The History of Subsea Cable Sabotage: The Rise of Telegraph Networks

The Brits are credited with the first operational telegraph network in 1836. By 1855 both the US and the UK had country-wide telegraph systems. In 1851 the first successful English channel telegraph cable went live. In 1866 came the Atlantic's turn. 

Telegraph quickly became essential to managing the large empires that European countries and the US were developing. It made possible quick coordination and response to geopolitical events as well as encouraging commerce and financial flows. After the Atlantic and English Channel connectivity was established, the Brits deployed a cable through the Gibraltar strait that traversed the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal, went down the Red Sea and all the way to Mumbai (known then as Bombay). The Brits extended this network all the way to Shanghai and Singapore. The British government realized that the only way to effectively maintain an far flung empire was to developed a high capacity, resilient telegraph network. Key regions included the UK, South Africa, India, Canada, and Australia. The resulting Red Line network exceeded a 100,000 route miles. Part of the motivation was the view that war with Germany was likely or indeed, inevitable. Germany had become a single country in 1871 under Bismark. It was a significant industrial power. In 1875 the UK produced 40% of the world's steel. By 1885 Germany had caught up. UK economic dominance was slipping and it is a trend that has continued to this day. UK produces very little steel today. So Germany was the upstart imperial power that together with its allies threatened Pax Brittanica. It has own African and Pacific colonies. Britain's key advantages was its navy and its superior access to the ocean as an Atlantic island. Another crucial advantage was the Red Line network.

By the time WW1 erupted in 1914 the US and Germany were both emerging powers threatening the imperial British order. However, the US was not looking to expand and had cultural and historical ties to Europe. So while it acquired oversea possessions during the Spanish-American war, it was more interested in the New World hegemony (like Donald Trump today) than Asia or Africa. As it turned out, the UK's relative decline became clear during WW1 when it could not defeat Germany despite having Italy and France as allies without American intervention.