The influence Bletchley Park had on ‘World war two’ is a point that has long been debated, as there are many factors and arguments that can prove or disprove any point. The one undisputable fact remains, that the work done at Bletchley, certainly altered the course of the war, one way or another
As I have mentioned, there are many points that argue that Bletchley were very limited in how much they could affect the course of the war. The greatest of these arguments, is probably the idea that Bletchley Park could only give the military information. After that, the military leaders had to decide on whether or not to use the information, the way in which they would use it and the people to whom they gave passed the information and battle to. And even after the military had decided all this, it was up to the soldiers to actually fight the battle, and win. So, in this way, Bletchley Park seems to have little influence regarding the war. And because of this lack of direct contact with the war, very little of Bletchley Parks information was acted upon and so went to waste, or the battle was fought badly or inappropriate tactics where used which meant that that particular battle was lost. This bad leadership is seen particularly in the battle of Crete, when Bletchley Park decoded full details on battle strategies and other key details that allowed the military to make moves against the Germans. Unfortunately, the ally troops were outnumbered, and so lost the battle. However, it wasn’t a total defeat as Hitler never tried this style of fighting again in the entire course of the war.
But it wasn’t just because of Bletchley’s lack of contact, it was also often due to Bletchley’s failure in breaking the codes and achieving the Enigma settings for that day. This failure meant that no actions could be taken against the enemy, and so losses were inevitable. Again, due to bad code breaking, there were often inaccurate messages passed on and so moves were made that were detrimental to the war effort, and so affected the allies badly.
However, it has been worked out that the information provided by Bletchley Park meant that the war was shortened by two years, saving millions of lives. Most notable of these triumphs was the ‘Battle of Britain’. The information provided by Bletchley meant that the allies could make moves to counter the invasion, and prevented Hitler landing in Britain. Because of such heavy losses to the enemy, Hitler never tried this form of fighting again.
Another of the great triumphs for the allies, directly caused by Bletchley Park, was the sinking of the flagship, and pride of the German Navy, ‘The Bismarck’. After the Bismarck was damaged, Bletchley decoded a message that finally convinced the Navy that they were a reliable source, and as such this led to the destruction of the Bismarck, which was a great blow to the Germans, partly economically, but mostly morally.
Perhaps the defining moment in the ‘Battle of the Atlantic’ was the breaking of ‘Dolphin’. Up until the breaking of Dolphin, 282000 tonnes worth of supplies were lost due to German U-Boats attacking the shipping convoys, and destroying many of the British fleet’s best ships. After Dolphin had been broken, the allies were able to prevent the Germans destroying so many of their ships, and breaking Dolphin also meant that the Battle of the Medanine could be finished leaving the allies triumphant.
On the whole, Bletchley Park affected the war in a huge positive way, and as was previously mentioned above, shortened the war by two years saving millions of lives.