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Intelligence and spying seem as old as war itself. Espionage is not as well documented as actual war, but there are a wide range of historical accounts. And of course there is a narrow line between diplomacy and espionage. Diplomats had the advatage oif immuniy. We note early references in the Bible. Some of the best known ancient accounts are the ancient writings of Chinese and Indian military strategists such as Sun-Tzu in China and Chanakya in India. Modern espionage is better documented. Often it is the weaker combatant that is more concerned with espionahe, but that is not always the case. George Washington had an active spy system during the Revolutionary war. Spies were active in the American Civil War. The most detailed accounts of espionage exist for World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. Several of the spy agencies involved became world famous. The 20th century had a major impact on intelligence. With the advent of radio. elecronic or signals intelligence became a whole new and critical area of spying. The wide-spread and fast moving operations involved in modern war necesitated the use of wireless (radio) communications. But this meant that they could be easily intercepted. Thus code making and breaking became imprtant as never before. And differences developed because of the closed nature of the totalitarian societies which developed after World War I. This resulted in major differences between the various intelligence services. Different services have their own chracter abd values as well as preferred methods. The Soviet Union durung the Cold War focused on human sources rather than research in open sources. Thecappealmof Communist ideologybprovided many willing recruits all over the world. The United States in contrast tended to emphasize technological methods, in part because of the closed nature of Soviet society. Even with the end of the Cold War, espionage has not ended. Both China and Russia are very active. Espionage is generally associated with governmental organizations or politucal mivements. There is also commercial spying which became of some importance in the 20th century. And the advent of the computer has had a major impact on spying.
We see accounts of spying at an early phase of history after the invention of writing (mid-4th mellinum). Time is a major factor in our knowledge about espionage. The furhrr bck in history w go, gh more dosrce od outr knowlwdge and the more limited scruk verifivke accoiunts. Some if the induviduals reported nay have been more mythiczl than actual historic figures. As we moved ijnyto modern timers we have much more infirmation amd more reliable accounts. Early writing systems were primitive, but by the 2nd millenium we have sophisticated writing systems describing more than commercial interactions, including accounts of spying. Many of the bcient ccounts are not related to information gathering, but more relates to what now might be called special opertations. The nibkle is a particularly interestung source because we get very hujman deocy=tions if the individuals invilved. The earliest accounts come from the Middle East, because this is where civilization and writing first appeared. Writing not only proivided wus of delivering secret reports, but a way to record description s of espionge. lso interesting in yhe differing atitude toward espionage and spies in different cultures.
There is evidence of stying in the eakliest civilization--Mesopotamia. As soon as writing appeared there is evudence of spying. Of course this suggests that there was spying before writing, but there is of course no written record. A clay tablet from a commander named Banun to his war lord describing mysterious fire signals on the border (20th century BC). Unfortunately we have no further details.
The Hittites were one if the major Bronze Age powers. Evidence of diplomatic exchanges have been found with Egypt. And of course one of the purpses of diplomacy is intelligence gathering. Much of the evidence comes from Hittite sources (late-14th century BC). There is corrspomdence wiuth the widdow of the boy pharoah Tutenkamen. She seems to been searchung for a new husband. Marriuages in royal families were not pesonal matters, but state matters. There is speculation that she feared for her life. This was not a decision dsh could hve made on hrr own, except in secret. Marriage to a princd of a rival power would have meant a high matter of state. Sone of the earliest known battles of history are between the Egyptians and Hittites. The Hittites were unsure if this was a real offer or some kind of plot. Utimately a Hittite prince was sent, but died during the journey.
The ancient Egyptians had a thoroughly developed system for the acquisition of intelligence. A letter from Pharonic times describes efforts by a foreign spy to ascertain the meaning of Egyptian fires. [Dossin] There has been a suggestiin that the priesthood was inlved iun soying and perhaps counter intelligence in opart because they were the most literate section of the population. [Liulevicius]
The Bible is in mny ways the most desriotive of all ancuient soiurces. And it is chock full of spy stories.
