List of issues > Series «History». 2023. Vol 45
Transcontinental Telegraph:
Geopolitical Plots and the Information Revolution
of the Second Half of the 19th Century
Author(s)
A. V. Postnikov, M. V. Konstantinov
Abstract
The telegraph and Morse code invention made it possible to quickly transmit information
over long distances. There were Russian, European and American construction projects of telegraph
lines. In the 1860s and 70s, a domestic project was carried out to build the St. Petersburg - Siberian
Cities – Alexandrovka line in the Far East. Russia and the USA jointly designed a highway through
Beringia. In fact, an underwater cable line has been implemented from the Primorsky coast to Nagasaki in Japan, then to Hong Kong and across the Indian Ocean, the Red and Mediterranean Seas to
London, with a continuation across the Atlantic Ocean to the USA and overland to St. Petersburg. A
huge electric circle was formed, encircling the world space, which became the scientific and technical basis of the information revolution of the second half of the 19th century.
About the Authors
Postnikov Alexey Vladimirovich, Doctor of Sciences (Technics), Professor, Chief Research Scientist, S. I. Vavilov Institute of History of Natural Science and Technology RAS, 14, Baltiyskaya st., Moscow, 125315, Russian Federation, e-mail: postnikov1939@ mail.ru
Konstantinov Mikhail Vasilievich, Doctor of Sciences (History), Professor, Trans-Baikal State University, 30, Alexandro-Zavodskaya st., Chita, 672039, Russian Federation, e-mail: mk-rus@mail.ru
For citation
Postnikov A.V., Konstantinov M.V. Transcontinental Telegraph: Geopolitical Plots and the Information Revolution
of the Second Half of the 19th Century. The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series History, 2023, vol. 45, pp. 6–15.
https://doi.org/10.26516/2222-9124.2023.45.6 (in Russian)
Keywords
telegraph, Russian and American projects, joint actions, geopolitical contradictions,
Siberian telegraph lines, transcontinental communication, information revolution.
UDC
94:656.254.1
DOI
https://doi.org/10.26516/2222-9124.2023.45.6
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