Print this page Notorious Spies and Their Masters

Spies have fascinated societies for centuries, operating in the shadows of politics and war. This course explores the history of espionage, examining who spies were, why they acted, and what impact they really had. Participants investigate famous cases—from early intelligence networks to Cold War espionage—and consider how ideology, loyalty and deception shaped their actions. We also explore how spy stories blur fact and fiction, influencing how we understand power and secrecy.

LEARNING RESOURCES

• Phillip Knightly: The Second Oldest Profession (Guild, 1986, ISBN n/a)
• Robert Hutchinson: Elizabeth’s Spy Master (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006, ISBN 10 0 297 684613 2)
• Ben Macintyre: A Spy among Friends (Crown,2014, ISBN 978-0-8041-3663-1)

COURSE OUTLINE

• We will look at the use of spies in various roles from stealing state secrets, revealing military tactics and theft of intellectual property – and the impact of such activity.
• We will take a number of personal examples of spies, both notorious (Mata Hari), failed (Vladimir Petrov), brilliant but ignored (Richard Sorge), devastating in impact (Klaus Fuchs and the Cambridge Five) and curious (Nöel Coward).
• Spy networks don’t exit without “spy masters” so we will look at the role such people from Sir Francis Walsingham (who set up the first “secret service”) to Markus Wolf, the East German spymaster who was the inspiration for John Le Carré’s “Karla”.

COURSE OUTCOMES

At the end of this course students will have: 

1. An appreciation of what’s “meaningful” and what’s just “romantic” about the role of spies and their impacts on history.
2. Some understanding of what motivates people to betray their country, put their lives at risk or otherwise want to live a life in the shadows.