Copeland, Jack.

"How Different Would the World Be Today If Turing Had Not Broken the
German Codes?" How Different Would the World Be Today If Turing Had Not Broken
the German Codes? Big Questions Online, 29 Oct. 2012. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
The article qualifies the effect of Alan Turings Enigma Machine invention, giving the possible
revolutionary effects of the invention as well as acknowledging that its true contribution to the
Allied success in World War 2 cannot be proven. The article begins by comparing the creation of
Enigma stopping World War 2 to the possibility that killing Osama Bin Laden could have
prevented the 9/11 bombings, relaying the idea that we can only predict how revolutionary
inventions affect history without having the ability to fully prove outcomes. The agenda of Hitler
and the Axis powers of World War 2 are discussed as likely having been greatly slowed by the
Turings Enigma invention, and the article describes the millions of lives that were saved by
preventing deadly U-Boat attacks on supply ships. The article discusses how the war still would
have eventually been won by allied powers but that the Enigma code breaking invention was
revolutionary in making that process faster but also in laying the foundation for todays
computing technologies.
This article is credible in that it comes from the author Jack Copeland who is described as being
an expert on Alan Turing and his inventions. The web source Big Questions Online adds to the
credibility in that it ensures that articles posted like this one are not editable by outside viewers.
Additionally, the document is filled with accurate historical facts and statistics that add to the
writers identity as a knowledgeable historian who should be trusted.
This source will be great to use when elaborating on exactly how the Enigma machine was
effective at doing for the war effort and on how the identity of our world today could have
looked very different without it. The historical facts and figures throughout will help to
contextualize the invention as well as provide convincing data for argument in presentation.
After reading this source, I am much more aware of the immediate and long term effects of the
Enigma Code-Breaking machine, and I will be able to use those effects to argue for the
machines revolutionary force. (Travis Anderson)
Hodges, Andrew. "The Alan Turing Internet Scrapbook." Alan Turing Scrapbook. N.p., n.d.
Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
The enigma machines intense coding ability is described in this source, and the Bombe that
was created and used to crack it is described in detail. The algorithms, logic, statistical theories,
advanced technology, and organizational techniques used to create the code-breaking invention
are elaborated on, and the site at which the critical cryptanalysis work took place is given
historical context. The secrecy of the project is emphasized, and it is noted that Turings
invention was the the first of the time and most revolutionary but not realized until its late reveal
in the mid-1990s.
This source is immensely credible in that it was created by a man who has devoted a great part of
his life to studying this event in history, Mr. Andrew Hodges. An entire list of sources for the
information on the site and in this article is available for review as a subsection of the website.
The source presents a great deal of primary source material in the form of actual photographs of

2
the Bombe, Enigma Machine, Bletchley Park, and Alan Turing himself. Many other articles
about the life of Alan Turing and his Enigma Machine are available for review on the website by
this same author, adding to his extensive historical knowledge.
This article will be great to use when discussing the technical components of the Enigma
machine in the presentation as well as describing the technologies that aided and were
formulated by this inventions production. The primary source photographs will be great addition
to our website to make information more appealing to visual learners. I gained a great
understanding of what a technological feat this invention was to create by reading this article and
surfing this website. I will certainly be able to use this source to help justify the cracking of
German Enigma code as a revolutionary event.
(Travis Anderson)
Breaking the Code. Dir. Herbert Wise. By Hugh Whitemore. Prod. John Drury. Perf. Derek
Jacobi and Amanda Root. Drama House Production Company, BBC (Main Listing),
1997. Television.
Alan Turing was a British scientists, mathematician, and engineer who grew up to create the
Enigma machine that would allow the allied powers to crack seemingly impossible German
codes, eventually stopping World War 2 in its tracks. Turings often bad attitude, demanding
requests, and illegal homosexual activities were overlooked to preserve the use of his intelligence
as an aid to the British War effort. With help from William Churchill, Britains Prime Minister at
the time, Turing was able to create the amazing mathematical and engineering masterpiece that
was the Enigma machine. The remarkable mans life, from confused adolescence, to success, to
scrutiny, and finally to a sad suicide in 1954 is told within this beautiful hour and a half long
film.
The film is immensely credible in that it was produced by the renowned and trusted British
Broadcasting Company. Additional credibility is added by the quite notable people who worked
on the piece including famous documentary director Herbert Wise and immensely talented
Shakespearean and Chekhovian actor Derek Jacobi. The film was produced as a main BBC
listing and had support from BBC executive producer John Drury. Additionally, source material
for the film was drawn from Andrew Hodges Book Alan Turing: The Enigma, and Hugh
Whitemores play Breaking The Code. Several assistant directors and script supervisors
oversaw the films production to ensure historical accuracy.
Using this source really helped me to appreciate the life of Mr. Turing in a whole new way and to
gain an understanding for how difficult it was to successfully produce such a revolutionary
invention as the Enigma Machine under the time periods given circumstances and Turings own
limitations. I can use this source as historical context for not only Turings life but also for the
time both before and after World War 2. The film depicts the dire conditions that the allies faced
during the war which can be used as a motivation for the push for Enigmas creation despite
seemingly unconquerable technological limitations of the time, and the films account of
Turings genius in the fields of math, science, and engineering helps one understand how such a
revolutionary invention could have been created. (Travis Anderson)

