Thande
Donor
In OTL there were three attempts to place a transatlantic telegraph cable, in 1858, 1865 and 1866, before a lasting connection was made. See Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_telegraph_cable
The first cable in 1858 only lasted a month due to project mismanagement, including some issues that had been pointed out by William Thompson (the future Lord Kelvin) and which eventually led to him being placed in charge of the subsequent, successful replacement project.
Now what makes this interesting is that the working replacement cable was put into place just as the American Civil War came to a close, whereas the first one had been laid down a couple of years before it started.
It may be stretching the boundaries of plausibility a bit to suggest that the project could have been done right first time, even if we somehow POD that Thompson got into a more senior position earlier on...but, for the sake of argument, WI it was?
We have a successful, long-lasting transatlantic telegraph cable in 1858. Communications between London and Canada or Washington are now far faster.
So would this have an effect on the course of the American Civil War if Lord Lyons could send every development on the war and have it read by Palmerston a matter of hours later? Would it change British attitudes toward the war? (I'm not suggesting a handwavium thing that it would somehow magically lead to Britain recognising the CSA, but...)
Discuss.
The first cable in 1858 only lasted a month due to project mismanagement, including some issues that had been pointed out by William Thompson (the future Lord Kelvin) and which eventually led to him being placed in charge of the subsequent, successful replacement project.
Now what makes this interesting is that the working replacement cable was put into place just as the American Civil War came to a close, whereas the first one had been laid down a couple of years before it started.
It may be stretching the boundaries of plausibility a bit to suggest that the project could have been done right first time, even if we somehow POD that Thompson got into a more senior position earlier on...but, for the sake of argument, WI it was?
We have a successful, long-lasting transatlantic telegraph cable in 1858. Communications between London and Canada or Washington are now far faster.
So would this have an effect on the course of the American Civil War if Lord Lyons could send every development on the war and have it read by Palmerston a matter of hours later? Would it change British attitudes toward the war? (I'm not suggesting a handwavium thing that it would somehow magically lead to Britain recognising the CSA, but...)
Discuss.