Moses himself when he led the Israelirtes out iof Egyotian slkavery, sent 12 spies out to scout what lay before them. The dates involved have been debated but the early-13th cebturry BC is a good approximation. The Israelis wre skeptical of their reports anbd reoportesly as aesult windered 40 years in the Wilderness.
Joshua wjo replace Mosses also restorted to spying as he proceed with the conquest of Canan. His most important target was Jerico. It is interesting that the three most famous spies from the Bible are women. It is unclear to what extent the two women spies are legend are actual indivuiduals. The Old Testmament accounts of spying were not commited to writing until more than 500 years after the events described. The story of Rahab the harlot in the Book of Joshua is an early account of spying (Joshua 2:1-24). She provided what might be called a safe house. And we learn about her famous red cord. Her spying in Jerico has been roughly dated to the early-12th century BC.
The prophetess Deborah is one of the classic spies of history (Judges 4 and 5). Deborah was a woman divinely appointed by God to lead and judge Israel. The only named female Judge. Deborah inform Barak. the Ideraeli miklitary commander, that he needed to muster an army/ to wage war on the Cannnites. {Judh=ges 4:6] She inspired the Isreaelis to great victorues.
Perhaps the most celebrated spy in the Bible is Delilah, perhaps the first 'femme fatale' of history. She was bribed to entrap and bring down the Isreaeli strongman Samson (Judges 16).
The acount Judith has been described as the world’s first behind-enemy-lines spy story. [Book of Judith] Judith was a beautiful widow. When Holofernes, one of the Nvazlonian King Nebuchadnezzar the Great's generals, laid siege to her town and cut off the water supply, the town people dedcided to surrender. Judith wanted to resist. She crossed over the enemny lines and entered Holofernes' camp. She presented herself as a defector and divner. She ingratiated herself to him. Judith was even more ruthless than Yael in tyhe Judith asccount. Holofernes fell into a druken stupor. k, Judith devered his head and returned home, carrying the head in a bag. One wonders about the autgebtucity of the story, but it speaks as to the ikprtanced of sxpies ij the bcuent world and the role of ewomen in anciuent Israel.
The most infamous spy of history appears in the New Trestanentt and has to be Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. [Matthew 26:15] This was an early depiction of the spy as a traitor which continues to this fate in the Wesrern mind. This attitude is less prevalent in Asia..
Cyrus the Great created one of the world's greatest empires. The Empire was so grat that it could not be governed centrally. The Persians had a system of satraps, essentially giovernotrs who ere given a great degree of autonomy, largely because of the vast duastanves emcompased by the Empire. The Emperor would routinenly send out inspectors tomassess how well he satrapsnwere governing. Autonomy was, however, an kn=bitation to revolt and lolss of control. A Greek historian reoprts that Cyrus set up a ststen by whic the satraps were subk=lect to inspection, both official and covert. [Xenophon] The annual official inspctors were known as the king's brothers or eyes of the king. (This was the inspiratiin for 'hand of the king' in 'Game of Thrones'although the role is different. Apparentlt the Emperor would reprtedly send an inspector and he would never show up or appear officually,mpersumbly playing mind games with the satraps. The idea for them to be hinest, loyal, and dutiful. Other Greek officers aklso report the practice, suggesting that there may have vbeen a corps of these inspectors. The whole opertation would have been aided by roads the Empeots bult and system of royal mail--a kind of Pomy Express system. The Greeks saw the Persdians as particularly 'cunning'--an obvious cagaryristic needed for spying. But the Greeks also had spies. A famous tale about Emperor Xerxes relates to three captured Greek spies. [Herodotous] When Xerxes he herad of themn he cancelled their execution. Instread he had them escorted to varios military facilities, assessing that they would impressed with the size and might of the Persian Empire--making war unnecessary.
