Codebreaking

= = Emily and Eric

__Different types of Codes__ - Trench Code - Mohawk Code - Huron Code

Code Breaking was used widely in history and during the First World War it became much more advanced. Communications became more advanced such as the early radio telegraph and the Wireless telephone. These communications became to easy to intercept so they adopted special codes so they enemy couldn't now their plans. Some of these new codes were the Trench Code, Huron Code, and the Mohawk Code which had different words to them but were all understood as " Trench Code". The allied countries were the first to start breaking codes, Britain and France were the first countries to adopt Trench Codes in 1916. The French were notably good at cracking ciphers but were less succesful at cracking codes. The British were decent at cracking codes and cracked the most important code in World War 1 the Zimmerman Telegram which was written by the German Arthur Zimmerman who sent a telegram to the German minister in Meixco was intercepted by the British decoders in " Room 40". This decoding became important because after this incident America joined the side of the Allies which proved crucial to succes of the allies. The Germans began using Trench codes in 1917 and they adopted a 4000 word book in which they changed the words at least twice a month which became harder for the allies to intercept. When the United States entered the war in 1917 they adopted Trench Codes in the early 1918 and wrote their codes on paper so that they could be disposed easier. Communication was a big factor in winning the war. The Radio became equipped to airplanes, navy vessel, and were carried by Field commander. Code Breaking became was soon practiced widely in the war and people were trained for this type of job. Stealing the plan of the enemies gave the allies more time to react to the situation.

Who: Britain, France, United States, Germany When: 1914-1919 code breaking continous today and is much more advanced. Where: Seeing that codebreaking soon became more involved and complicated throught the time of WWI, the creation of Codebreaking bureaus took place in order to have somewhere to work on encrypting codes. Room 40 is one of the most well known and most successful codebreaking bureau, which is located in London. These bureaus were places where the sent information was kept safe from outsiders, while trying to decipher the code.



Cited Info: - "The National Cryptologic Museum." __The National Cryptologic__. 22 Mar. 2009 .__

- Trench Code__. 22 Mar. 2009 .__

- Arthur Zimmerman__. 20 Mar. 2009 .

- "Arthur Zimmerman."__ Arthur Zimmerman__. 4 Mar. 2009. Wiki. 19 Mar. 2009 .

- "Teaching with Document The Zimmerman Telegram."__ Teaching with Document the Zimmerman Telegram__. 4 Apr. 1981. 22 Mar. 2009 .

- "4.0 Codes and Code Breakers in World War 1."__ Http://www.vectorsite.net__. 1 Jan. 2009. 19 Mar. 2009 .__

"Trench Codes." __Trench Codes__. 22 Mar. 2009 .

__Background on Codebooks__ During the war, fighting countires relied on codes in order to secure and protect important information from outside enemies. Codebooks were a vital source during WWI that included everything, like secret information on plans that were going to take place. For example, when German codebooks fell into the hands of the British during the war, having possession of them allowed the British to know where German ships were located. __Breaking the Codes__ WWI was the start of code breaking, and only until WWII did they have more advanced equipment to help break difficult codes. The wireless telegraph allowed the communication of secret codes(over telephone), although it could be easily tapped into and broken. German messages were intercepted through radios, which then were passed along to 'Room 40' where British cryptology experts then decoded the message for them. It was not an easy task to try and break a code, so cryptology experts trained in mathematics, logic, or languages was a necessity. >  > BEFORE  > Above is a picture of the Zimmermann Telegram when it was sent by Germany, to Mexico. As you can see, this is what a mesage looks like when it is coded. > > AFTER > This is a picture of the same message which was decrypted by the British that can now be read. Instead of it being just numbers, it is now an understandable English document. // Importance: // > > **Cited Information and pictures**
 * "The Zimmermann Telegraph", was the most famous document that was decoded during WWI.
 * Being able to codebreak made such a huge impact on the outcome of the war. It changed the way the war was faught, because codebreaking gave many countries advantages if they were able to discover and crack other secret messages that were helpful throughout the war-- for example, with the huge help of Britian's Room 40 codebreakers, the Royal Navy had a major advantage in Jutland by already being aware of German ships comming. The skill of codebreaking played a major role throughout the war, and being able to have people decoding messages like the Zimmermann Telegram, soon lead to bringing the United States into the World War, by delaring war on Germany and its allies, which definitely made an impact on the outcome.
 * Lerner, Adrienne. "World War I - National intelligence communities, Sabotage, Communications and cryptology, Trench warfare and the evolution of strategic espionage tradecraft, Chemical weapons." Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security. 22 Mar. 2009 
 * "Channel4.com - The First World War." Channel 4. 22 Mar. 2009 .
 * Lerner, Adrienne. "World War I - National intelligence communities, Sabotage, Communications and cryptology, Trench warfare and the evolution of strategic espionage tradecraft, Chemical weapons." Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security__. 22 Mar. 2009 
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