A double-edged sword: communications and imperial control in British India

Abstract

Ein zweischneidiges Schwert: Telekommunikation und imperiale Kontrolle in Britisch-Indien«. Britain introduced telegraphs in its colonial em- pires in order to tighten its control over its subjects. Thus, the British in India used their new telegraph lines to repress the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and has- tened thereafter to lay cables from England to India and around Africa. Imperi- alists extolled the advent of telegraphy as establishing permanent ties to their colonies, often comparing these ties to the Roman roads and postal system. Telecommunications had another effect, however, namely it spread the news from distant places, thereby undermining the colonial status quo. News of the Japanese victory over Russia in 1905 had a galvanizing effect on the nationalist movement in India and the Swadeshi agitation in Bengal. Later, news of the activities of Gandhi and his followers brought Indians from different regions together in a way that could not have happened in the mid-nineteenth century. Thus the hopes that the imperialists placed in the controlling powers of tele- communication proved to be misplaced.