How the Allies Cracked the Enigma Code | Bletchley Park with Dan Snow

Bletchley Park is now internationally famous as the home of the code-breakers during World War Two. But the endeavours of Alan Turing, Dilly Knox and their colleagues were so top secret that we are only now beginning to learn how they really lived day-to-day in this magnificent house, where - behind closed doors, under the cover of darkness, and against the clock - they determined the course of our wartime history.
The house is also fascinating for what it tells us about how the 10,000 men and women working there would live on a daily basis. Artefacts from a Recreation Club - offering activities such as fencing, debating societies and amateur dramatics, amongst others - and film showings suggest an atmosphere not dissimilar to an Oxbridge college, and show a more human side to the story of how they developed the Enigma Machine. In this World War Two Season Special, join Dan Snow on an exclusive tour of the house and grounds, as well as the little known but all-important cottages that surround them. Learn about the men and women whose skill and ingenuity saved millions of lives, and about the machine they developed to help them do it.
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#dansnow #bletchleypark #enigma

[@sharonoakes7064]

I work in elderly care and a lady I used to look after was based/worked at Bletchley park. She had a certificate thanking her for her contributions.

[@brianford8493]

give her a tea and chocky biscuit from us here in Oz.....we succeeded by proxy because of such fine upstanders

[@zexfriend]

I recommend the book “the enigma girls” !! It’s for a younger audience but it’s still very interesting and nice to read for adults. Women shouldn’t be forgotten in men’s wars …

[@kevwoods6827]

Boring the elderly care shite

[@kevwoods6827]

Cmon get to the conclusion

[@kevwoods6827]

Shite vid😡😡😡

[@What_A_Difference_A_Dave_Makes]

One of my teachers was later found to have been one of the Bletchley Park codebreakers. An immensely well read academic of Polish origin, a quiet and gentle man, not even his family knew of his wartime work until after his passing when his distinctive name appeared in declassified Bletchley documents.

[@fatladattheback8642]

What name?

[@georgeallen8781]

that's wonderful

[@dad901]

The whole story around Bletchley Park is incredable, one can only feel grateful.

[@gentleken7864]

My great Uncle was one of the 'boffins' who worked in Bletchly Park, and more specifically the 'Tunny' machine. I knew him for about ten years before his passing. His house was always filled with contraptions or inventions he'd made himself. Sadly, due to my age, I never got to ask the questions about his time in Bletchly, that I would so love to do now.

[@mythicalmermaid5757]

Visited Bletchley Park. Amazing site. Blew my mind when I considered tech in the 1940’s.

[@brianford8493]

"Men and women of the Professor type" So brilliantly English that made my day.✌️

[@danellis-jones1591]

I love the guy guiding Dan through Bletchley. Really great understanding and knowledge, but with a real feeling about the people and not given to hyperbole. But connected to the human endeavour and lives of the people who worked there. Bletchley was vital, but so were so many other groups and people in WW2. I'm not one to split humans up by generation, but the war generation were beyond remarkable

[@WhatsUpGazpacho]

That chap is the right one for the job! He knows so much and is a very great explainer/conveyor of information. Well worth a watch

[@nick1635]

Hes not the only expert there! I've visited a few times, many of the volunteers have some fascinating stories, especially the guides in the bombe and colossus rooms. If you do visit make sure to have a chat to the volunteers, they are very knowledgeable and happy to answer any questions.

[@jimrobertson5931]

Canada played a roll as well. A secret camp outside of the city of Toronto picked up coded messages from the German consulate in the USA and transmitted them to the UK (obviously before the Americans entered the war ). This facility was also a training centre for operatives , some of which end up being dropped behind enemy lines. It is said that Ian Fleming ( author of the James Bond books ) received training at this facility during the war , while working for British Navel Intelligence. I believe it was also known as “ Camp X “. There is quite a bit of information about this camp available on the internet.

[@spookerredmenace3950]

yep it was in Oshawa Ontario, it was indeed called Camp X , Port Hope Ontario helped fuel the atomic bomb as well

[@JJLewin1]

Amazing brain power to crack the codes. Thank goodness our Polish friends shared their research at such a delicate time in history. Code breaking never fails to amaze me.

[@R08Tam]

This was fascinating. We are so indebted to the people who worked here

[@ferrari2k]

This place is on my go-to list for many years, maybe I can go this year, finally.

[@wrxs1781]

Great tour of Bletchley, and explanations of the workings and magnitude of the project.

