Enigma | Definition, Machine, History, Alan Turing, & Facts | Britannica

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• How was Enigma cracked?
• What was the cause of World War II?
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External Websites

• University of Miami - Department of Computer Science - On Enigma and a Method for its Decryption
• New Prairie Press Open Book Publishing - Cyber-Human Systems, Space Technologies, and Threats - Machines Hacking Machines – TurigÂ’s Legacy [Carter]
• IOPscience - Enigma of a flare involving multiple-loop intersections: Emerging, colliding loops or magnetic breakout? (PDF)
• The Guardian - How did the Enigma machine work?
• The National Museum of Computing - The Enigma Machine
• Stanford University - The Enigma Machine
• DigitalCommons at Kennesaw State University - How Much Should We Teach the Enigma Machine? (PDF)
• Khan Academy - The Enigma encryption machine
• Imperial War Museum - how Alan Turing cracked the Enigma Code
• National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Rejewski and Enigma
• Crypto Museum - History of the Enigma
• PBS - NOVA - How the enigma works
• Famous Scientist - Biography of Alan Turin

Enigma German code device Ask Anything Written and fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Dec. 12, 2025 •History Britannica AI Ask Anything Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask Anything Top Questions

What is Enigma?

Enigma was a cipher device used by Nazi Germany’s military command to encode strategic messages before and during World War II.

Why was Enigma so hard to break?

The number of permutations of settings available to the encoders made the Enigma code difficult to break. The operator set the machine’s rotating wheels and plugboard to different predetermined positions according to daily orders, regularly changing the cipher.

How did Enigma work?

The Enigma machine produced encoded messages. Electrical signals from a typewriter-like keyboard were routed through a series of rotating wheels as well as a plugboard that scrambled the output but did so in a way that was decipherable with the right settings.

How was Enigma cracked?

In 1932–33 Polish mathematician Marian Rejewski deduced the wiring pattern inside the wheels of Enigma, assisted by Enigma operating manuals provided by the French secret service, to make a successful decryption machine. When the Germans improved their encryption, rendering Rejewski’s work outdated, English mathematician Alan Turing developed a more advanced machine that was deciphering Enigma messages by 1940.

Who broke the Enigma code?

The Enigma code was broken through the collaboration of the French secret service, the Polish Cipher Bureau, and the British government cryptological establishment, Bletchley Park. Although all these agencies contributed to breaking Enigma, the roles of Polish mathematician Marian Rejewski and English mathematician Alan Turing were essential.

Enigma, device used by the German military command to encode strategic messages before and during World War II.

The Enigma code was first broken by the Poles, under the leadership of mathematician Marian Rejewski, in the early 1930s. In 1939, with the growing likelihood of a German invasion, the Poles turned their information over to the British, who set up a secret code-breaking group known as Ultra, under mathematician Alan M. Turing. Because the Germans shared their encryption device with the Japanese, Ultra also contributed to Allied victories in the Pacific. See also Cryptology: Developments during World Wars I and II.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.