"Code Breaking." HISTORY. History Channel, 02 Apr. 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
Code Breaking by the History Channel gives nice insight into the developments and evolution
in code breaking during World War 2 that eventually culminated in the creation of the Enigma
code breaker. The great efforts to which the British worked to preserve their creation is detailed
in the article as being withheld as a part of the secret code ULTRA. The Germans are described
to have believed that the code was unbreakable, and the detail and complexity of the messages
that were sent are given great weight in this article. The way in which the breaking of this code
allowed the Allies to avoid deadly U-Boat strikes is explained, and its vitality to the war effort is
greatly qualified.
Being from the History Channel, this source possesses the highest of credibility. Appropriate
historical facts and details are given to support the information presented as being true, and an
actual quote from Churchill is included, making the ideas presented even more concrete.
Additionally, there is no bias presented in this source whatsoever as it draws on information from
historical data bases and is backed by the trusted History Channel association.
We will be able to use this source to discuss the evolution of this revolutionary invention and to
acknowledge its similarity to other inventions and developments during and after the Enigma
machines creation. Churchills quote It was thanks to ULTRA that we won the war. can be
used to emphasize the need for the invention of the machine that broke Enigma in order for the
allies to be successful in the war. The descriptions of the efforts allies took to keep the invention
secret will be able to be used to show how coveted the development was, and the German
accounts of their code being unbreakable will additionally support how outstanding of an
achievement the breaking of this code was.
(Travis Anderson)
Stripp, Alan. How the Enigma Works. PBS. NOVA, 9 Nov. 99. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.
This article talks about how the enigma machine was used, what it looked like, and how it
worked. Stripp first talks about what the build of it is, stating that it is basically a very complex
typewriter. It gives several examples of when enigma machines were used in history, and then
explains how to use one. The article also gives several pictures and drawings of these machines.
This source is credible because it is from the PBS website. It shows lots of pictures and gives
specific examples of when machines like this were used. Stripp also gives several different dates
of when the machine was made, and gives examples on how long using the machine would take.
We can use this source on our project because it provides valuable insight on how the machine
works, and tells us when, where, and how it was used. Now we not only have sources about the
time period and the history, but we have opened a gateway of information about the
technological aspect of this brilliantly complex technology. (Emily Lewis)
The History and Technology of the Engima Cipher Machines. Cipher Machines. N.p., n.d.
Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

4
This source gives information on topics such as: early history of the machines, the build of the
machines, operating procedures, when/how it was broken, and calculations used. It provides
major insight on not only how it was used, but how you yourself could calculate how to break
simple enigma codes. The operating procedures section also gives lots of good information on
how the Nazis ran their engima machines. This source, along with the last, includes several
pictures.
This is a reliable source because the entire website is dedicated to different kinds of ciphers, and
the author backs up their data with logistics and arguments that make sense. It is organized in an
easy to understand way, and has links to the different categories on the page. Several historically
correct dates are used, and the pictures are logical to what the paragraphs are talking about.
Our group can use this article because it provides reliable pictures as well as lots of useful
information on the enigma machines. It informs us on how the machines operate, how Nazis
used them, and how to use them yourself, which could be a section on our website possibly. The
article has lots of reliable facts that we will be able to put to use when we are making this
project. (Emily Lewis)
Editors, Biography .com. "Alan Turing Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d.
Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
This source gives background information on Alan Turing, the man who broke the enigma codes
in Nazi Germany from his facility in Bletchley Park. It gives a brief overview followed by more
specific events of his life, and provides a picture of Turing himself. At the very end of the
document they talk about how Turing is still impacting society today, even after his death. The
source also provides many quotes from Alan Turing.
This source is credible because it gives actual facts of Turing's life, and actual quotes from him.
Bio.com gives lots of short biographies that are reliable for projects like this. It provides an
actual picture of Turing, which can help us a lot in our project.
We can use this in our project to give the readers more insight about who the man who decoded
the enigma machine was, and what he was dealing with in that time period. It is also useful
because we can know more about what kind of education/experience he had that made him smart
enough to decode the enigma machine. (Emily Lewis)
Nisha Chandramoorthy, Nisha. "How Did Alan Turing Figure out the Enigma Machine?FAQ."
How Did Alan Turing Figure out the Enigma Machine? Quora, 22 Feb. 2012. Web. 18
Nov. 2015.
This is a picture of the enigma machine. It is labeled so you can see where things go and what
the different components of the machine are called.
This source is reliable because it is an actual image of an enigma machine, similar to the ones
used in Nazi Germany. It is labeled correctly so it is not false information. The picture is high
quality and resourceful.