[@whzpoor]

Dan's the Attenborough of History! Love this content, thank you History Hit team!

[@michelles2299]

Why does Dan have to be likened to Attenborough

[@whzpoor]

@michelles2299 Attenborough is a titan of natural history broadcasting, celebrating 70 years now, I imagine Dan can be the same. And like Attenborough he invests you in what he's presenting.

[@IndigoMayRoe]

My grandad was a royal signalman from the merchant navy in the first world war. He was placed in HMS Pembroke in London in one of the substations for code breaking/message interceptions in the second world war. He had two grandsons, who both went into computing in the 1960s. I often wonder whether my great grandfather had seen a glimpse of the future and gently guided his grandsons towards computing...?

[@stephenconnolly3018]

Nice to hear a true account of the impact of Bletchley park had on the war and history.

[@brettcurtis5710]

The most amazing part of the Enigma story is how all those hundreds of people involved kept their mouths shut for so many years!!

[@michelles2299]

Official secrets act they signed it opening your mouth was akin to treason and punishable

[@oneworldawakening]

Amazing history, and wonderful to see the place where it happened. Dr. Kenyon was such an excellent guide and instructor. Beautifully produced as usual on this channel. I just wish Dan had put on a sport coat.

[@Adelina-293]

An excellent video, thank you for mentioning the Polish contribution.

[@williamrobinson7435]

It's great to be able to have a mental picture of Bletchley Park, as I've never actually seen the place.. Really interesting. Nice one Dan and team. 🌟👍

[@davidhovde9996]

There hundreds if videos on cracking the enigma code, few on the capturing of the machine, but I'd love to see one that goes into the story of the invention of the enigma machine and who was or were the inventor(s).

[@katherinecollins4685]

Fantastic video

[@TallDude73]

Amazing ingenuity on the German side, and double that on the Allied side.

[@adelem432]

I often visit family in Berkshire. After seeing the film about this amazing project, I came to Bletchley in the summer of 2016.A wonderful tour to take if you are in the area. At the time, they had costumes and props from "The Imitation Game" on display there. Another place I visited is Hughenden Manor, which was the home of PM Benjamin Disraeli. That also had a secret WW2 past as a location for map makers trying to recreate maps of Germany using old aerial photographs.

[@fionad9913]

Wonderful, I learned new things, even though I have read a couple of books on the topic. Excellent film, thanks.

[@bencollyer2296]

I live 1 mile away from Bletchley park In 1997/98 my friend looking for a football that went in the bush came out with a BomB that the Germans had dropped from ww2 really cool.. His mum didn’t think so when we took it to his house then the bomb squad had to come make sure safe

[@VestaJ17]

thats nuts!! 🤯 imagine if he'd dropped it or somethin

[@bencollyer2296]

@ genuinely my friend was in our local newspaper mk citizen for it

[@moretar]

I like the guide's no bullshit attitude

[@Dexterschnauzer]

i work in bletchley, always wanted to visit this place

[@SarahBeecroft]

Wonderful tour! Absolutely superb. I've been to Bletchley some years ago and learned comparatively little. Thank you so much.

[@tangerinedream7211]

Visited in 2012 fascinating place, great history. Only complaint was the cafe was rubbish for so many visitors.

[@taiikomochiyuurichin1459]

It is interesting how that "architecture" of what was built during WWII for the war effort had a certain feel/look about it. I find the same feel in facilities built in Long Beach California for the military forces.

[@greghirst3338]

Brilliant. Thank you!

[@Imdevinjt24]

This is LEGENDARY!!

[@markdunstan1031]

Wow!! Bigger operation than what I thought................

[@pheart2381]

I used to eat my lunch next to that pond when I was at school. The place always seemed to be deserted in the 1980s.

[@charlesdavis7940]

Excellent!

[@lynnedelacy2841]

They really thought of everything I would hope we could match the ingenuity today

[@thenoworriesnomad]

Excellent video...👍👍

[@davidkean5680]

Terrific. There is an Irish fellow, a Librarian,who was a genius at cracking codes during ww2

[@3allz]

This guy knows his stuff!

[@roncrouse1469]

Great show.

[@lasersailor6684]

It’s amazing to me the Germans didn’t pick up what was going on in that estate.

[@GavTatu]

what a fantastic guide !

