As part of this new series of blog posts, I will be exploring different historical figures and events, focusing mainly on espionage history, but also researching other areas of 20th century history. I am going to explore these topics by reading books about them so I plan to incorporate short book reviews into these blog posts, detailing how the books I read added to my research. The first blog post of this series is going to delve into the Cambridge Five spy ring, a prominent part of Cold War espionage history that I find very interesting.
The Cambridge Five were a group of British spies recruited by the Soviet Union during their time at Cambridge University in the 1930s. They infiltrated high-ranking positions in British intelligence and government, passing critical secrets to the Soviets during World War II and the early Cold War, compromising Western security.
Harold “Kim” Philby
Kim Philby was born in Ambala, British India and studied at Cambridge University, where he met Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean (two other members of the spy ring). After Cambridge he met, and later married, Litz Friedmann, an Austrian Communist. He lived in Vienna with Friedmann for a time and in 1934 began work as a KGB informer and joined SIS (also known as MI6) in 1940. Just before the war ended, he was appointed head of SIS’s anti-Soviet section, meaning that the man charged with running operations against the Soviets was a KGB agent! His rise through the ranks of MI6 was impressive and he managed to become Chief British intelligence officer in the US. Eventually in 1962, Philby was charged with espionage but was never taken into custody. Three days into his interrogation he fled to Russia, became a Soviet Citizen and was buried in 1988 with full KGB honours.
‘A Spy Among Friends’, Ben Macintyre (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5)
I read this book as part of my research for this topic and I’ve now started watching the TV show adaptation. The book discusses Kim Philby specifically and his career as a double agent. MacIntyre uses declassified documents, personal accounts, and interviews to build a portrait of Philby and those around him. The book focuses on Philby’s relationship with Nicholas Elliott, a fellow MI6 officer, and James Jesus Angleton of the CIA. The main takeaway I found from this book was how Philby’s charm and charisma were extremely crucial for him to gain people’s trust, ultimately allowing him to exploit them.
Guy Burgess
Burgess was educated at Eton College, the Royal Navel College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He joined the British Communist Party at Cambridge and was then recruited by Soviet intelligence in 1935 (allegedly through the recommendation of Kim Philby). After Cambridge, Burgess worked as a producer at the BBC, and briefly for MI6, before joining the Foreign Office in 1944. In 1950 he even worked for the British Embassy in Washington, D.C, gaining access to American secrets as well! From the Foreign Office, he dispatched intelligence to Moscow, about Allied policies and the post-war plans for Poland and Germany. Additionally, in Washington, he managed to access American strategic plans for the Korean War. Eventually, Burgess fled to Moscow with Donald Maclean in 1951.
Donald Maclean
Maclean studied Modern Languages at Trinity College, Cambridge where he was active in the Communist Party. He then began working for Soviet Intelligence in 1934 and joined the British Diplomatic Service in 1935. He exploited his position within the Foreign Office by passing sensitive documents to the Soviets, ascending through the diplomatic ranks to hold high-ranking British Embassy posts in Paris, Cairo, and Washington. In the Cairo post specifically, he gained access to pivotal information on atomic energy collaboration between the UK, US, and Canada, which he sent to Moscow. He was eventually warned by Kim Philby that he had been detected and fled to Russia with Guy Burgess in 1951.
Anthony Blunt
He was educated at Marlborough College and later studied (maths and modern languages) at Trinity College Cambridge. He was recruited into Soviet intelligence by Guy Burgess sometime between 1935 and 1936. In 1937, he became an art historian at Cambridge and after 1945, was appointed as a surveyor of the King’s (and later Queen Elizabeth II’s) pictures. I found it quite interesting that his relationship with the Queen was actually shown in the Crown, even after his role as a spy was exposed. He joined the British Army in 1939 and passed critical information to the Soviets, including intel on German spy rings operating in the USSR and the results of Ultra intelligence (Enigma intercepts derived from (veuhmakt) Wehrmacht radio traffic).
Blunt was confronted by British Authorities in 1964 and offered immunity in exchange for information. However in 1979, British PM Margaret Thatcher publicly outed him as a former Soviet spy. Consequently, Queen Elizabeth II stripped Blunt of his knighthood and then he actually broke down in tears in his BBC Television confession at the age of 72.
John Cairncross
Cairncross was one of the suspected fifth members of the Cambridge Five. He studied modern languages at the University of Glasgow, the Sorbonne, and Trinity College, Cambridge. After graduating, he joined the British Foreign Office and worked as a code-breaker at Bletchley Park (which was the principal centre of WWII Allied code-breaking) during WWII. From his post at Bletchley Park, Cairncross supplied the USSR with intelligence about German military plans that enabled them to win the Batte of Kursk (1943). In 1944 he was transferred to MI6 and briefly worked under Kim Philby. He later confessed to espionage in the 1960s but the British government declined to prosecute him for unknown reasons (perhaps in exchange for information).
Cairncross was identified as the ‘fifth man’ in the Cambridge spy ring by a KGB defector – and former London Bureau Chief – Oleg Gordievsky. I read a really good book about his life recently, and his crucial role as a KGB colonel who secretly worked as a double agent for MI6 from 1974 to 1985. He provided critical intelligence to MI6 and his escape from the USSR was miraculous, so I might write a blog post on his story for one of my other posts of this history series.
How were they discovered?
There was a leak investigation into a Russian spy at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., involving a small group of civil servants, including Kim Philby. Shortly after arriving in Washington, Philby took an active role in the case, which focused on intelligence from the VENONA project. This investigation identified Donald Maclean as the spy leaking information, by spring 1951, leading to his surveillance.
Philby then misinterpreted a poorly worded telegram on May 16, believing Maclean would soon be questioned, and relayed this to his Soviet contacts. Although the final interview date was yet to be set, the Soviets, acted on Philby’s misinformation, so they planned Maclean’s escape before May 28.
On May 24, UK officials discussed limiting Maclean’s access to sensitive information, with plans for his interview finalized for late June. However, Philby’s defection plan with Guy Burgess was already in motion so on May 25, Maclean and Burgess fled England.
This defection exposed the Cambridge Five completely, with Philby coming under suspicion and facing investigation. The fallout led to the dismantling of the spy ring, as all members were useless to Moscow within a year, ending their susbtantial influence.
Impacts of the Cambridge Five
Benefits for Soviet intelligence:
They enabled agencies like the NKVD to maintain strategic advantages by delivering critical intelligence to the USSR, such as:
- Informing the USSR about British code-breaking successes
- Forewarning the USSR about Hitler’s invasion plan, Operation Barbarossa, enabling better preparation
- Undermining British operations, including the Albanian insurgency against Stalinist leader Enver Hoxha (Soviet intelligence was tipped off by Philby, ensuring that almost all insurgents were captured and executed)
US-UK relations:
- The CIA lost confidence in British intelligence and US officials urged Britain to “clean house regardless of whom it may hurt,” fearing additional spies within British ranks
- Kim Philby’s role within the CIA posed serious risks to US national security, as he had direct access to sensitive American intelligence
Long-term:
- Soviet intelligence had near-total awareness of MI6 operations globally for decades
- The case emphasized the necessity of thorough vetting and led to the implementation of strict security protocols
telling tales 