Accounts of spying come much later in China than he Middle East. Alkmost certainly spying was prevalent long before written accounts appeared. The first imprtant description comes from Sun Tzu (544-496). He was was a Chinese general and military strategist of uncertain histrodicity. He commited his idea to witing which have bee very influebtial. [Sun] He famously advised advised, "One who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be endangered in a hundred engagements." [Sun] One if hus central nessages is espionage. The final chapter of his book is devoted to espionage. He presents the maxim that 'all wrfare is based on deception'. He dvoted great detail to dspies snd spycraft. He maintains that actual battles are to be avoided. Battkes whiich are both costly and have uncertain outcomes. Dun Tzu emphasized that hile bttles wre cistly, espionage requires a very modest exopense in comparison. And when battles occur, surpise was vital. The need for spying would have been particularly importnt in the Waring States period (453-247 BC). And of course influnced Japamese mlitary thinking as rcently as the Pacific War.
Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Maurya Empire in India, famously made use of assassinations, spies and secret agents. This is all described in Chanakya's Arthasastra which depicts soying as an acceotable, useful practice. Chanakya (375-283) is described as an Indian polymath who was a renounded author, economist, jurist, philosopher, strategist, teacher, and perhaps most importntly a royal advisor. He is often referred to as Kauṭilya or Vishnugupta. He publised the most important ancient Indian political treatise -- the Arthashastra. It was a detailed guide book on how a king should rule. And important among the instructions was to employ and use spies. He even described all kinds of different types of spies. He stressed that spies shoiud be ckoses as indivuduals of 'foresight anbd pure caracter'. This of course itvhow spies are commonly seen in the Western mind. TYhere are references the 'femme fatale' so nprevalebt un Western literature. Particularly importnt is the degree to which soes were instituionlized in India, reporting to a cebtral bureau collkdcting abd evaluating inteligence reports. [Liulevicius] The Arthashastra was probably written in the early 3rd century BC. Chanakya is widely seen as the founder political science and economics in India. Chanakya was an imortant adviser to first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta as he rose to power and founded his Empire. Chanakya was the chief advisor to both Chandragupta and his son Bindusara.
Spies were used in both the Greek and Roman empires. And becasuse of the surviving literature, these are the ancient socities we know most about. TMixed in with espopnsage is whst became known as special opetations during World War II. The most famous specific account hsd to be the legnd of the Trojan Horse in the Greekdfeat of Troy. [Homer znd Vergil] The Greeks were merchants and traders who rnged throughout the Mediterranran snd Black Aeas. This they were in a perfect position to spy and benefit from spying. The Spartans were know for aystem of intenal spying used to control their slave populsation of Helots. Young Spatsan men wre assigned to The Crypteia. A secret orgsozation assigned to ferrt out potential Heliotl eaders who might oprganize a slave rrevolt--thr prescursor of the secret police forces of modern totalitsarian regimes. Alexnder th Great was known for podstal cansorship. The Greeks provide us with edarly example of coded messages, alythough historins re skptivl of some of the accounts. We note ccountsd of especcially rolled scrolls nd messages protected by zani,mal bldders inm amphora of wine. TYhere are lso ccounts of Roman spies and espionage. During the Punic Wars, the Romans obtained a letter that Catheginina genberal Hasdurbal wrote to his brother Hannibal operating to the south in Itlay (207 BC). Information in the letter allowed the Romans to comcentrate their forces at the Metaurus River and gain a rare victory. [Livy] Scipio Africanus (236-183 BC) was pryticularly notable for the use of spies. When sending evoys fo nedgitiste wuth nrnors, hne wsould include cebturins disguised as slaves who might more easily collect intelikgnc than an induvual sen as a milkitry man. An espcially notable user of military intelligence wss Julius Cearsar. Perhaps the most fmpus cipher of all time is the Caesar Cypher. He seems less focused thnm other Romsn leaders about pting on his political nemies swhich led to his assaination.
Al Qaeda tells its supportes, "Since Islam is superior to all human conditions and earthly religions, it permits spying for itself but not for others." [Al Qaeda Manual Eleventh Lesson] Islam from its cbeginnings in the Arabian Desert has a long history of espionage as it is an integral element of Jihad-Holy War. And for Islam, espionage ad spying is not an extraneous activity, it is central to the Islamic world view of the infidel. Modern Al Qaeda operatives cite the Prophet and the Koran as religious, operational and inspirational models in much the same way thatvthe Holy Koran is the basis for Sharia Law.