5
We can use this in our project to show whoever is viewing it not only information on the enigma,
but what it actually looks like and what the different components are. This will provide even
more information on our topic, and give us a better understanding of what we are doing this
project on. (Emily Lewis)
Budiansky, Stephen. Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II. New
York: Free, 2000. Print.
Battle of Wits uses code breaking records released in the preceding five years before the book
was published to construct a sound and specific history of the war. This book includes
information on how Britain, Germany, Russia and Japan were involved in the codebreaking of
Enigma. In addition, Battle of Wits shows how the information gathered by Enigma affected the
outcome of the war, specifically the prevention of the potentially disastrous U-boat attacks that
Germany had staged in the Atlantic. The book covered many facets of the war, including how the
codebreakers managed to apply their knowledge stealthily enough to where the Axis wouldnt
discover their newly gained information, as well as explaining just how the machine itself works
using diagrams and thorough explanations. This is useful to our research by adding a dimension
based on primary sources in the form of documents; additionally, this book has specific reasons
as to why Enigma was so essential to the prevention of a worldwide disaster, which is vital to the
relevance of the PBL as a whole. (Sophia Bibb)
Hodges, Andrew. Alan Turing: The Enigma. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983. Print.
This book, as opposed to the other book sources cited, has specific information on the man who
is credited with the creation of the machine that allowed for the cracking of Enigma. Alan
Turing, the leader of the British codebreaking team at Bletchley Park, created the predecessor to
the current computer and allowed for the direct gathering of information that allowed for the
interception of German military action. This book provides information on the development of
Turings ideas and Turings life, as well as how his ideas affected not only the time during which
he lived, but centuries to come as well. This book is also interesting because it shows how the
creation of the universal machine, as Turing called it, allowed for the advancement of artificial
intelligence as it is known today. In terms of the research project, this book helps to tie in exactly
how Enigma was cracked and the thought that went into solving the nearly impossible riddle.
(Sophia Bibb)
McKay, Sinclair. The Secret Lives of Codebreakers: The Men and Women Who Cracked the
Enigma Code at Bletchley Park. New York, NY: Plume, 2012. Print.
The primary focus of this book was to describe the people and the events that occurred at
Bletchley Park that allowed for the breaking of Enigmas code. All of the affairs that occurred at
Bletchley Park were kept an underground governmental secret until the 90s, and for good
reason. This book, more so than any of the other book sources cited, unmasks the details of what
exactly happened at the top-secret facility, including the lighthearted social events that occurred
throughout the painstaking work of cracking such a seemingly impossible code. This book
allowed for an inside look at exactly what it took to crack Enigma, providing detailed
information on the people involved and how each of them were important to the final result of

