The history of secret special services begins long before our era. The Greek city-states formed special units of warriors to infiltrate potential enemies. The Romans borrowed a lot from the Greeks, but they added a lot of their own: Julius Caesar was the first Roman emperor to create a real intelligence corps. But the dark era of the Middle Ages destroyed the cunning science of secret espionage far back - to replace professional intelligence officers, murderers, informants, rude warriors who preferred face-to-face battles to tricks. Nevertheless, some countries managed to retain and nurture their own secret affairs specialists, who over time formed the most secret intelligence services of that difficult time.
The secret squad of Lancaster
The War of the Scarlet and White Rose, the Lancaster-York War, raged from 1455 to 1485. The development of the secret services at that time received a huge impetus - information about the enemy's plans was necessary for both sides. Henry VII, using the experience gained in the war, organized his own secret organization, divided into four branches. Secret spies were engaged in intelligence abroad in England, informants worked in the lower strata of society, professional intelligence officers were dispatched to spy on especially important persons, and a special mobile group (the profession of a priest, clerk or doctor was a cover) constantly moved from city to city, controlling public attitudes towards The Tudors.
Byzantine cunning
The Byzantine ruler Justinian borrowed the general principle of his intelligence from the Romans and Persians. The emperor's espionage service was well established: trade caravans were constantly sent to all neighbors, among which the informers were hiding. Even a superficial observation of the enemy's court allowed experienced people to draw the necessary conclusions, and as a result, Justinian received information vital for the empire.
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Assassins
The Assassin Order became a kind of role model, which was copied by almost all Western secret societies. Europeans took discipline, hierarchical structure and even some symbolism from the Assassins. This is not surprising, because the general influence of the medieval special forces of the mysterious mountain elder on the entire history of Western civilization is really enormous.
Ninja
Thanks to modern cinema, we know ninjas as consummate martial arts masters, able to single-handedly cope with a dozen opponents. In fact, groups of trained specialists from the Japanese provinces of Iga and Kogo have become famous for centuries thanks to the skill of espionage - information at all times was valued much higher than the fighting qualities of an individual.
Spies of life and death
The ramified system of Chinese medieval intelligence deserves a separate article. Back in the fifth century BC, the legendary Sun Tzu wrote: “Knowledge of the enemy's position can only be obtained from people. Therefore, for the army, there is nothing closer than spies; there are no greater rewards than for spies; there is no case more secret than espionage. The intelligence services of China were conditionally divided into spies of life and spies of death - the former supplied secret information about the enemy, while the latter “leaked” disinformation to the rulers of neighboring countries. Chinese masters of secret affairs worked secretly throughout Asia, and the general structure of the special services was subsequently borrowed by both the Japanese and Koreans.