The article tells about what a telegram is, about the prototypes of the modern telegraph and the current state of affairs of this type of communication.
Ancient times
From the very beginning of the development of human society, a need arose for methods of fast data transmission and communication. Initially, walking or horse-drawn messengers did this, but this method of delivering reports was very slow, and even in conditions of hostilities, the delivery man could simply be killed. In addition, even the postal services that appeared in the Middle Ages could not satisfy all the needs of people in connection, and throughout history, inventors have been looking for methods of fast and reliable remote communication. And to answer the question, what is a telegram, for a start it is worth mentioning how this technology developed.
Probably the first ones can be considered smoke signals from bonfires, a similar method was used by African tribes. There is also evidence of its use in ancient Rome. But this method was extremely unreliable, suitable only for monosyllabic signals and depended heavily on the weather or time of day, and heliograph gradually replaced it - a method of giving signals by mirrors of reflected sunlight. It also depended heavily on the weather, and the distance was limited by the line of sight.
Optics
In 1792, the first network of optical telegraphs was created in France . The method was based on the supply of light signals through lamps and lanterns - semaphores. However, he did not find wide distribution in commercial use, as it was costly and required a large number of intermediate optical stations.
Electricity
Attempts to create an electric telegraph began at the beginning of the 19th century, and a number of scientists succeeded. However, the first who patented such a device and brought it to perfection was the American Samuel Morse in 1840. He also developed the Morse code, where each letter corresponded to a set of dots and dashes. The design of his apparatus was so successful that it remained unchanged for many decades. And soon the inhabitants of all the continents of the Earth could exchange telegrams. So what is a telegram?
Definition
A telegram is a message that is sent through telegraph equipment using an electronic form of wire communication. We will analyze this process in more detail. It is worth saying that, depending on the time or equipment, the transmission method could be slightly different, but its meaning always remained the same.
First, the operator of the telegraph service wrote down the text or issued it to the visitor who wanted to send such a message as a telegram, a form that he filled out himself and indicated the addressee. Then, using the Morse code, information was transferred to the terminal or intermediate station, where the machine automatically printed out paper tape covered with dots and dashes. After that, the receiving worker translated it into the usual letters, and the messenger delivered a telegram to the addressee. So now we know what a telegram is.
Current state of affairs
For more than a century and a half, starting with the wide distribution and use of telegraph apparatus, they remained the only means of communication that provided almost instant message delivery. A bit later, with the development of telephone communications, this changed, but a kind of message such as a telegram was still widely used. The Russian Post, by the way, is one of the few where the possibility of sending telegrams is still preserved.
Since the end of the 90s of the last century, with the development of mobile telephony and the Internet, telegraph services have become less and less popular. Despite the fact that since 1891 they had allowed sending a message almost instantly to anywhere in the world, this could also be done using a regular telephone or email. In addition, the postman still needed time to deliver a telegram to the addressee.
The Netherlands, India, Denmark - these countries at the moment have completely abandoned such a method of communication as a telegram. The Russian Post, along with Germany, Sweden, Japan and Belgium, still gives those who wish the opportunity to send messages of this kind. However, over a large territory of this country, the network of telegraph poles has long been dismantled, and messages are transmitted by modern digital technologies.
Impact on society
Like any mass-use technology, the telegraph had a great impact on society. With the laying of transatlantic cables , communication has become possible with all the inhabited world continents. Telegraphs were used by journalists who could transmit articles and describe events from anywhere in the world, stock traders and just ordinary people. He had a great role during the wars, when radios were not yet invented, and the only way to communicate was telegram. Russia is one of the countries that still supports their sending and transfer.