Around 1245 the Occident was terrified by the attacks of mongolian warriors who raided Europe and terrified Christianity
Giovanni da Pian is to establish diplomatic contacts but also to investigate what the Khans plans are and what his military power and strategy looks like, the pope sent the 60-year-old monch Giovanni da Pian del Carpine the Khan`s royal court
Though hardly noone has ever heard of Christianity or the pope in this corner of the world
The monch went on an exhausting journey 10,000 km through landscapes hardly any European has ever seen before
Arrives on 11.11.1246
At that time big celebrations of the Khan`s enthronement with many representatives of numerous realms in the far East took place
The monk is granted an audience, a huge honour as he is only one of more than 4000 ambassadors
He is searched for weapons, eg daggers and has to adhere to official court procedures he has just learned
So he gets on his knees before the Great Khan shows his respect and brings official greetings from the Pope
However, the Great Khan is never speaking directly to ambassadors but via a representative
At that time Christians saw the Mongolians as satanic monsters, but they were a highly-develloped society
Therefore the Khan`s counterintelligence had already known about the monk`s secret orders and so he was shown impressive and splendid examples of the Khan`s power and sent back home with greetings to the pope
He also learns that the Khan guarantees freedom of religion for his subjects
But they meticulously payed attention that no military information was reveiled, apart that the Khan`s knights are powerful, quick and unbeatable
At least he could find out that the Khan`s military consists of humans and not demons from hell
Sir Francis Walsingham
Founded the 1st Secret Service in history
Office: 1st Secretary of State under Elizabeth I
Deeply religious Puritan
Had spies from Algier to Constantinople (Istanbul)
But his main target was to fight enemies in England: The Catholics
Elizabeth on the throne because her father Henry VIII split from Catholic Church to be able to marry Anne Boleyn and founded the Anglican Church in 1534
Mary Stuart (Catholic), her half sister reigns Scotland, after a Rebellion by Scottish Protestant nobless Mary Stuart has to abdicate because the politicians believed she has ordered to kill her husband
Mary Stuart flees to England pleading for Elizabeth`s protection
Mary Stuart becomes Elizabeth`s prisoner, as she threatens her reign;
The Spanish, also Catholics, want to bring Elizabeth down as the English are the rising nation, regarding colonization and controlling the international sea
English catholics are suppressed by Elizabeth and also want to bring her down, with support of the Spanish, as they see her as a heretic
+ the pope demands Elizabeth I to be killed (heretic)
while in prison Mary Stuart is contacting the Spanish court (Catholic) and asks the Spanish king Philipp II (fanatic Catholic), if he would help her to bring her on the English throne, she would reintroduce Catholic religion in England
at that time it is high treason to perform Catholic rites that differ from Anglican Church
about 1/3 of the English subjects are still Catholic, though prohibited
during this religious war happens the „Barbington Plot“
Anthony Babington and some fellows want to kill the Queen (Elizabeth I) and prepare a Spanish invasion to reintroduce Catholizism, by bringing Mary Stuart on
the English throne
therefore they corredspond a lot with Mary Stuart
this can be revealed by Walsingham`s secret service
but Walsingham also surveys other English subjects he suspects to be Catholic
via his spies Walsingham learns that the Spanish plan to invade England with their Armada (most powerful navy at that time)
+ they decode Mary Stuarts correspondence with the Spanish and the traitors
The traitors are caught and executed
Mary Stuart is decapitated
1588, the Spanish Armade attacks England and is defeated
Walsingham dies in 1590
Philipp II`s embassador in London writes his king „The death of Sir Walsington is mourned by many“,
Phillipp II writes a note on the letter saying: „There it is, but here it`s good news“
1st big case of Industral espionage in the European modern age
at that time porcelein had to be imported from China (name china derives from it)
ist was as valuable as gold but could not be found in nature; it was produced
it is necessary to know the exact formula
In 1704, Johann Friedrich Böttger claims to have found the recipe
living in the realm of August der Starke (August the Strong)
Lord August puts Böttger into prison and demands him to create china, otherwise Böttger will be executed for fraud
after some years of research >Böttger`s team manages to produce china
this monopole creates enormous wealth for Saxonia, but the country also suffers from spies who want to get to know the method
the fortress „Albrechtsburg“ is transformed into a high security factory to defeat spies
even the workers` private lives are strictly regulated as spies try to seduce their duaghters to reveil the secret
it worked for some time to keep the secret but at some point in time china from other plants in Europe appears (eg Vienna)
1st case of industrial espionage, also happened later with James Watt`s steam engine and other industrial products or means of production
Beginning WWII:
Bletchley Park, a site near London becomes one of the most important bases for the intelligence of the allies