There are no analogous texts or models in Christian New Testanment Buddhist religious texts.
Mongols relied heavily on spies in their conquests of Asia and Europe. Contemprary accounts use the term 'hordes' to describe the Mongols, but in fact Mongol armies were usually smaller than the defending forces.
Feudal Japanese rulers used ninja to gather intelligence.
Espionage played an important role Elizabethan England. Elizabeth's spy master was Francis Walsingham and probably saved her head. Wassingam operated the first intelligence service we knowof in history. Spies of cporse date back millenia, but an intellgence service is much more modern.
Aztecs used Pochtecas. Cortez used Malinche.
Intelligence and espionage played an important role in the Revolutionary War. America was an epecially fertile ground for inteligence gathering because the popultion included large numbers of people who were either loyalists and patriots as well as many who were uncommitted to either side. And there was not way of identifying spies from ethnic or national background. Noth Patriots and Loyalist looked alike and spoke English. From the beginning in Boston, intelligence and espionage was important. Patriots in Boston warned the militias acriss the Bay in Massachusetts that the Briish were coming. Spies were in fact everywhere. One especially high-placed spy was Genral Howe's wife in Boston. He shipped her home to avoid an arrest and trial. Pennsylvania became a hotbed of spying because the Continenal Government (the Congrss) was located there. Washington was deeply invested in the spy business. One historian writes. "George Washington, having realized his mistake when he evcuated New York City in 1776 in not establishing a stay-behind spy network, did not make the same mistake twice .... [During] the spring of 1777, he instructed General Thomas Mifflin to set up a spy system in Philadelphia. Washingtion's instruction specifically included the recruiting of Quakers as spies because they would draw the least suspicion as they refused on religious grounds to serve in a military conflict." [Nagy] When the British occupied Philidelphia, Washington was thus able to use Patriot spies to keep apraised of British intentions. And after the British withdrawl to the New York area, Loyalists kept the British apraised of Congress and the Continental Army. The most famous Patriot spy was Nathan Hale who the British hung. In retaliation, Washington ordered Major Andre who was working with Benedict Arnold hung.
Spies were active in the American Civil War on both sides.
The Great Game was was the strategic rivalry between the British and Tsarist Russian Empires for aimed at entending their infuence into Central Asia. Historians commonly date the rivalry from the Russo-Persian Treaty (1813) to the Anglo-Russian Convention (1907). The British interest derived from the importance of the Raj in India--the most important element of the British Empire. It was in Afghanistant that Russia influence from Central Asia met and competed with British interests from the Indian sub-continent. The Great Game was a contributing factor in the Crimean War (1853-56). The Great Game was one of the reasons that Britain negotiated a Naval Treaty with Japan and help develop the Japanese Navy in the late-19th century.
Before World War I inkt two countries had dedicated radio code-breaking units. Wireless communication itself was very new at the time, becoing well know onlt with the RMS Titanic tragedy. France had a diplomatic code breaking units. They set up Army radio intercept posts in the northeast along the German border. [Cartier] The Austro-Hungarian Empite which possed territory in northern Italy.set up rafio intercepoting units turing Italo-Turlish War (1911). The Dechiffrierdiest was restanlished to decode them. [Ronge] Tsarist Russia at the time had highly effective diplomatic and codebreaking agencies. When World War I broke out, the beligerants quickly came to see the potential of intercepting radui transmissions. Germany was onne of the firsr to pursue this potentially imortant source of intelliugence.
