücadelesi, politik hedefler içeren şiddet olayları sürecidir. Bu anlamda silahlı mücadelenin önemli hedeflerden biri, irade üstünlüğünün, en az kayıp ile hasma kabul ettirilmesidir. Psikoloji ise, bu meydan okumanın en önemli değişkenleri arasındadır. Nitekim savaşta en büyük başarı, zararı en alt düzeyde tutarak hasmın mücadele azmini ve direncini kırmaktır. Bu bağlamda gerilla savaşı, gayri nizami harp yöntemlerini içeren bir yıpratma savaşı olarak, psikolojik unsurları da açığa çıkaran bir araştırma alanıdır. Bu çalışma, 1968’de gerçekleştirilen Tet Saldırısı örneği üzerinden gerilla savaşının stratejik yapısını açıklamayı hedeflemektedir. Literatürde Vietnam Savaşı’nın dönüm noktası olduğuna yönelik bir fikir birliği bulunan Tet Saldırısı, askeri başarısızlığın politik anlamda başarıya nasıl ulaşabileceğini anlamak açısından önemlidir. Viet Kong gerillalarının hasımlarından yedi kat daha fazla zayiat verdiği bu saldırı, hasımlarını Vietnam Savaşı hakkında bir umutsuzluğa sürüklemiştir. Çalışmanın tarihsel sınırlılığı 1967-1975 tarihleri arasındadır. Çalışma, Türkçe literatüre, gerilla savaşı konusunu Tet Saldırısı üzerinden inceleyerek katkı sunmayı hedeflemektedir. Bu analiz, savaşın psikolojik unsuru gibi soyut boyutlarının yarattığı etki ile kapasite açısından savaşın belirleyici unsurlarından birisi olabileceğini de göstermektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Gerilla Savaşı, Tet Saldırısı, Strateji, Vietnam Savaşı, Viet Kong

Teşekkür

Sayın editör ve hakemlere emekleri için şimdiden teşekkürleri borç biliriz.

Understanding the Strategy of Guerrilla Warfare: The Case of the Tet Offensive, 1968

Öz

This study analyses how the Tet Offensive of the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong in 1968, the turning point of the Vietnam War, achieved political victory despite a military defeat. War, in general, and guerrilla struggle, in particular, is a process of violent events involving political goals. In this sense, one of the most important goals of the armed struggle is to impose the superiority of the will on the opponent with the least loss of life. Psychology is among the most important variables of this challenge. As a matter of fact, the greatest success in war is to break the resistance of the opponent by keeping the damage to a minimum. In this context, guerrilla warfare, as a war of attrition that includes unconventional warfare methods, is a field of study revealing psychological elements. This study aims to explain the strategic nature of guerrilla warfare through the example of the Tet Offensive in 1968. The Tet Offensive, which has been widely accepted in the literature to be the turning point of the Vietnam War, is essential in understanding how a military defeat can achieve political success. This military attack, in which the Viet Kong guerrillas suffered seven times more damage than their adversaries, drove the adversaries of Viet Kong guerrillas into despair about the Vietnam War. This study analyses how the Tet Offensive achieved political victory despite a military defeat. The historical limitation of the study is between 1967 and 1975. The study is expected to contribute to Turkish literature by examining the issue of guerrilla warfare through the Tet Offensive. The analysis shows that the intangible dimensions of the war such as psychological aspects can be one of the determining factors of the war in terms of its capacity and the impact it creates.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Guerrilla Warfare, Tet Offensive, Strategy, Vietnam War, Viet Cong

