The Citadel

In many of the books that I have read and in the videos that I have watched about the war in Viet Nam, the Citadel is mentioned as a pivotal battle during the Tet Offensive in 1968. Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, was a major offensive against the Americans. In every province of South Vietnam, Viet Cong guerillas attacked. Tet was an absolute disaster for the Viet Cong, the South Vietnam guerillas. Tet was a huge military victory for the United States. The U.S. literally crushed the Viet Cong. Even now days there are few locally grown communists in south of Hue. The communists in North Viet Nam sacrificed the Viet Cong, the communists in the south, to win the war.

Tet was also a disaster for American Policy in Vietnam. Tet revealed what the Vietnam war was all about and turned the American public against the war. Tet showed that the war in Viet Nam was simply a war to kill the communists. We were not there to fight for freedom or democracy. We were there only to kill the opposition. American soldiers were used as bait to draw out the communists so that we could kill them. A few American soldiers were sacrificed, roughly 50,000, so that we could kill 1.5 to 2,000,000 communists and their supporters or suspected supporters. Some estimates run as high as 3 million.

I had forgotten this. At least it was not foremost on my mind when we toured the Citadel.

The Citadel is a fortress that surrounds the Emperor’s Palace, the Forbidden Purple City. This palace was patterned after the Forbidden City in Beijing. The outer wall is the fortress. The second wall encloses the city and the third wall houses the Emperor’s Palace.

During Tet the Viet Cong took control of the Citadel, the city and the palace. American Marines spent over a month fighting to regain control of the area. As we toured the grounds, we could see that much of the palace and city no longer exist. The area had been destroyed during the wars with France and the last of the buildings were destroyed killing the Viet Cong.

As a historian, I was appalled at the loss of the historical structures. The more I think about it, the more I am appalled at the loss of life on both sides of the conflict.

The Emperor’s city and palace was constructed according to the principles of Feng Shui, once again. The city is built on the north bank of the perfume river. To the east, down stream of the city is the island called the Green Dragon; to the west, upriver is the island called the White Tiger. These islands were defenders of the city and gave the city strength. The river also represents strength and power. Across the river, far to the south is a mountain. This mountain lines up with the gates of the Citadel, the Purple City and the Emperor’s palace.

The palace grounds are mainly ruble and foundations. A few buildings and parks recall the past, but these are only glimpses at what had been. My favorite building was the Emperor’s Library. This house was built to house the Emperor’s books and was a place where he would study. While the Emperor was in this building everyone else within the city was to be absolutely silent, so the Emperor could focus on his reading.

The area that had the most impact on me was toward the end of our tour. In front of the shrine to the 13 Emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty are bronze urns to burn incense for the dead rulers. In these urns are still scars from the battle in 1968. There are other bullet holes in buildings and walls in the structures that still stand, but these were the most identifiable physical marks left on the grounds that I could see.

Thinking about the Citadel, I now realize that I walked on hallowed ground.