The Spy Games They Played
Every major empire or, the ‘freest of the free country’ that’s existed in recorded history had (still has) some clandestine spy games that ran in the background.
I’m not talking about the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (KGB) or the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) who openly monitored the citizens under their rule. I’m talking about espionage that never saw the light of the day.
To mention a few:
- Ancient Rome’s gossip centres
Julius Caesar had an extensive spy network in place which updated his ‘they’re trying to kill you or politically outwit you’ calendar. Ultimately, it was a Roman Senate conspiracy that sealed his assassination deal.
2. Genghis Khan’s tireless span
He brutally, viciously and mercilessly conquered the Western Xia Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty, the Kara-Khitan Khanate, and the Khwarazmian Empire using cutting-edge siege warfare and spy techniques to understand his enemies and then successfully conquer them.
3. Queen Elizabeth I’s England
She’s well-renowned for scheming and bolstering spy networks. Her spies intercepted messages by the Spanish Envoy about the plot to install Mary, Queen of Scots to the throne. Needless to say, Mary didn’t get her little throne as she was tried for treason and then assassinated.
4. Letter Bombs
There’s a reason Europeans mistrusted each other into fighting two World Wars. They intensively spied on each other in the 18th and the 19th century in departments referred to as ‘Black Chambers.’ These black chambers read letters, private letters (like letters from Italian activist Giusseppe Mazzini’s were read in London’s Black Chamber in 1844.) Then, some Machiavellian things happened.
5. Chanakya’s full proof Mauryan spy hierarchies
Systematic spy systems birthed a new Indian Empire as illustrated by Chanakya’s Arthashastra. These five spy different kinds of spy networks contained intelligent civilians who supplied a lot of intel to Chanakya. The first category contains fake civilians/students/disciples who just listened to the common folk and the academia and reported the overall morale of the citizens. The second contained the Udásthita spies who were intelligent and well-funded spies who ran spy ops. The third category comprised of normal labourers known as Grihapaitikas who informed the empire about security infarctions. The Vaidehakas formed the fourth layer of this spy network. These were travelling merchants who kept their ears open while they conducted business. The final level contained religious leaders and monks who built state sponsored ashrams where they did Scientology level brainwashing in non-urban areas.
6. Maximilien de Robespierre’s paranoid surveillance committee
After the French Revolution brought a revolutionary government to power, the leaders of the movement set up ‘Committees of Surveillance’ in 1873 to identify, monitor and arrest suspected people. About 500,000 people were targeted by these committees.
7. The American Snooping of 1922
When the US hosted a naval disarmament conference for nine world powers like the UK, France, Japan, Italy, American agents spied on all the foreign delegates. Many keys to seemingly uncrackable codes were intercepted during this conference and then they were used to decrypt a lot of foreign communications to the respective home countries.
8. Catholic Heresy surveillance during the Inquisition
In trying to combat heresy, the Roman Catholic Church maintained an elaborate surveillance network which was headed by French Bishop Bernard Gui of Toulouse. We all know how this story progressed.
9. Axis Germany’s Stasi Intelligence service
The communist part of Germany post World War II, East Germany, believed in surveillance. The Stasi Intelligence Service had over 91,000 officers and over 200,000 informers when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.
Let this sink in.
Put on your tinfoil hat.
Tape your camera.
Drop off the grid.
You can try any number of things.
An expert spymaster will still manage to find a way to uncover your ontology.
