The Telegraph and Morse Code: An Unbreakable Bond That Shaped the World

The 19th century was revolutionary for communication. Before, the exchange of information was relatively slow — messages, depending on how they were sent, could only travel as fast as a person on horseback or a carrier pigeon, for instance. But when the telegraph was invented, the world never looked back.

So, what is a telegraph? When was the telegraph invented? Who invented the telegraph and Morse code? In this article, we'll discover this and much more, so let's get started!

If you've been to a couple of history museums, you might already know what a telegraph looks like — in the simplest terms, it consists of a sort of lever that we can either push down to close the circuit or release to open it. The current flows when the telegraph operator presses the telegraph key, and it stops when they release it. Simple, right?

In more technical terms, a telegraph is made up of:

• A transmitter called a telegraph key;
• A wire connecting the stations; and
• A receiver that records incoming communications.

But the telegraph on its own wasn't of much use; without a defined communication system, the stream of current didn't mean anything. That is why its inventors, Samuel F. B. Morse and Alfred Vail, decided to create a binary communication system that was compatible with the structure of the telegraph. This system would later become known as Morse code.

So, in a nutshell, Morse code was created for the telegraph machine. In its early days, the communication device used a clicking sounder or a moving stripe of paper and a pencil. The pencil moved downward, scribbling on the piece of paper whenever the circuit was closed. If the sender opened the circuit, the pencil moved back up and stopped scribbling.

Once the transmission finished, the stripe of paper read a succession of dots and dashes — representing short and long signals — and the message could be decoded and interpreted according to International Morse code. Later on, telegraph operators started writing the dots and dashes themselves while listening to the clicks.

Once Samuel F. B. Morse and Alfred Vail introduced their new system of communication in the 1840s, the world's information scene quickly took shape around the telegraph. What had first been an individual test line developed into a gigantic network of wires that spanned across cities, nations, and continents. Within a span of a few decades, communications that once required several weeks or days to convey could travel nearly instantaneously. Governments coordinated across borders, news organizations conveyed reports in real time, and families exchanged personal updates between continents — all by the clicking pulses of Morse code.

Using Morse code required tremendous accuracy. Proficient telegraphers came to identify letters by ear, interpreting the sounder's clicks into words in real time at speeds of over twenty words a minute. It developed a new form of global literacy — a writing that wasn't handwriting, but timing and electric rhythm. The elegance and consistency of Morse's single-wire system spurred the rapid evolution of new technology: several lines were condensed into dense switchboards, and subsequent schemes could transmit a number of messages concurrently by a process called duplexing. Undersea cables joined Europe and America, compacting the globe into a "wired world", as newspaper writers referred to it back in the day.

By the end of the nineteenth century, Morse code was the international language for electric communications worldwide. Its simplicity and efficiency influenced all later systems, from radios to teleprinters and even the binary codes that we use today.

Read more about the history of Morse code in our dedicated article, "Morse Code History Explained".

It's always fascinating to compare historical inventions with modern technologies. Morse code and the telegraph machine have more in common with texting than you would imagine. The wire that was part of the circuit was essentially a primitive data transmission line. At the same time, Morse code for the telegraph was based on a binary system similar to the one we use in modern digital networks. Whatever we write nowadays is always converted into a series of zeros and ones, to be then transmitted and deciphered on the other end. That's not so different from what a telegraph did back in the day!

It's also remarkable to think how far humanity has come, but still operating on the same principles. When the telegraph was invented, the world became small. Information started flowing faster than ever before, and we have been shortening that gap more and more ever since. The idea of instantaneous communication developed from the telegraph, through automated telegraph printers and typewriters, eventually leading to the creation of telephones and the internet.

If you want to learn Morse code, head to our practical guide that will tell you how to master it in no time!