The Machine Age: The Enigma Cipher and its Downfall

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By World War II, cryptography had become mechanized. The Enigma machine, used by Nazi Germany, was a mechanical cipher device with rotors and plugboards that changed encryption settings with each keystroke. It provided an astronomical number of possible settings—making brute-force attacks impractical at the time.

However, the Allies cracked Enigma, thanks to:

  • Polish mathematicians (Rejewski, Różycki, Zygalski), who first studied its structure.
  • Alan Turing and his team at Bletchley Park, who built the Bombe machine to automate decryption.
  • Human error, such as repeated phrases ("Heil Hitler") that gave cryptanalysts clues.

Cracking Enigma shortened the war and marked the transition from classical cryptanalysis to modern computational cryptography.



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