THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE TELEGRAM IN THE UK Research Paper

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE TELEGRAM IN THE UK - Research Paper Example To the Victorians, the telegraph was a symbol of man’s power over nature. The Telegraph became a special tool that enabled and enhanced commercial and imperial expansion. Morus (2000) observes that it was not by coincidence that the financial speculators became the first and most prolific users of the telegraph. Moruss observation reveals the economic significance of the Telegraph. The telegraph was also an important tool to the military that came to know of its potentials soon after its invention (Conboy & Steel, 2015). The Telegraph penetration was happening in the time of Crimean War in the mid-1950s. The telegraph enabled the military to get access to front-line events. In general, the introduction of the telegraph broke down the barriers of space and time. The telegraph provided the United Kingdom community with an intelligence-gathering capacity which translated into economic value. The adoption of the telegraph has been summarized well in the words of Morus (2000) who named it â€Å"The nervous system of Britain.† This study looks into the economic influence that the telegraph made in the United Kingdom. For the UK population, the telegraph held out boundless potentials. With the introduction of the telegraph, Britain was able to gain control of its colonies. Britain gained an upper hand over other colonizers when it came to controlling several colonies. A connection exists between the telegraph and the expansion and consolidation of British colonial power in the nineteenth century (Conboy & Steel, 2015). The Imperial system of the telegraph communication created efficient communications between the British government and its colonial possessions. Telegraph both shortened communication times between countries of the Empire and centralized control in Whitehall. The shortening of communication times reduced the autonomy of colonial administrators. Morus (2000) argues that the telegraph played a crucial role in imperial expansion. The colonialist Britain