This article sent me down a long rabbit hole of code talkers, and I find it such an interesting subject. Essentially it boils down to just speaking a language that your enemy can't understand, so...
Essentially it boils down to just speaking a language that your enemy can't understand, so I wondered why Navajo was so special. Couldn't you just use any language? And well yes actually you can, and different nations have. Navajo code talkers are famous for helping to win WWII because their code was never cracked, but the US employed tons of other native languages throughout the years in its many wars, including Cherokee, Cree, Muskogee, and more. They even contemplated using Basque at one point. The Brits thought about using Welsh in WWII, but seem not to have gone through with it (but interestingly, Welsh was used to relay messages during the Yugoslav Wars???). Even today, apparently Ukraine is currently using a Hungarian code in their war for survival.
On the one hand, the US using obscure indigenous languages in WWII is a very clever solution to prevent messages being intercepted by the enemy. But on the other, I wonder why those languages are so obscure in the first place... Something about the US using the languages of nations they 'conquered' to help them in their wars just doesn't sit right with me, even if the Navajo men (and other native groups) did it willingly.
This article sent me down a long rabbit hole of code talkers, and I find it such an interesting subject.
Essentially it boils down to just speaking a language that your enemy can't understand, so I wondered why Navajo was so special. Couldn't you just use any language? And well yes actually you can, and different nations have. Navajo code talkers are famous for helping to win WWII because their code was never cracked, but the US employed tons of other native languages throughout the years in its many wars, including Cherokee, Cree, Muskogee, and more. They even contemplated using Basque at one point. The Brits thought about using Welsh in WWII, but seem not to have gone through with it (but interestingly, Welsh was used to relay messages during the Yugoslav Wars???). Even today, apparently Ukraine is currently using a Hungarian code in their war for survival.
On the one hand, the US using obscure indigenous languages in WWII is a very clever solution to prevent messages being intercepted by the enemy. But on the other, I wonder why those languages are so obscure in the first place... Something about the US using the languages of nations they 'conquered' to help them in their wars just doesn't sit right with me, even if the Navajo men (and other native groups) did it willingly.