Encryption Technology During WWII

Communication was, and is, necessary in all wars, especially in World War II. Messages between troops were attempted often, however, when strived, the translation was disrupted by German Militia trying to acquire information about American troops’ location and battle plans. During World War II, The United States allied forces utilized American Indians from the Navajo tribe, to hypothesize, fabricate, and execute, a government cipher for communicating between military forces that would remain undecipherable until legally released by military officials.

William Pollard once said, "Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient tomorrow." Maybe the generals of World War 1 (WW1) should have been told this when they used cavalry when they were outdated and rifles and machine guns were the weapons of this war. They found this out the hard way which sparked the time of technological innovations and changes that was WW1. The three technological innovations I will write about are machine guns, planes and tanks.

The technology of World War II, which lasted from 1939 to 1945, was a big part of the determination of the outcome of the war. Much of the technology was developed during the interwar years. Some of it was developed because of failure and hindrance in war progression, obviously because of inefficient technology. Still some was in the beginning stages of development as the war ended. Though earlier war greatly utilized science, mathematics, and innovation, World War II had the largest impact on the innovation in technology of the current lives of Americans. Furthermore, no war, preceeding or succeeding, was as profoundly affected by science, mathematics, and technology as World War II. Science and technology have always made

The years of World War II were tumultuous times. Death ravaged countries across the world, and aggression infected every international interaction. However, during those years, some of the most influential inventions in history were formed. Some of these inventions were purely helpful, some purely harmful. An example of each kind of invention respectively would be penicillin and the atomic bomb. Though penicillin is objectively more beneficial than the atomic bomb, both inventions had a major impact on society and led to developments in the world that may not have happened otherwise.

Technology played a key role in determining the outcome of World War II. The high military demand for more advanced technology acted as a catalyst for the development of technology in the interwar years of the 1920’s and 1930’s. Scientists and Engineers alike poured massive amounts of research and development time into supporting the war effort, and more advanced technology was developed at an alarmingly rapid rate. One notable fact about technology in World War II is that World War II is the first war in which many military attacks were designed

No such war was so strongly affected by math and science then WWII. The earliest technological advancements created during world war II was by the Nazi’s and there study of rockets and rocketry. They created the V-1 rocket which is a predecessor to the modern day cruise missile. As well as the V-2 missile which is like a modern day ballistic missile that flies into space and drops onto the enemy(Digital History). These missiles guiding systems were some of the first electronic computers ever created which created a base on which people built off of to create the computers of today. Early control centers aboard ships pioneered the networked, interactive

In the start of WWII that nations came up with many ways to communicate to each other without being intercepted by the enemy.Some ideas/inventions used during World War II included foot, mounted, motorcycle, automobile, airplane, homing pigeons, and the messenger dog. Along with physically going to deliver a message they also had made visual messages. Which included flags, panels for airplanes, lights, and pyrotechnics. But when they didn't want to use those ways to signal messages they would send the message electronically. Which included telephone, telegraph service, and the printing telegraph.

There have been many international spy rings and espionage missions in war throughout history, records dating even as far back as the American Revolutionary War era. Most agent files are compiled by looking through transcripts and records, but there is one particular World War II mission that tops the list in the level of significance and obscurity. In fact, according to the United Kingdom National Archives, “It is said that the Second World War was won in Switzerland.” The Rote Drei (German for “Red Three”), also known as the Lucy Spy Ring, is difficult to comprehend and was extremely challenging to record.The main reason for that is the only thing historians have to study are radio messages, which were in code and many of the agents had code names. The Rote Drei was primarily a Russian operation (with a few exceptions). Some of the only information open to the public are a few of the agents involved.

Warfare Will Be Determined By Electronic Means In A Few Decades, Either On The Ground Or In Cyber Space.

Lots of new technologies were created during World War I. All of these objects had a significant part in the war. Some inventions that were created during World War I were the tank, fighter plane, poisonous gas, and field bandages. The new technologies caused many casualties, but also helped save lives.

The concept of securing the messages through cryptography has a long history. The word cryptography stems from the two Greek words “crypto” and “grafein” meaning “hidden” and “write” respectively. Julius Caesar is credited with creating one of the earliest methods of cryptography system to send the message to his generals.

To achieve this goal, I have organized my paper into three different sections. Each section will focus on a segment on the history of encryption. In the first section I discuss classical and medieval encryption methods: steganography, and substitution ciphers. In the second section I will exclusively talk about encryption methods used in World War II, such as: Enigma Machine, and JN-25. In the third section I will talk about modern encryption methods: symmetric vs asymmetric key systems. Lastly I will conclude with a finishing paragraph, with my works cited.

When you think or stumble across the Holocaust, you may think of devastation and death around every corner, but there is more that just that. You have to look further and deeper, just to uncover hidden secrets of World War II. Just like the Lebensborn program, or in other words ‘Spring to life’, was a top secret operation that had somewhat of a positive effect, but like they, “With light comes darkness”. Although the Lebensborn had truly been a way to bring life into this world, or too help create the new Hitler’s new superrace, it had really only brought devastation with it. (Source 3 - Jewish Gen)

Since the great wars were fought globally, there was a need to transmit information globally and quickly. Telegraphs, telephones, radio waves, radar, and sonar did just that. The telegraph was invented in the 1830s by Samuel Morse and consisted of wires that carried electrical signals between stations; the operator would encode the message using Morse Code, a system of taps that signify words, and the recipient on the other side of the wire would decode the message sent in different patterns, print outs, or sounds. While this network infrastructure was used in the Civil War, it was also used during the World Wars by the use of the transatlantic cables which stretched through the Atlantic Ocean, connecting America, Great Britain and other locations. The telephone was created in 1877, and during the World Wars telephone lines were used to transmit information quickly. But, these methods proved unreliable and sometimes insecure; German troops could often tap into lines and break their codes. To confront this issue, cryptography was used often by both the Allied and Axis forces. For example, in World War I the US used Native Americans (Choctaw) to transmit information in their native language. Further, the Germans created the Enigma Machine, a cryptographic machine used to encipher and decipher messages; the machine was claimed by the Germans to be uncrackable, but with the use of Bombes (electromagnetic machines developed by the

Since the beginning of civilization, humans have needed a way to communicate in secret. Whether it be a letter to a lover or a set of orders for an army, it would be paramount for these messages to arrive unknown and untouched. However at some point, a person could easily apprehend the message; perhaps a spy or the letter bearer, nevertheless the chance of the message being compromised would be quite high. Thus one would have to change the message to appear as meaningless nonsense to those others than the intended recipient. This idea formed the basis of cryptography, the backbone of digital security.