Kaynakça

• CIA Reading Room: Tet Declassified, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/ collection/tet-declassified, erişim 21.10.2022.
• CIA, Communist Units Participating in Attacs During the Tet Offensive 30 January Through 13 February 1968, 23 February 1968, https://www.intelligence. gov/assets/documents/tet-documents/cia/COMMUNIST%20UNITS%20 PARTICIPA[15562094].pdf, erişim 12.04.2022.
• CIA, Reading Room: Notes of the President’s Meeting With the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 29 January 1968,https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/ NOTES%20OF%20THE%20PRESIDENTS%20M%5B15478203%5D.pdf, erişim 22.10.2022.
• CIA, Reading Room: Radio TV Reports: The Uncounted Enemy: a Vietnam Deception, 23 January 1982, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP88-01070R000100040003-8.pdf, erişim 22.10.2022.
• FBIS, Article by Drv Defense Minister Giap “The Big Victory; The Great Task”, 16 October 1967, https://www.marxists.org/archive/giap/1969-00001.pdf, erişim 21.02.2023.
• AN Tai Sung (1980). “Old Soldier Giap in His Twilight Years”, Contemporary Southeast Asia, 2:3, 241-249.
• BOWDEN Mark (2017). Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam, Atlantic Monthly Press, New York.
• CARVER Michael (1986). “Conventional Warfare in the Nuclear Age”, Peter Paret, (ed.), Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, Princeton University Press, New Jersey.
• CHAM Riley (1974). “The Spanish Resistance to Napoleon”, The Historical Journal, 17:4, 792-812.
• CLAUSEWITZ Carl Von (2020). Savaş Üzerine, Çev. Emre Yıldız, Gece Kitaplığı, Ankara.
• DEDEOĞLU Beril (2018). Uluslararası Güvenlik ve Strateji, Yeniyüzyıl Yayınları, İstanbul.
• ESDAILE Charles, J. (2003). The Spanish Resistance to Napoleon: Myth, Memory, and National Identity, University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma.
• FALK Richard (1988). “Appropriating Tet”, The Massachusetts Review, 29:3, 391-420.
• FORREST Alan, HAGEMANN Karen ve ROWE Michael, (ed.), (2017). War, Demobilization and Memory: The Legacy of War in the Era of Atlantic Revolutions, Palgrave Macmillan, London.
• FREEDMAN Lawrence (2019). Strateji: Bir Tarih, Çev. Taciser Belge ve Belkıs Çorakçı Dişbudak, Alfa Basım Yayım, İstanbul.
• GATES David (2015). The Napoleonic Wars 1803-1815, 3rd Edition, New York, Routledge.
• GALULA David (2006). Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice, London, Praeger Security International, Praeger Security International, London.
• GELFAND Michele, NISHII Lisa H. ve RAVER Jana L. (2006). “On the Nature and Importance of Cultural Tightness-Looseness”, Journal of Applied Psychology, 91:6, 1225-1244.
• GIÀP Võ Nguyên (1961). People’s War People’s Army, English by Foreign Languages Publishing House, Hanoi. GIÀP Võ Nguyên (1976). Halk Savaşının Askeri Sanatı, Çev. Neşet Alkan, Yöntem Yayınları, İstanbul.
• GILLAM James, T. (1995). “Historical, Social, and Personal Effects of a War and a Battle: The Vietnam War, and the Tet Offensive”, Journal of Third World Studies, 12:2, 14-43.
• GUAN Ang (1998). “Decision-Making Leading to the Tet Offensive (1968) – Tet Vietnamese Communist Perspective”, Journal of Contemporary History, 33:3, 341-353.
• HART Liddlee (2015). Strateji: Dolaylı Tutum, Çev. Selma Koçak, Doruk Yayınları, İstanbul.
• HAUSE Robert J., HANGES Paul J. vd. (ed.), (2004). Culture, Leadership and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Socities, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
• HAUSER Betarice (2007). “Introduction”, Carl Von Clausewitz, On War, Çev. Michael Howard ve Peter Paret, Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York.
• HOGE Charles W., CASTRO Carl ve EATON Karen M. (2015). “Understanding the culture and psychology of war”, American Psychologist, 70:6, 563-573.
• JOHNSON Chalmers (1968). “The Third Generation of Guerilla Warfare”, Asian Survey, 8:6, 435-447.