6
understanding the mystery behind Enigma. This is important to the research of this project
because it is important to understand the background of the people involved with the war effort
as much as possible; if the people and their motivations are understood, then it can begin to
shape how the rest of the events surrounding those people were affected as an outcome of their
actions and lead to an improvement of overall comprehension of the given topic, which is, in this
case, the mystery of the Enigma machine. (Sophia Bibb)
Sebag-Montefiore, Hugh. Enigma: The Battle for the Code. New York: J. Wiley, 2000. Print.
Sebag-Montefiores book, in addition to providing details on the activities that occurred at the
codebreaking center of Bletchley Park, gives specific info into the inner workings of World War
II and the people who made the cracking of the Enigma machine possible. This book contains
firsthand accounts of people who were involved directly with World War II and helped in the
effort to provide the codebreakers at Bletchley Park with the specific information that they
needed to beat the Enigma machine. This book is useful to our research because this source was
written by a well known British journalist who made the war itself his focus. This book, as
opposed to the other sources listed, gives insight to the war and why Enigma was so important to
its events, using interviews from people who had been there and specific examples to support his
case. This connects to how important firsthand interviews of knowledgeable people are in
gathering information on different points of view on something as complex as a war, and it
allows for deeper understanding of the different elements that revolved around the Enigma
machine. (Sophia Bibb)
Lycett, Andrew. "Breaking Germany's Enigma Code." BBC News. BBC, 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 18
Nov. 2015.
This BBC article goes into further explanation of what the movie Enigma addresses. The article
touches on the basic principles of what an enigma typewriter did. Even in the earliest chapters of
the world war 2, British intelligence was able to decipher some of the german codes, and
increasingly decipher them although the Germans tried to complicate the codes.
The article is credible by BBC and their historian Andrew Lycett. The source cannot be edited by
outside sources and although it has not been updated since 2012, It basing its facts around the
object of the movie Enigma, thus not needing to be updated.
The source will be beneficial because for the common fellow, it will give a full, yet
comprehendible, glimpse at the enigma machines in their entirety. For those who have trouble
understanding the complexity of the Engima or the dynamic of deciphering, this will be an aide
of explanation and general concepts. (Danielle Seibert)
Eisenhower, Dwight. "World War II: Ultra -- The Misunderstood Allied Secret Weapon."
History Net Where History Comes Alive World US History Online. History Net
Publisher, 12 June 2006. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
This article solely based on the successes of the deciphering and the collaboration of foreign
powers. Eisenhower ties in polands contribution to Britains success in deciphering by

7
explaining the political stance of France, Britain, and Poland. Eisenhower also goes in-depth
about the Ultra; British intelligence of deciphered messages. It also touches on the failures of
the ultra and what the british did to prevent failure of the union.
The article is credible because it cannot be edited by outside sources and is written based off an
article written by Williamson Murray published in the 2002 spring edition of MHQ. It also has
an entirety of facts, and little-to-no biased or opinionated context.
This article would be beneficial because it can be used to show Britains aid to others and their
aid to the Ultra. It also goes further into explanation of how the Enigma machines and Ultra
we maintained in Britain as well as Poland and France. (Danielle Seibert)
Knox, A. D., P. Twinn, W. G. Welchman, and A. M. Turing. "Enigma Report, November 1939."
Alan Turing Scrapbook. British National Archives, Nov. 1939. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
This website is a digital Transcription of document in British National Archives. At the top of the
page the reader is given the context of these deciphered messages. The messages we see give
context to the timeline and string of events of 1939. Along with giving us an illustration to what
was going on that year, we see exactly how these messages work.
The article is credible because Andrew Hodges not only specializes in Alan Turing, but has
written pamphlets, articles, and even a book on the topic of enigma. The deciphering of the
articles is credible by British national archives.
This article would be beneficial to our research because it is exactly what we are describing and
talking about, and provides a great illustration to those who dont understand by just a simple
explanation of what the Engimas were, what they did, or how. It also gives insight to the
positions of major leaders in the world war 2. (Danielle Seibert)
DiSalvo, David. "How Alan Turing Helped Win WWII And Was Thanked With Criminal
Prosecution For Being Gay." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 27 May 2012. Web. 18 Nov.
2015.
DiSalvo describes the U-boat and the Bombes used during World War 2 and Alan Turings
contribution to such things. DiSalvo also gathers information from other historians stating that
many believed that the war would've lasted 2-3 more years killing 2 million more people if the
enigma machines werent invented. It also gives credit to Alan Turing for thinking into the future
noting that Turing was the first of the time to introduce the idea of computers Thinking. the
article also touches base on Alans homosexuality and its effects of how he was perceived during
World war 2.
This article is credible because it is written by one of forbes contributors David Disalvo.
It gives some biased opinions and insights, but also factual and contextual evidence.
The article would be beneficial because it gives us a look at how Turing operated as a person up
until his suicide. It also shows us his exact effects and cooperation into the success of the Enigma

8
and the Bombes. This article will give an insight to how Alan was as a person and how he
conceptualizes the idea of the Enigma. (Danielle Seibert)