Communications, French Revolution to Present

Introduction

Over the past two centuries, communications has become a critical element of military affairs. Without an understanding of how information could, did, or did not move at every level from the technical/tactical to the strategic, it is impossible to evaluate what was possible and not possible for armed forces to do in war and peace. Despite this, the subject has received comparatively less attention from historians than other subjects until very recently. Historians have approached the subject by country, military service, level (tactical through strategic), time period, or any combination of these. Until the mid-19th century and the dawn of the electrical age, military communications worked largely as they had for millennia. Information moved as fast as a horse could ride, a pigeon could fly, a ship could sail, sound could travel, and the eye could perceive. The electrical telegraph added a new dimension to this at the strategic and operational levels, as seen in the Crimean War, US Civil War, and the Wars of German Unification, but the older methods of signaling, such as couriers or flags, remained important. To this was added wireless by the early 20th century, its importance made manifest during World War I. A third phase, that of electronic communications (based on vacuum tubes and then transistors), emerged from the 1920s to 1940s. This laid the foundations for the computer-based military communications utilized today. The subject is a complex one for historians because of the need to understand the technical details of the different technologies, the ways in which these technologies solved certain military problems (and created others), and the organization structures necessary to handle the flow of information. At the same time, the topic has broadened to include consideration of developments in detection, navigation, weapons control (artillery spotting, missile and bomb guidance), attempts to intercept others’ communications (signals or electronic intelligence), disrupt others’ communications (electronic warfare), and enhance the ability to command and control military forces at great distances. Though historians have recognized the importance of the subject, there has been remarkably little written in English about military communications in the non-Western world (which we might describe as Latin America, Africa, and Asia). Though some of the descriptions of various texts are brief (a consequence of an eponymous title or the great complexity of the subject), those interested in the topic will find this to be the most comprehensive guide to the literature available in English. There remains much to be explored in the field of military communications, the importance of which grows more every year.

Reference Works and Surveys

Because of the breadth and complexity of this topic, one must first start with a scholarly survey. Problematically, coverage is spotty on certain topics. Woods 1974 and Bridge and Pegg 2001 offer important starting points from the historical perspective, while Beauchamp 2001 provides a more technological perspective. Harfield 1989 reminds us to consider the place of animals as communicators, a role played until remarkably recently. Headrick 2000 contextualizes the developments in military or strategic communications with the larger period, which is essential for understanding their full implications. Scheips 1980 has collected many important individual works in one place and should be used together with Woods 1974 and Bridge and Pegg 2001. Sterling 2008 is a handy reference work, although it is heavy with Internet references. For US Army history, Raines 1996 is peerless and must be consulted.

Beauchamp, Ken. History of Telegraphy: Its Technology and Application. London: Institution of Electrical Engineers, 2001.
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Narrative survey that looks mostly at the 19th and early 20th centuries, with an epilogue that covers the period after 1945. Written from an engineering perspective, it is also largely Anglo-centric. Useful for cross-checking against historical perspectives.
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Bridge, Maureen, and John Pegg, eds. Call to Arms: A History of Military Communications from the Crimean War to the Present Day. Tavistock, UK: Focus, 2001.
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A work largely done from a British perspective, it provides a useful survey from the mid-19th century forward. It includes valuable discussion of the military utility of the civilian British post office.
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Harfield, Alan, ed. Pigeon to Packhorse: The Illustrated Story of Animals in Army Communications. Chippenham, UK: Picton, 1989.
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Provides a reminder that animals have long played a key role, only until quite recently, in military communications.
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Headrick, Daniel. When Information Came of Age: Technologies of Knowledge in the Age of Reason, 1700–1850. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
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Survey of how information was gathered, stored, shared, and disseminated. Of particular importance is the wide-reaching survey chapter on postal and telegraphic systems of the early 19th century.
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Raines, Rebecca R. Getting the Message Through: A Branch History of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1996.
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Critical thorough survey of the Signal Corps from the Civil War to the early 1990s. Starting point for any work on the US Army in this period.
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Scheips, Paul J., ed. Military Signals Communications. 2 vols. New York: Arno, 1980.
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This is a key anthology of important articles, essays, and selections in the history of signal communications from a variety of sources reprinted here in one handy location.
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Sterling, Christopher. Military Communications: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, 2008.
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Alphabetically organized and with suggestions for further reading, this guide provides a brief explanation of the principal subjects and individuals. Useful place to start.
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Woods, David L. A History of Tactical Communications Techniques. New York: Arno, 1974.
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Originally published in 1965 by the Martin-Marietta Corporation, this survey of tactical communications covers from the ancient period to the 1960s. It is unique as a survey and an important place to start, but it lacks documentation.
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At Sea

Unlike on land, geography imposes particular constraints on the ability to communicate at sea. Palmer 2005 provides a broad overview, one that should be supplemented with the narrative, documents, and essays collected in Woods 1980 and Kent 1993. United States Navy 1813 is a signal book and one of several that have been made available; comparisons among them can illustrate the advantages as well as the limitations of the technology used for signaling at sea. Until the late 19th century, ship captains enjoyed great autonomy in their actions, but the spread of cable telegraphy enhanced the ability of central governments to follow what was going on, a fact that quite a few naval officers resented. Long 1988 shows both the freedom of naval officers enjoyed and the limitations that better communications imposed. Hezlet 1975 provides a very informed account of the impact of wireless communications and electricity in general on naval warfare. Hancock 1950 reminds the historian that the corporate histories of communications firms are frequently intertwined with that of the militaries they supported and must be included as well.

