The Telegraph in the Crimean War

Abstract

Several modern inventions and innovations are associated with the Crimean War. One of them is the electrical telegraph. In 1855, the French and the English built telegraph lines linking the headquarters of their armies on the Crimean Peninsula with the seats of the two governments – in Paris and London. The lines passed through Varna – the main port city on the Western Black Sea coast, and point of departure of the allies for the Crimean Peninsula. Although it might sound strange, it was the war that “brought” the telegraph – the most modern means of communication of the time, to the Balkans and in the Ottoman Empire. And this happened very soon after its use became widespread in the rest of Europe. Undoubtedly, the construction of the electrical telegraph in the area of combat operations during the Crimean War was a chapter in the modernization of the Balkans and the Western Black Sea coast. Based on documents, the chapter presents the construction of the telegraph in the Balkans, the Black sea area and the Crimean Peninsula during the war.