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Any mode of communication over a long distance which requires human agency only in the sending and reception of the message which it contains and not, as with a diplomatic courier, in its carriage. The use of smoke-signals, mechanical telegraph (‘semaphore’), towers, drums, and pigeons with messages tied to their legs, therefore, are instances of telecommunication just as much as telegrams, faxes, and e-mails. Nevertheless, it is not surprising that telecommunication did not make a major impact on diplomacy until the introduction of the electric telegraph towards the middle of the nineteenth century. See also airgram; International Telecommunication Union. |
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