Hoven, Georg Christian von (1841-1924)

Bureau International Des Administrations Télégraphiques (International Telegraph Union)

1917

Composite: Sheets 1-4 Carte des communications télégraphiques du régime extra-européen...

F. Lips

Berlin

Composite Map

92

148

25,000,000

World

Communications

Telegraph

(Composite map of) (Shees 1-4) Carte des communications télégraphiques du régime extra-européen dressée d'après des documents officiels par le bureau international des administrations télégraphiques.

15014.005

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Hoven, Georg Christian von (1841-1924)

Bureau International Des Administrations Télégraphiques (International Telegraph Union)

1917

Carte des communications télégraphiques du régime extra-européen dressée d'après des documents officiels par le bureau international des administrations télégraphiques.

Present 1917 edition seemingly unrecorded. Cf. 1909 edition: 558071274; 1923 edition: OCLC: 795579701; Simone FERI, The Formative Years of the Telegraph Union (Cambridge, U.K., 2015).

"A seemingly unrecorded World War I edition of the official world telegraph map created for the International Telegraph Union, the Swiss-based agency that was responsible for regulating the global wire communications system, a large format separately issued wall map intended for telegraph offices, showing the hundreds of lines and nodes that connected the world in almost real-time. This very rare, attractive, large format work is seemingly the unrecorded only World War I edition of the official map of the global telegraph system, made for the Bureau International des Administrations Télégraphiques, known in English as the International Telegraph Union (TU), the Swiss-based organization that regulated the network. It depicts the entire World on a Mercator Projection, with international boundaries clearly marked, and the seas bathed in an appealing aquamarine hue, with all nomenclature in French (the official language of the TU). Innumerable cities and towns all over the world are marked, being telegraph nodes, connected by the thousands of lines that by this time circumnavigated the globe and crisscrossed the populated areas of all continents. Indeed, since the first Trans-Pacific cable came online in 1903, messages could be sent between any connected places anywhere in matter of minutes, revolutionizing politics, diplomacy, commerce and social connectivity. This official map was intended as wall map to be displayed in telegraph offices, or the bureaus of major telegraph clients (ex. large businesses and government agencies), and great efforts were made to ensure that the map was as up to date as possible. The present edition appeared in 1917, at a difficult time for the TU, which struggled to maintain the operations of the global telegraph system amidst the turbulence of World War I. At that time, the Entente Powers (with Britain’s lead), controlled most international telegraph lines, and were able to generally ensure that their global service was not interrupted by Germany and her Allies. On the other side, the Entente Powers were able to cripple Germany’s telegraphic communications beyond Central and Eastern Europe and the Levant, forcing Berlin to improvise with wireless and other methods, which were far less reliable. Britain’s ability to keep in touch with its colonies and overseas allies gave it a key advantage in the conflict. The TU commissioned the first edition of the map in 1874, which was designed by Georg Christian von Hoven (1841 - 1924) and published in Bern by the firm of F. Lips. The rapid expansion of the telegraph system required the map to be continually updated, while closely following Hoven’s original design. We can identify at least 14 editions of the map, printed in 1874, 1881, 1882, 1886, 1888, 1890, 1892, 1898, 1902, 1909, 1917 (the present) and the final issue in 1923 (which unlike all other editions was apparently redesigned by W. Bonacker, and published in Bern by Kummerly & Frey). All editions are very rare, generally known in only a few examples. The print runs of the would have been limited, and the survival rate of such large wall maps meant is very low. We cannot trace a reference to the 1917 edition, let alone the location of any other examples. We are aware of only a single other example of the map (being an 1882 edition) as having appeared in the market in recent years. The Global Telegraph Revolution The creation of long-distance telegraph lines was one of the transformative scientific developments in human history. For the first time, news and information that took many weeks or months to travel from source to destination could now travel in a matter of hours. This had a revolutionary effect on commerce, politics and military affairs. The first long distance telegraph line was completed, in 1848, between Berlin and Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, by the Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske, the precursor to the modern electronics giant Siemens. From that point onwards, regional telegraph lines proliferated rapidly across the globe. For instance, by 1856, British India possessed over 5,000 miles of internal telegraph lines. That being said, information exchange between the continents still travelled at a snail’s pace, in the absence of the extreme long-distance and trans-oceanic cable lines. For instance, during the Indian Uprising of 1857 it took at least 30 days for a message to travel one-way between London and the British Indian capital of Calcutta, leading to a response time of two months! However, the creation of ultra-long distance lines was then on the frontier of technological feasibility. In 1858, the attempt to complete the first Trans-Atlantic telegraph line ended in disaster, as the communications were open for only three weeks before the line failed. It would not be until 1866 that permanent line was accomplished – a transformative breakthrough. Given that a transcontinental line had been opened across North America, from New York to San Francisco, in 1861, it was now possible to send messages from Europe and to California in almost real-time. Meanwhile, in 1865, the major world powers and owners of the international telegraph lines formed the Bureau International des Administrations Télégraphiques, known in English as the International Telegraph Union (TU). Headquartered in Bern, the capital of neutral Switzerland, this body was meant to manage the rules by which global wire communications were to operate. To be clear, the ultimate authority over the lines remained with the individual nations and companies that physically controlled the lines, with the TU responsible only for enforcing any mutually agreed standards and rules (much as the United Nations attempts to regulate world diplomacy today). Nevertheless, the TU played an important role in fostering continued improvements to the system. By 1870, India was reliably connected to Europe by telegraph (via two lines, running through the Red Sea and through Persia). Australia was first connected to the global telegraph system in 1872. This left crossing the Pacific Ocean with telegraph lines as the only major gap in the global system. This was finally achieved in 1903, when a line was completed from San Francisco to the Philippines (via Hawaii and Guam). On July 4 of that year, President Teddy Roosevelt sent the first pan-global message, wishing U.S. states and territories a happy Independence Day; it took 9 minutes for the note to circumnavigate the world. World War I was a challenging time for the TU and the global telegraph system. Britain overwhelmingly dominated the network, statistics show that in 1892, British entities owned and operated two-thirds of the world’s cables, while by 1923 they still controlled 42.7%. Add Britain’s share to that of their Allies (the U.S., France, etc.), the Entente Powers were able to maintain control over the global system, severely disrupting Germany and her allies’ access to the network. While the telegraph system continued to be important in many areas, its international prominence declined in the 1920s, as other forms of communication (wireless, telephones, etc.) improved." (Alexander Johnson and Dasa Pahor, 2022)

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Hoven, Georg Christian von (1841-1924); Bureau International Des Administrations Télégraphiques (International Telegraph Union)