M9 Nano History Research Paper

Theres a reason that World War Two has been given the nickname The Great War. To

start, there were so many aspects of World War Two, in comparison to other wars. From Hitlers

simultaneous war on the Jewish population and Europe as a whole, plus the Americas war on

Japan, there were so many different, smaller wars all taking place at the same time to make up

World War Two. However, the other reason that World War Two received the nickname of The

Great War is due to the fact that this was the first time that the world experienced nuclear

warfare. The United Stated had been developing a nuclear bomb, a super weapon of its time, to

be used only when extremely necessary. This bomb was more powerful than anyone had ever

experienced, as shown by the catastrophic aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

However, during the planning, creating, and testing of these nuclear bombs, also known as the

Manhattan Project, Soviet Union spies managed to infiltrate the trust of the American

Government (Espionage, 2008)1 and bring knowledge of the nuclear weapons back to the Soviet

Union.

Despite America being the first to use the atomic bomb, it was actually Germany that first

discovered fission, the process that creates the large explosions for the atomic bombs (Energy).

The Germans, even though already having a team of researchers developing their nuclear

weapon, sent out spies into America in an attempt to steal whatever it was that America was

working on with their Manhattan Project. However, this plan backfired, and most Germany spies

were caught and reprimanded quickly. But, it was the Soviet Union spies that were harder to

catch (Energy)2. One man, Klaus Fuchs, was never caught, and relayed much valuable

1 Two Soviet spies also served as scientists for the Manhattan Project.
2 The Soviet spies were able to play to the ideological sympathies of many Americans.
information to the Soviet Union that they did not yet have. Klaus was a British scientist and was

appointed to a scientist position on the Manhattan Project. Despite being from Great Britain,

another country at the time that was attempting to develop a nuclear weapon of their own, he also

served as a Soviet spy and relayed much valuable information back to the Soviet Union.

Although there is no definitive proof of what exact information was translated, the Soviets did

know that he was residing in the bomb research and development laboratory. This would lead

many to believe that it was possibly the design of the nuclear weapon itself that had been shared

with the Soviet Union, which would be very valuable information. Even today, Klaus Fuchs is

considered to be the most notorious atomic spies of World War Two.

In 1950, Fuchs would go on to confess to being a spy. It was this confession that led to the arrest

of anther atomic spy by the name of Harry Gold. Gold, at this point, had been giving the Soviets

information for over 15 years. The FBI found indisputable evidence on Gold, leading to his

confession in 1951. The confession of Gold also led the FBI on to other spies, specifically Julius

and Ethel Rosenberg, and, more famously, Ethels brother David Greenglass. Greenglass worked

with Fuchs and Gold, despite not knowing of each others intentions. However, when

interrogated, Greenglass did reveal that Gold was one of his contacts, receiving much

information from him. Due to his cooperation, Greenglass only received jailtime, confessing to

everything, The Rosenbergs on the other hand, were sentenced to death and executed on June

19, 1953. (Holmes, 2009)

This situation with the Soviet Union Spies attempting to steal atomic information from

the U.S. during World War Two is what ultimately led to the Cold War in the several years to

follow. In short, the Cold War was a space and arms race between the United States and the
Soviet Union. Although no fighting took place3, it was a competition to see who get create the

most nuclear weapons the fastest, and who could get a man into space the fastest (Cold War).

There were numerous times, however, that it appeared that the Soviet Union would go to war

with America. Both occupied territories close in location to the opposition, and held nuclear

weapons stationed in these territories. With one click of a button, the war wouldve plunged into

the first full-blown nuclear war.

Nowadays, its hard to reflect back and comprehend the situation with atomic spies. Today, every

major country has developed nuclear weapons and can use them at any time. Also, technology

has gotten to a point where using physical people as spies is highly unnecessary and risk. First

off, identification technology is so advanced, people can scan a face or thumbprint of have the

name, birthplace, and any other piece of information you would want on any given person. This

alone gives the job of physical spy too much uncertainty and risk. Also, its quite unnecessary.

Technology allows for hacking and tracing, therefore, any information that one wanted to get

from a specific individual or country can be done through a computer. (J.C.H.Ryan). And, with

all of that being said, it was only 60 years ago that when countries did want to spy on others, it

was with actual people, who were responsible for infiltrating, gaining trust, and relaying

information back to their home country, all without giving away any signals that they are a spy.

Atomic spies had a great impact on World War Two, and the years that would follow,

including the Cold War. Who knows how long it wouldve taken the Soviet Union to develop a

nuclear weapon on their own. Maybe there wouldnt have even been a Cold War without spies.

The only thing that we do know, is that we will never know the answers to many of these

questions.

3 We came very close at one point to launching out nuclear weapons at the Soviets. However,
nothing ended up occurring.
Bibliography
Cold War. (n.d.). Retrieved from History: http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-war-
history - This Source described the histroy of the Cold War, in regards to the impact that
the Societ Spies had on causing the war. It is written and published by the History
Channel, giving it much credibilty.
Energy, U. D. (n.d.). The Manhattan Project. Retrieved from Osti:
https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1942-
1945/espionage.htm - This article, published by the Deparment of Energy, discusses some
specific atomic spies and the affect that their efforts carried.

Espionage. (2008, April 23). Retrieved from Atomic Heritage :

http://www.atomicheritage.org/history/espionage - This article is a history of the atomic
espionage that occurred in America during World War Two. The entire artlce is based off
of primary sources, includinh photos, original artcles, documents, and testimonies,

Holmes, M. S. (2009, April 19). Spies Who Spilled the Atomic Bomb Secrets. Retrieved from
SmithsonianMag: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/spies-who-spilled-atomic-
bomb-secrets-127922660/ - This article goes into much detail about all of the spies that I
listed in the paper. it was written by a very reputable source, Smithsonian Magazine.

J.C.H.Ryan, J. (n.d.). How do computer hackers "get inside" a computer. Retrieved from
ScientificAmerican: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-computer-
hackers-g/ - This article, written by a computer professor at George Washington
University, discusses how present-day computer hacking and spying takes place.