ZAP’S FACTS!
WARS

WWII codebreakers used early computers to crack secret messages.

During WWII, codebreakers helped crack secret messages using early computers.

1 min read
A cheerful boy in a blue suit operates an early computer with glowing buttons, surrounded by lightbulbs and scrolls of…
THE FULL STORY

At Bletchley Park in England, mathematicians built machines called bombes and Colossus to crack the German Enigma and Lorenz codes - work that helped shorten the war and laid the foundation for modern computing.

An English archer in a green cap pulls back his bowstring, aiming at a charging group of blue-armored French soldiers.
DID YOU KNOW? 5,000 English archers defeated a French army four times their size in 1415. At the Battle of Agincourt, English longbowmen fired thousands of arrows a minute and changed the rules of war. 2 min read
A cheerful soldier in blue rides a brown horse, holding a pistol, while a tank looms in the background on a bright yellow…
DID YOU KNOW? Armies used horse cavalry in battle for over 3,000 years before tanks took over. Horse-riding soldiers were a major weapon from ancient times until WWII - when machine guns and engines finally ended their reign. 2 min read
Soldiers in different uniforms gather around a decorated Christmas tree, singing carols with mugs in hand and musical notes…
DID YOU KNOW? On Christmas Eve 1914, enemy soldiers in WWI stopped fighting and sang carols together. Across parts of the Western Front, soldiers crossed no man's land to swap food, take photos and play football. 2 min read