In London's Grosvenor Square, an enormous mob of anti-Vietnam War demonstrators tried to storm the US Embassy. The protest that really mattered was one of the most orderly. It took place in Belfast's Queen's University, and from it sprang People's Democracy, dedicated to civil rights reform in Northern Ireland. In January 1969 the nascent movement held a small, peaceful march from Belfast to Londonderry. It was nearly there when it was viciously ambushed and broken up by loyalist bigots at Burntollet Bridge.
Many observers believe that was the skirmish which marked the start of the modern Troubles .
The start of 1968 was marked by the thunderclap of the Tet offensive in Vietnam. The Americans there knew an attack was coming, but they were entirely unprepared for the scale and ferocity of the joint Vietcong-North Vietnamese onslaught. Guerrilla fighters, clearly willing to die for their cause, took over the northern city of Hue. Street battles erupted in Saigon, and even the US Embassy compound was occupied. In a separate engagement, the communists came close to overrunning the US Marine Corps base of Khe Sanh .