[@robynduckworth4160]

Fascinating to see behind the scenes. I think it would be really interesting to have a discussion about what you do with intelligence. How do you use it without revealing to the other side that you have intelligence? What decisions were made when news of potential attacks were revealed without doing something that would let the other side know that you knew? Was intelligence ever ignored - either deliberately or accidentally? Did the Germans ever send false messages to see if that would make the Allies react - and reveal their hand?

[@brianford8493]

Brains as big as a planet....thank our lucky stars ✌️

[@SusanPearce_H]

Marvinless.

[@brianford8493]

@SusanPearce_H I think I just got that....yep... Marvin less.....nice

[@John-y5i3l]

Fascinating. Back in the 60's I worked with the KL7 or Adonis in the Navy. This was just a modern version of Enigma down to the rotors the whole kit and caboodle. Back in the day this would have been classified secret, but don't worry it's now all declassified and you can find it open source on the internet

[@michelles2299]

Did you sign the official secrets act?

[@John-y5i3l]

@@michelles2299 Ref my last it is rather inaccurate to say "non com" rather "junior rating". Training on this stuff started very early in our specialist training Sorry suffering from old git brain fade!

[@johnf991]

Mind boggling! And when did you last see Dan interviewing somebody who was also 6'5"ish?

[@johngilliland3409]

I love the BBC radio sitcom set at Bletchley Park, Hut 33.

[@chrisvowell2890]

Too true! It is excellent and VERY FUNNY.

[@alanprior7650]

Very interesting vid.

[@MERCKXWOOD]

I wished you'd gone into my detail regarding how they went about breaking the code.

[@roryoutdoors5431]

Greetings from Canuckia! We in the colonies (Chatham, ON not UK 😜) were treated to a travelling museum show with a real machine and displays that showed how it worked - fascinating! Watched all the Connections series as a kid on PBS I wish James covered this!

[@johnnolan4312]

Stratford Ontario Canada 🇨🇦 hey neighbor, seen that also! Pretty cool

[@user-tn1vc1xz5d]

Simon Sebag Montefiore's book is very good. It's a complex story and Simon tells it well, but it's also very technical. Just the way I like it. It's way more complex than I previously thought and way more interesting.

[@Gurra_Gforce]

Fun fact: Sweden broke Enigma in 1939. And read Germanys messeges, and was in full communications with the western allies. Of course the UK Needed to do Bletchley Park.

[@spookerredmenace3950]

$6000 in 38, is now $134,252.34, wild!

[@mr.angelosonassis3069]

The tour guide says that US-UK espionage collaboration began at Bletchley Park, but in fact it began in New York and Washington at a high level in 1940. After World War II began (and over the objections of Sir Stewart Menzies, wartime head of British intelligence) new-Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent William Stephenson to the United States on 21 June 1940, to covertly establish and run British Security Coordination (BSC) in New York City, over a year before U.S. entry into the war. Stephenson is known by his code name of 'Intrepid'.

[@paulgerrard9227]

The work at bletchly was still classified until late in the 80s / 90s. Perhaps a greater secret than the manhattan project..Then once codes were cracked and traffic was read the messages were so highly classified few knew they were read and very few saw them and were allowed to act. Some losses were allowed to avoid triggering the germans to change their codes.

[@smudger4497]

as a post office telephone Engineer i spent six weeks at Bletchley Park in the 1960s slept in one of those huts but we didnt know yet what they had been used for , also one of the stalwarts who never got the acclaim was Tommy Flowers a post office Engineer who created the worlds first electronic Programmable computer colossus kept secret for over 30 years which enabled the Yanks to claim that they did it first 😂😂😂😂

[@alfiedodah9799]

I would like to know what encoding the allies were using at this time?

[@peedee-zo1yq]

In the 'Imitation Game' film, do I recall seeing a military guard/checkpost positioned on one of the roads next to Bletchley Park? If this was authentic, would it not have created an 'aha' moment for any passing German spy?

[@daviddurham5144]

What a shame that after visiting the cottages and walked towards Hut 3, (they must have walked straight past the Polish memorial), yet they made no acknowledgement of their [Polish] major contribution to the whole operation at Bletchley in the first instance. A tribute to those magnificent, generous people would have been at least appropriate, perhaps.

[@gigashock691]

My Great Grandad was one of the cooks at Bletchley, My grandad says he served Winston Churchill and other senior officials, but strangely, Bletchley doesn't have a file on him............