• KANE Thomas M. ve LONSDALE David J. (2016). Çağdaş Stratejiyi Anlamak, Çev. A. Tunçer Büyükonat, Doruk Yayınları, İstanbul.
• KEEGAN John (1995). Savaş Sanatı Tarihi, Çev. Füson Doruker, Bilgin Yayıncılık, İstanbul.
• KENNEDY Paul (2001). Büyük Güçlerin Yükseliş ve Çöküşleri: 16. Yüzyıldan Günümüze Ekonomik Değişim ve Askeri Çatışmalar, Çev. Birtane Karanakçı, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, İstanbul.
• KILCULLEN David (2009). The Accidental Guerilla: Fighting Small Wars in the midst of a Big One, Oxford University Press, New York.
• KISSENGER Henry (2000). Diplomasi, Çev. İbrahim H. Kurt, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, İstanbul.
• LAQUEUR Walter (1975). “The Origins of Guerilla Doctrine”, Journal of Contemporary History, 10:3, 341-382.
• LAWRENCE Thomas Edward (2009). The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, BN Publishing, New York.
• LEFEVER Ernest W. (1974). TV and National Defense – An Analysis of CBS News, 1972-1973, Va: Institute for American Strategy, Boston.
• MACHIAVELLI Niccolo (2018). Savaş Sanatı, Çev. Alev Tolga, Say Yayınları, İstanbul.
• MAO Tse-tung (2000). On Guerrilla Warfare, Çev. Samuel B. Griffith, University of Illinois Press, Illlionis.
• MCMASTER H.R (1998). Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam, Harper Perennial.
• MILITARY HISTORY BRANCH (1968). Military Assistan Command Vietnam, Command History 1968, San Francisco.
• MITCHELL Michael C. (1984). “Television and the Vietnam War”, Naval War College Review, 37:3, 42-52.
• MUELLER John E. (1980). “The Search for the “Breaking Point” in Vietnam: The Statistics of a Deadly Quarrel”, International Studies Quarterly, 24:4, 497-519. ORWELL George (2018). Hayvan Çiftliği, Çev. Celal Üster, Can Sanat Yayınları, İstanbul. PALMER Dave Richard (1969). Readings in Current Miltary History, West Point, New York. PRADOS John (1993). “The Warning That Left Something to Chance: Intelligence at Tet”, The Journal of American-East Asian Relations, 2:2, 161-184. ROBBINS James (2010). This Time We Win: Revisiting The Tet Offensive, Encounter Books, New York, London. SCHELLING Thomas (1980). The Strategy of Conlict, Harward University Press, Cambridge. SCHMITZ David F (2005). The Tet Offensive: Politics, War, and Public Opinion, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham. SINGH Baljit ve MEI Ko-Wang (1965). “Guerilla Warfare”, India Quarterly, 21:3, 285-310.
• TANNER Stephen (2005). Bush’ların Savaşı: Askeri Liderler Olarak Bir Baba ve Oğlun Portresi, Çev. Ayşe Doğancı, Elips Kitap, Ankara.
• TOLSTOY Leo (2010). War and Peace, Oxford University Press, New York.
• TZU Sun (2019). Savaş Sanatı, Çev. Barış Satılmış, İndigo Yayın Dağıtım, İstanbul.
• ZEDONG Mao (1965). “Problems of Strategy in Guerilla War Against Japan”, Peking Review, No: 35, 1-32.
• WIRTZ James J. (2017). Understanding Intelligence Failure: Warning, response and deterrence, Routledge, New York and London.
• WORTH Richard (2002). Tet Offensive (Battles That Changed the World), Chelsea House Publishers, Philadelphia.
• Guerilla, https://www.etymonline.com/, erişim 10.04.2021.
• https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/active_learning/explorations/vietnam/cronkite.cfm, erişim 22.10. 2022.
• The President’s Address to the Nation Announcing Steps To Limit the War in Vietnam and Reporting His Decision Not To Seek Reelection, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-address-the-nation -announcing-steps-limit-the-war-vietnam-and-reporting-his, erişim 22.10.2022.
• U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive, 1968, https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/tet, erişim 22.10.2022.
• WORDSWORTH, William; The Power of Armies Is a Visible Thing, 1947, https://allpoetry.com/The-Power-of-Armies-is-a-Visible-Thing, erişim 11.04.2021.
• World Book, Tet Offensive 50 (Görsel), https://www.worldbook.com/behind-the-headlines/Tet-Offensive-50, erişim 14.05.2021.