Secret Files from World Wars to Cold War

Secret Files from World Wars to Cold War

Secret Files from World Wars to Cold War

Access information:

Access on and off campus

Description:

This collection provides full-text searchable, digital access to 4,500 primary source British government secret intelligence and foreign policy files spanning 1873 to 1953, with a particular focus from 1936 onwards. Spanning four key 20th century conflicts, the material enables research into intelligence, foreign policy, international relations, and military history in the period of Appeasement, the Second World War, and the early years of the Cold War.

Representing the complete digitisation of material up to 1953 from across nine file series from The National Archives UK, Secret Files from World Wars to Cold War provides a unique three-tiered intelligence insight into world history over the critical years of the 1930s to 1950s through its juxtaposition of Cabinet Office Joint Intelligence Sub-Committee papers with MI6 operations case files and decoded signals intelligence from Bletchley Park. Together, these files provide new insights into key 20th century events, international relations and conflicts across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North America and beyond, and enable an almost day-by-day, in-depth study of the Second World War. Teaching resources include:

  • File Series Descriptions.
  • an extensive list of Key People and Key Organisations men.