Despite all the modern technical innovations, battlefield command an control during World War I was not greatly different than that of that of the 19th century and earlier periods. There were various methods used by commanders in rear areas to keep in contact with their various units. Runners and couriers were used with the motor cycle replacing the horse. Signal flags, mirrors, flashing lights, and other metods were used. Dogs were also used, but the tendency of front line units to adopt them as pets meant they often were not returned to headqurters. Telephone lines could be string to the trenches. The problem occurred when offensives were launched. Once an offensive was set in motion, the commanders in the rear in the chaos of battle essentially lost contact with their advancing forward elements. Innovations were attempted such as dropping messages by air, but this was not the same as two-way messaging. The telegraph and telephone had been invented (mid-19th century) and these these instruments were very effective in establishing contact between army commanders and unit commanders, but not front line units especially those on the move. Lines had to be strung. And radios were to heavy by advancing combat troops. While little progress was made in battle-field command and control, the appearance of radio sets just befire the War did revolutionize military communications, both art sea and on land. The fact that signals naval and and army commanders were transmitted for the first time meant that interception was possible on a large scale for the first time. And the War began with huge failure of signals decipline on the Eastern Front. The Russian defeat at Tannenberg was in part because of commabders ignoring regulations and transmitting many messages describing troop movements and strategic/tactical measures plain text. The Germans had committed the bulk of their army to the Western offensive and as a result a much smaller force was available to oppose the Russian offensive in the East. But the Russians essentially told the Germans the details of their offensive in East Prussia where Germany bordered on Russia. The result was the hugec German victiory at Tannenberg. The Germans also learned a great deal about Russian secure communicationss. While it was the Germans who took advantage of the security lapses, at this early stage of the War, the Germans wwere also not careful about their transmissions. The Russians did obtain a major intelligence prize. The found a code book on the the German cruiser Magdeburg and turned it over to the British. This gave the British insights into German secure communications for most of the War. Naval intelligence during the War, however, was primarily assessing the direction and volume of transmissions. The Germans upgraded their code system just before launching their hoped for war-winning offensive (Spring 1918). Allied crypto analysts were, as aresult, in the dark as the front-line troops braced for the German offensive. The Allies had, however, other sources of information. Aerial reconisance provided information on rear area movement which detected buildups. Wireless traffic annalisis was also useful. The French thus concluded that the final German blow would come between Compiegne and Montdidier, tow towns about 50 miles north of Paris. The Kaiserschlacht came at that exact location (June 9, 1918). The British and French with newly deployed American infantry managed to stop the final German thrust.
Intelligence was a matter of substantial importance in World War II. It was of greater importance than of virtually any other major war in history. The primary reason for this was that vast amounts of intelligence were available to any country which was willing to string up radio antenna and invest in training staff to receive and decide messages. World War II was the first war in which electronic (radio/wireless) messages were a major factor. The telegram became important in the 19th century, but telegram messages sent over wire lines were difficult to intercept. They were not impossible (as the British showed with the World War I Zimmerman telegram). And mobile mechanized warfare as initiated first by the Germans and subsequently by the Allies required vast numbers of easily intercepted (but less easilly decoded) messages. The issue of code breaking is one of the most important aspects of World War II intelligence. Here the British and Americans excelled and reaped very substantial benefits. The Germans were particularly vulnerable because they had such confidence in their Enigma machine. Very little is known about Soviet code breaking. The Germans had some successes, but generally failed at breaking Allied codes. Neither did the Japanese manage to break Allied codes. Electronic inteligence was not the only methods. The Soviets operated the most sucessful spy networks, in both Allied and Axis countries. The existence of Communist Party organizations proved a great asset. The major German spy was believed to have been before the War in encouraging Stalin's purge of the Red Army, but that has been discounted by many historians. German intelligence during the War was nothing short of a disaster. The Soviets manage to surprise the Germans with a series of offensives beginning with winter counter offensive before Moscow (December 1941). Of course the German intelligence operation was the fact that the head of the Abwehr, Admiral Canaris, was actively working against the NAZIs. The greatest Allied achievement may have been in fooling the Germans about the location of the D-Day landings. Allied opperatives also provided valuavle information about the German rocket program. The major surprise German operation of the War was the Ardennes offensive which Allied intelligence failed to detect, in part because of German signals duscipline (December 1944).
The Cold War unlike World War I and World War II which proceeded it was primarily fought on the intelligence front. The intelligence struggle was a fascinating one. Although the American Central Inteligence Agency is a much agency, in fact thanks to the CIA and other Western intelligence, the Soviets never succeed in launching a weapon system which upset the strategic ballance or surprisng the United Sates with an unansweravle feint. The one weapon system which the CIA did not fully appreciate was the Soviet biological weapns program, but it never became a factor in the Cold war. The CIA and National Security Agency (NSA) achieved many innovative technical successes. The KGB on the other hand while relying less on technology proved extrodinarily adroit in recruiting agents at high levels in the Western camp, especally in Germany. Although these successes gained them little and may have backfired. More useful was the penetration of American, and British intelligence services through ideological penetration or simple (often paltry) payoffs. The full story of the intelligence struggle has not yet been written.
