Before I begin to discuss Ultra's contributions, however, I first must write about Ultra and its history. All German radio messages that were deciphered by the British were sent on a mechanical device known as the Enigma machine. This machine looked and seemed to operate like an ordinary typewriter. Yet, despite an appearance of simplicity, it was capable of creating over 5,000 billion trillion trillion trillion trillion (or 5,000 followed by 84 zeros) possible codes. [3]
One of the more interesting things about the Enigma machine is that it was originally sold on the commercial market. In 1919, a Dutch inventor named Hugo Alexander Koch acquired a patent for an invention, which he called the "Geheimschrijfmachine" or "secret writing machine." [4] Four years later, he sold the patent to Dr. Arthur Scherbius, a German engineer, who further improved upon the machine. The improved product was named Enigma.
The German armed forces became interested during the 1920s in a machine like Enigma. Germany's defeat in World War I convinced many that the German military codes were not entirely safe. In addition, the German armed forces were rearming above the restrictions imposed by Versailles. They needed a secret, totally secure method of communication. [5] A machine that purported to be a "secret writing machine" was seen as attractive.
The German Navy began to use the Enigma machine for its communications in 1926. [6] Throughout the rest of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s, the other remaining German agencies, both military and civilian, also switched. By the time Adolf Hitler rose to power, the Germans had a sizable advantage in military communications, an advantage that helped the Third Reich immensely. [7]