launched by Winston Churchill, British PM at that time
a team of geniuses tries to decode the German army`s transmissions
among them are experts for egyptian history, a chess grandmaster and experts for crossword puzzles
those people do not look like typical soldiers at all
eg Dillwyn Knox, head of the programme, regarded as an ingenious analyst;
he is said to have decoded an Hungarian text without even knowing the language, just by analyzing it
their battlefield is communication
their strongest enemy is „Enigma“, a coding machine, used by German submarines for communication that is said to be unbeatable
attacks by German submarines pose a deadly threat to English and later American ships that transport troops and equipment or sometimes civilians
the machine is turning messages into a mixture of letters that can only be deciphered if you have a version of the machine itself and if you know the
secret code that is changing every 8h
In 1933 Poland`s secret service accidentially receives an enigma machine that differs from the military one
with help of their French allies they manage to recieve German military communication
but they still can`t break the code because the German Wehrmacht has updated the machine in 1938
they ask the British government for help and give them the machine one month before Germany occupies Poland
at that time the team in Bletchely Park is growing and in 1939 GB declares war on Germany
the British codebreakers are in need of qualified staff
therefore they ask British citizens in the newspaper „Daily Telegraph“, to speed-solve crossword puzzles as a hidden contest to recruit code breakers
After that the MI6 (British secret service) contacts the fastest participants
therefore the 27-years-old Alan Touring joins the team in 1939
he is a rather strange character (sometimes he puts on a gas mask on his way to work, bc he suffers from hay fever)
at the age of 23 he had already developed a machine that used the basic principle of the computer
but he is homosexual (prohibited at that time)
he is an essential member of the team because in the meantime the Germans again updated the enigma machine and it can`t be decoded anymore
as most of the German messages end with „Heil Hitler“, the breakers have at least a starting point for decoding
but they still have to decode the messege manually
if they manage to decipher one of these phrases, they can try to use the decoding method for the rest of the messege as well, most of the times it doesn`t
at the same time Alan Touring tries to construct an enigma simulator
in May 1940 he is successful,
his 1st version works, but still too slow
He manages to improve his machine but the British still need a German codebook
the British Navy can conquer one from a German submarine in May 1941
from now on the codebreakers are successful until the end of the war and historians nowadays say that WWII had lasted a few years longer without their work
Alan Touring continous to work on computer theories and works as mathematician
In 1952 he is brought before the court because he is homosexual, which is illegal at that time
he has to undergo a hormone therapy and as a result of this he committs suicide in 1954
During the Cold War the CIA was to nurture opposition against USSR via a secret war
the agency did not care about other possible goals of the groups it supported (here: Mudschaheddin in Afghanistan, the CIA delivered with mobile Stinger rockets)
it is the chronicle of a dirty war; the CIA repeatedly has „intervened“ in foreign countries, it brought down left governments and supported attacks on dictators who were not willing to cooperate
with doing so the agency constantly acted against the constitution of the USA
Foto of the Japanese attack with suicide bombers against Pearl Harbour during WWII 1941
among other reasons this attack was possible because the USA has no effective secret service at that time
after WWII, with the Soviet Union rising in the East, Harry Truman signs a law that layed the foundation for the CIA
USA was afraid of rising Communism, SU has a growing influence and America does not know a lot about Communist countries
CIA agents infiltrate Soviet countries to gather information about airbases, army bases and nuclear plants
the spies should warn the USA in case of an attack by the Soviets
PM Mohammad Mossadegh wants to nationalize the country`s oil ressources
GB depands largely on oil from Iran to support their economy after WWII
GB convinces the USA to initiate a revolt in Iran
the agency bribes MPs in Iran, religious leaders, members of the military
- It pays newspapers and uses leaflets for propaganda against the regime
purpose: get the Schah back in office (he is loyal to the West and he allows Western countries to exploid the oil)
16th August 1953 troops are to arrest Mossadegh, bt the coup fails, he was warned
but CIA agents forge documents that say that the Shah had removed the PM from office because the PM planned to abolish Islam
riots start, fuelled by CIA agents
the army refuses Mossadegh`s order to fight the rebels
the CIA re-establishes a regime under the Schah and therefore can exploid Iran`s oil reserves together with GB
CIA missions to either fight Communist governments, or secure the supply with ressources, mainly oil
- Information as a ressource has gained importance
- In recent years the CIA has lost its importance and the NSA has been on the rise
