The Cambridge Spies

Page 1 of 6

• 1. A world of shadows
• 2. The early years
• 3. Failure to trust
• 4. Looking for discrepancies
• 5. Dealing with suspicion
• 6. Find out more
• Print entire article

A world of shadows

The hardest and most bitterly fought confrontation between the Soviet Union and the western democracies during the 50 years of the Cold War was on the espionage front. In this arena the KGB, the 'sword and the shield' of the USSR, pitted its wits against its principal adversaries - the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States (CIA) and the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS).

'...all of whom operated in a world of shadows, where deception and betrayal flourished.'

The aim of each was to steal the secrets of the other side, to try to peer inside the mind of the enemy, to fathom his intentions, and to neutralise them before they could be executed. The soldiers in this war were the spymasters, the spies and their agents, all of whom operated in a world of shadows where deception and betrayal flourished.

During the spy war it was impossible to write authoritatively about it. The present author once wrote that the truth could not be told 'until the files of the KGB, the CIA and the SIS are all opened to public scrutiny' - little dreaming that this would ever happen.

But when Communism collapsed and the Cold War ended, this is exactly what did occur, and thus it became possible to tell the story of the four most remarkable spies of the Cold War, four larger-than-life Englishmen: HAR (Kim) Philby, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and Anthony Blunt, all of whom betrayed their country to spy for Moscow.

In the new political climate, it became possible to tell the story both from Britain's point of view and through the eyes of the KGB. And from this tale we can draw some startling conclusions about the nature of espionage and its real value in the modern world.

Next 

Published: 2003-04-15