Despite the end of the Cold war, spying and espionage continues. The Russians cintinue to be major actirs. Espionage agencies in recent year have targeted the illegal drug trade and those considered to be terrorists. China which was not very active during the Cold war has become a major actor in the intelligence game. Since 2008 the United States has charged at least 57 defendants for attempting to spy for China.
Writing in Mesopotamia developed as a result of commercial needs. There may have been more religious nad state needs in Egypt and the Americas. Not long after writing appeared, secret writing of various forms followed. Code breaking was avery different matter. It was with the development mathematics and lexicography in the medieval Arab world that any sophisticated approach to code breaking began. Arab philosophers began to identify the principles of code breaking. There were several key factors they gradually identified. 1) In any alphabet, some letters appear more commonly than others (14th century AD). 2) Messages often begin in a stereotypical fashion (8th century AD). [Al Khalil] Al Khalil explains how he solved a Greek cipher message sent by the Byzantine Emperor. He assumed that it began with 'In the name of God'. The Bletchley Park code breakers would refer to this as 'cribbing'. 3) Finding stock phrases. 4) The longer a message, the easier it is to crack. The number of messages also aids code breakers. Code breaking developed slowly over time. A major development giving empetus to code breaking was the invention of the telegraph. The military quickly at the time began using both railroads and telegrams. Thelegraphic messages posed all kinds of problems because they were much easier to intercept than couriers. The telegraph resulted in a huge increase in the number of messages sent. Codeing them created problems. The code system had to be easy enough to decode that the messages could be read in a timely fashion. Yet they had to be secure enough to prevent the enemy from reading them. rne source suggests that the Federal Army sent something like 6 million telegrams. The Confederacy intercepted some of them, but did not manage to decode any of them. Both telegraphic and radio messages played a role in World War I. If telegraphic messages were inherently insecure, messages sent by radio were instantly available to any one who wanted to listen. As a result, after World War I, several counties whose code systems were cracked developed elaborate systems to prevent this from happening again (Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union). The Germans and Japanese developed and used cypher machines during World War II which they believed could not be cracked. And they were right using conventional code breaking techniques. Innovtive minds in Poland, Britain, and America, managed, however, to do just that at great cost to the Axis war effort. Axis military staffs were completely unaware thriughoutthe War tht their most secret codes had been cracked.
Cartier, Ftançois. "Le service d'écoute paendanbt la guerre." Tadio-Electricité Vol. (1923).
Dossin, Georges. "Siguaux lumineux au pays deMari," Revue d'Archéologie Orientale Vol. 35 (1938), pp. 174-86.
(Al) Khalil. A Basra grammarian.
Liulevicius, Vejas Gabriel. "Espionage and Covert Operations: A Global History," The Great Courses.
Livy, Vol. 27 pp. 1-8.
Nagy, John A. Spies in the Continental Capital (2011, 256p.
Ronge, Maximillian. Kriegs und Industrie-Spionage: Zwölf Jahre Kundschaftsdienst<./i> [Wartime Espionage and Industrial Espionage: Twelve Years in the Intelligence Service] (Vienna, Austria: Amalthea-Verlag, 1930).
Sun, Tzu. The Art of War. This is a brief bookm of maxims and imsight which over ti,me has been enbelisshed by lkater authors. A good way to assess Sun Tzu is Derek M. C. Yuen (2014). Deciphering Sun Tzu: How to Read 'The Art of War'.
Biblicasl verses. The verses cited here are part of the Prrotestabt and Catholic Bibles. The only exceotuon is Judith, which is part of the Roman Catholic and Greek versions of the Old Testament, but not part of the Protestant canon.
(Al) Qaeda Manual. Eleventh Lesson--Espionage. UK BM/75.
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