A telegram ... This word can conjure up an image of a yellowed shabby piece of paper containing a message about some distant historical events that have little to do with the modern world. However, many of the ways that we now use for communication can be considered as direct descendants of telegrams.
Meaning of the word
In order to study the history and evolution of telegrams and human communication in general, one must begin with the equipment with which telegrams were sent — with a telegraph. Its name comes from the Greek language and translates as "I write from a distance." If you look at the meaning of this term in the explanatory dictionary, it will be written there that the telegraph is an apparatus for transmitting messages from a distance.
A bit of history
The method of transmitting information at a distance has been with us since people learned how to make fire. For example, lighthouses were lit on the towers of the Great Wall of China to warn of invaders. And in more difficult situations, fire was used. For example, in 150 g BC. e. the Greek historian Polybius invented an alphabetic system of signals through a pair of torches, but this method was not widespread.
Indeed, the 18th century had not yet ended when the first network connection was born as a harbinger of an electric telegraph. Claude Schapp invented a system of semaphore relay stations that sent messages using moving rods placed on top of the tower. Like many technological innovations, his inventions were used primarily by the military. Napoleon, for example, used it to coordinate the movements of his armies.
In Russia, the pioneer in telegrams in Russian was Pavel Schilling. It was he who in 1832 created the telegraph, which was presented in the same year. And in the United States of America, the first telegram was sent by Morse, in whose honor the telegraph alphabet was named. It happened in 1844.
Until 1852, Russia used an optical telegraph, which was distributed only along three lines, that is, it did not cover the entire territory. And in 1854, the electric telegraph had completely supplanted its older brother. But they still didn’t say goodbye to the optical: until now it is used on the railway.
The appearance and contents of the telegram
The first devices simply took the text and printed it on a thin ribbon, which was glued to a sheet. Then, already in the 80s, teletypes came to our world. They allowed you to print the transferred text directly on sheets of paper. Then you could send a congratulatory telegram - this is a sheet of text simply glued to a postcard.
What was reported via telegrams? Usually they were sent to communicate something important, to inform about a pleasant event or to bring tragic news, to congratulate them on the holiday. Now, with the development of digital technology, telegrams have lost their relevance.