In 1949, the Soviet Union shocked the world by detonating its first atomic bomb, much earlier than Western intelligence expected.
At the center of that breakthrough stood one of the most consequential spies of the 20th century: Klaus Fuchs.
A brilliant physicist working on the Manhattan Project, Fuchs secretly passed detailed bomb designs and theoretical hydrogen bomb research to Soviet handlers. He believed nuclear balance would prevent American dominance and possibly prevent war.
His espionage dramatically accelerated the Soviet nuclear program. Historians estimate he saved Moscow one to two years of research and development - years that mattered enormously in the early Cold War.
Fuchs was exposed in 1950 after Allied codebreakers decrypted Soviet communications. He confessed and served nine years in prison before moving to East Germany.
One man. One ideology. One leak. And suddenly, the atomic monopoly was gone.
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