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That moment I realized the Allies almost lost WWII over a broken code machine
Was reading about the Enigma machine and how the Poles cracked it first. Then handed it to the Brits. If that one Polish mathematician didn't share his work in 1939, we might all be speaking German right now. Crazy to think about. Has anyone else stumbled on a small historical detail like that that totally changed their view?
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corablack1mo ago
Huh, I always thought it was just a British thing but that changes it for me.
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diana5121mo ago
Are you saying you didn't know about the Polish codebreakers before? That's a really common thing to miss actually, most people only hear about Bletchley Park. It honestly makes me a little sad how overlooked those Polish mathematicians are, they laid the whole groundwork for breaking Enigma years before the war even started. They handed all their work over to the British and French too, which is a huge deal. It's kind of wild to think how different things could have been if they hadn't cracked it first. Really glad you're learning about it now though, it's such an important piece of history.
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