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The Enigma was a portable cipher machine, roughly the size of a typewriter, which could encrypt and decrypt secret messages.  It used electro-mechanical rotors to convert a message to a secret code, and then another machine could decode that same message and print out the original message.  This machine was commercially available beginning in the early 1920s.  The Nazi German military version generated codes widely thought to be unbreakable.

The '''Enigma''' was a portable cipher machine, roughly the size of a typewriter, which could encrypt and decrypt secret messages.  It used electro-mechanical rotors to convert a message to a secret code, and then another machine could decode that same message and print out the original message.  This machine was commercially available beginning in the early 1920s.  The Nazi German military version generated codes widely thought to be unbreakable.

The Enigma machine was an electromechanical device, equipped with a 26-letter keyboard, with one light per letter of the alphabet.  Inside the machine was a set of wired drums for scrambling the input. To encipher or encrypt a letter, the operator pushed the relevant key and observed which of the lights lit.  The communication between two operators required that each had an Enigma machine set  up in the same way as each other.  The large number of possibilities for setting the rotors (and a plugboard that could swap letters) made for an astronomical number of possible configurations, each producing a different cipher.  The Germans changed the settings daily, such that the machine had to be rebroken each day in order to decrypt the messages.

The Enigma machine was an electromechanical device, equipped with a 26-letter keyboard, with one light per letter of the alphabet.  Inside the machine was a set of wired drums for scrambling the input. To encipher or encrypt a letter, the operator pushed the relevant key and observed which of the lights lit.  The communication between two operators required that each had an Enigma machine set  up in the same way as each other.  The large number of possibilities for setting the rotors (and a plugboard that could swap letters) made for an astronomical number of possible configurations, each producing a different cipher.  The Germans changed the settings daily, such that the machine had to be rebroken each day in order to decrypt the messages.

At the end of the war, Allied General Dwight Eisenhower said that Ultra was "decisive" to the Allied victory over Germany. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill also declared, "It was thanks to Ultra that we won the war."  The breaking of the German codes prevented it from completely blockading Britain with U-boats and enabled the Allied forces to make key strategic decisions throughout the war.

At the end of the war, Allied General Dwight Eisenhower said that Ultra was "decisive" to the Allied victory over Germany. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill also declared, "It was thanks to Ultra that we won the war."  The breaking of the German codes prevented it from completely blockading Britain with U-boats and enabled the Allied forces to make key strategic decisions throughout the war.