Devoir de Philosophie

Anglais - Spies during the cold war

Publié le 21/11/2013

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Introduction:   The term « cold war » is used to refer to a period between 1945 and 1991. During these years, the world witnessed a confrontation between the democracies of the Western World led by the United States and the communist countries of Eastern Europe led by the Soviet Union. Although the United States and the Soviet Union never declared war on each other, there were crisis during which everybody were worried about what could going on if one of the two superpowers decided to declared war. Indeed, the cold war was an arms race and scientist of both side worked on the creation of the nuclear bomb. It also corresponds to the creation of secret agencies. In both side, secret agents were ask to spy the other side. Part 1: The role of spies during the cold war.           During the Cold war, both side had to know what was going on in the other side, that’s why there was the creation of secret organizations.           Infiltrators had to get information from one side to inform the other. In order to do that it was better to be close to the power, for example the Cambridge Spies were right wing members of the establishment, they worked for the BBC so they controlled medias; the monarchy by the way of Anthony Blunt, a member of the Royal family and they also infiltrated the English secret services while they actually were spies for the Russians.           By knowing what the other side was focus on, it permitted to take the wind out of one's sails and be quicker t...

« about the creation of a nuclear bomb.

Melita Norwood was a secret agent, she worked for the NKVD.

She joined the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association, which was a cover to an English group of scientists who worked on the creation of nuclear weapon.

She supplied lots of significant material on the bomb atom project. She used to photograph the documents and then she gave them to the Soviet Union.

As a result the Soviet Union exploded its first atom bomb in 1949, 3 years before Britain. Part 2: The double life, choices they have to do, the different kinds of danger...           Lots of spies betrayed their country by becoming a double agent of the other side.

If their real cover was burnt they could be killed or put in jell.

George Blake, who was a double agent for the Soviet Union was discovered in 1961 and sentenced to 42 years in prison.  If he hadn't escaped, he would have spent the rest of his life in prison.

          To not be discovered, spies had to lie to everybody, to pretend to be people they weren't.

The Cambridge Spies were 4 rich men who studied in Cambridge together.

Strangely enough they were communist so they decided to become double agent for the Soviet Union.

They had to pretend to agree with the English politics because it was the best cover.

During the civil war in Spain, one of them, Kim Philby was a reporter for the newspaper The Time, he went to Guernica after that the village was destroyed by Hitlers' bombs.

Despite the fact that he knew that the Nazis were in charge of that it pretended the contrary to the inhabitant to protect his cover.

         That shows us that everybody can't be a spy because spies need to have special qualities; they have to be curious, perseverant, clever, resistant, faithful, level-headed, strong willed, etc.

We listened interviews in which a former SIS agent and a young woman explain that.

The man became an agent because he was curious so when he was asked to he didn't think too much about it and he just said yes.

He thinks that everybody doesn't have the qualities to be a good spy.

The girl tries to become a spy and she explains the process used by the SIS to evaluate people.

The SIS came and kidnapped them, they took them away in a cold place in London and then they interrogated them during more than 6 hours to see if they were able to keep their cover.          A good spy also has to put his ideals first, before his family.

That's what we saw in a text called “Don't deny me the children”.

It's the story of two parents, who are spies.

The wife was unmasked. »

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