Module Information

The main aim of the module is to give students both a historical and a theoretical understanding of intelligence and security by examining what intelligence and security operations involved in the first half of the twentieth century, why states engaged in them, how they contributed to policy-making and war-making or failed to do so, and how they influenced both national and international politics. A further aim is to encourage students to think analytically and critically: the historical literature on intelligence is of very mixed quality and students must be able to examine critically the sources available to them.

The course begins with a discussion of the nature of intelligence and then moves on to examine the key aspects of the developing intelligence communities of the major states in the first half of the twentieth century: military and diplomatic intelligence; intelligence assessment; counter-intelligence and counter-subversion; the Nazi and Soviet police states; intelligence in the Second World War; signals intelligence; and
intelligence and deception and strategic surprise. The course is largely historical in nature, though consideration is given to theoretical issues as well. Key events and developments in the international history of the period are studied to show the central role played by intelligence in shaping the perceptions of both domestic and international threats among policy-makers. Much attention is given to the crucial role played by the two World Wars in causing permanent intelligence organizations to develop. Whether intelligence and security operations are conducted differently in totalitarian systems than in democracies is also an important subject of inquiry.