[@djholliday5132]

Brits, never forget your history. Freedom warriors. Americans are still standing with you in solidarity. Allies are rising again. 🇺🇸🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿✊

[@grahamfisher5436]

@32:52... WOW How many real AND working" ones actually still exist ?? Very few indeed.. fantastic to see. When I've had the opportunity to hold or be at/ in somewhere military connected , that is incredibly and increasingly rare (Eg sat in the pilot and Radar navigators seat of a Vulcan bomber (( and held in my hand the bomb release "nuclear" button!!) The 1st thing I think of is.... All the responsibility !

[@ajc389]

If everything that is claimed to have shortened the war by two years hadn't been used, we would still be fighting. The facts are the Manhattan project was building a weapon that was originally to be used against Germany.

[@WagnerGimenes]

A great day out.

[@belindanoonan6217]

This Bletchley guy (sorry to have forgotten his name) is hugely interesting.

[@greggweber9967]

Wouldn't the first 25 letters have only one rotor movement of the first rotor? The next 25 would duplicate the first 25 because of the first rotor, and the variations would be the plaintext and the second rotor movement?

[@Gurra_Gforce]

The ALLIES. Yes, Mostly the Swedes. The Siemens Halske T 52 Geheimfernschreiber (The G-machine) Arne Beurling Enters the room.

[@michelles2299]

I have some brass GR office drawer handles do Bletchley park want them

[@joshhoffman1975]

Why would you have code breakers being trained as home guard soldiers, dumb use of resources! Imagine all the lives they saved! 🎉❤😃

[@CraigHepburn-wi6yu]

Amazing the politicians running for cover! Nothing has changed!

[@jjsmallpiece9234]

A good documentary. The end bit could have been longer, explaining the Enigma machine. Worth watching The Secret War - last episode at this link - 4hrs 7mins in to the video, about Enigma kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXumd2CLm8ajq5o

[@joãoAlberto-k9x]

Aliens? No. The allies.

[@JR-tr1df]

in today's age i wonder how many pizzas there would have been delivered to the teams cracking these codes etc 🤔

[@PeadeeGames]

Or curries

[@grahamfisher5436]

Try Emailing GCHQ and ask them!

[@michelles2299]

None they wouldn't allow deliveroo or just eat into a restricted area

[@marypasco2213]

And they, affectivly, killed the man who broke the code. That's a fine 'Thank you'!😠

[@adamborawski759]

Haven't watched it yet, but wanted to ask if they mentioned that copy of enigma brits got from Polish inteligence services or as standard for anglosaxons they ignored other successes and took enigma cracking as their achievement? Respone on above question will give an answer is it reliable and worth to watch.

[@N_0968]

They did mention the initial work came from Poland.

[@adamborawski759]

@N_0968 thanks, so ot is worth to watch

[@Damocles3]

Please leave subscribe popups to the end of the video

[@ӨмірбекӘсел]

1:21

[@hobuspobus]

ok but those pecs are distracting me 👀 lol what's your workout routine?

[@polychromide]

I think the achievements of Alan Turing were amazing but I fail to understand how the work shortened the war by 2 years. The Manhattan Project was completed and the first atomic bomb (designed primarily to defeat Germany) was dropped on 6 August 1945 and the Japanese surrendered 4 weeks later. The war in Europe would have ended in 1945 no matter what.

[@IVAN-bs5bq]

This was really all done by the Americans - you ask them ?

[@Jos-z5v]

Allies? You mean the British.

[@aussiebrawler3824]

Yeah wtf? A Brit calling he's countrymen Allies. 😂

[@honeymoongiu]

its a historical term dude. so when he says allies he means the allied forces, usa, ussr. uk etc. historically they were called the allies. on the other side was the axis power: japan, italy, germany etc.

[@grahamfisher5436]

Can you please do a programme on the equality top secret amazing story/ history of ....... The Admiralty of Bath 🫡 ( Foxhill) 🤫 When I visited Bletchley I could literally feel the "*energy" running through me like lighting *The more one learns about Bletchley!, (and our fates!! should we have lost the war!!!) The more you'll understand and feel that Should you walk around the place..

[@brianford8493]

Welcome to total war

[@Mmjk_12]

What about the other way around? German attempts to break British codes?

[@LewisB3217]

Germany’s code breaking attempts had some success but ultimately they were nowhere near as large or skilled as the Allied attempts. Also, it is good to know that later on in the war, the allies essentially entirely owned German spies and their network