Hancock, Harry E. Wireless at Sea: The First Fifty Years. Chelmsford, UK: Marconi International Marine Communication, 1950.
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A corporate history of the development of wireless, it presents a particular perspective on the evolution of maritime communications and the parallel impact on military and political affairs in Britain.
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Hezlet, Vice-Admiral Arthur R. The Electron and Sea Power. London: P. Davies 1975.
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A very important work on developments in electrical communications and their impact on communications at sea largely from the perspective of the Royal Navy in the early 20th century. Hezlet should be read with Howeth 1963 (cited under Early-20th-Century Military Communications [to World War II]). Hezlet knew a great deal more than he could share, and so the text should be read taking into account what he might have left out.
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Kent, Barrie. Signal! A History of Signalling in the Royal Navy. Clanfield, UK: Hyden House, 1993.
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Definitive account of this subject ranging over the last several centuries. The first part provides chronological coverage. The second part serves as an anthology of key texts. Use with Woods 1974 (cited under Reference Works and Surveys).
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Long, David F. Gold Braid and Foreign Relations: Diplomatic Activities of U.S. Naval Officers, 1798–1883. Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute Press, 1988.
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Long’s work shows how much responsibility and power naval officers had in the absence of rapid long-distance communications and so is useful for comparison with later years.
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Palmer, Michael A. Command at Sea: Naval Command and Control since the Sixteenth Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005.
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Broad-ranging scholarly survey of the evolution of tactical, operational, and strategic communications needed to control warships at sea largely before the 20th century. An important place to start.
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United States Navy. Signals for Use of the United States Navy as Adopted by Order of the Navy Department, August 1813. Washington, DC: United States Navy Department, 1813.
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Flag signaling systems evolved over time and were particular to different countries. This one, adopted by the US Navy in wartime, illustrates what could be communicated and how. Compare with previous and subsequent systems.
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Woods, David L., ed. Signaling and Communicating at Sea. 2 vols. New York: Arno, 1980.
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Like Scheips 1980 (cited under Reference Works and Surveys), an important anthology of contemporary articles and selections covering signaling and wireless communications in the past few centuries.
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British and Colonial Army Signals Units

As the various parts of the British Empire joined the two world wars, the need for army tactical and operational communications led them to expand or create their own signal corps that have remained in existence ever since. Nadler 1958 provides one of the first overviews of the Royal Corps of Signals, going through 1955, and Warner 1989 brings the story up through the end of the Cold War. Lord and Watson 2003 provides a combined view of not only the British units but also those of the British Empire. Barker 1987 and Blaxland 1998 together have covered Australia through the early 1970s, while Barber and Lord 1996 addresses the same issue for New Zealand through the 1990s. The overview in Moir 1962 covers Canada through the early years of the Cold War. Volker 2010 covers South Africa to the 21st century.

Barber, Laurie, and Cliff Lord. Swift and Sure: A History of the Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals and Army Signalling in New Zealand. Auckland: New Zealand Signals Inc., 1996.
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Covers military communications in New Zealand’s military history.
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Barker, Theo. Signals: A History of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals, 1788–1947. Canberra: Royal Australian Corps of Signals Committee, 1987.
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History of signaling in Australian military history from the founding of the colonies through World War II.
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Blaxland, John. Signals Swift and Sure: A History of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals, 1947–1972. Canberra: Royal Australian Corps of Signals Committee, 1998.
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Covers signal communications in the Australian Army since World War II and provides continuation from Barker 1987.
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Lord, Cliff, and Graham Watson. The Royal Corps of Signals: Unit Histories of the Corps (1920–2001) and Its Antecedents. Slihull, UK: Helion, 2003.
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Together with the Supplement, important for providing not only the history of units in the United Kingdom but also related ones in the colonies and Commonwealth.
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Moir, John S. History of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals: 1903–1961. Ottawa: Corps Committee, Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, 1962.
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History through the end of the 1950s of developments in military communications with Canada’s army.
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Nadler, R. F. H. The Royal Corps of Signals: A History of Its Antecedents and Development (circa 1800–1955). London: Royal Signals Institution, 1958.
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One of the earliest overviews of the history of communications in the British Army.
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Warner, Philip. The Vital Link: The Story of Royal Signals, 1945–1985. London: Leo Cooper, 1989.
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Covers the post–World War II developments in British Army communications.
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Volker, Walter V. Army Signals in South Africa: The Story of the South African Corps of Signals and Its Antecedents. Pretoria, South Africa: Veritas, 2010.
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Part of a three-volume set that provides the most up-to-date coverage of military communications in South Africa.
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19th-Century European and Colonial Military

The French Revolution and the wars of Napoleon helped spur the development of land-based optical telegraph systems, first in France and then elsewhere as their military, governmental, and general utility became apparent. Wilson 1976, Mallinson 2005, and Holzmann and Pehrson 1995 examine how these systems developed. Chappe 1824 offers an important remembrance of the French system’s origins and development. Holmes 1983 analyzes the development of the British system for the admiralty’s use both during the wars and until the coming of the electrical telegraph system in Britain. Morrison 1982 and d’Arbaumont 1955 explore the practicalities of constructing, maintaining, and staffing communications systems in the colonies and maintaining contact with the metropole. Showalter 1973 explores the coming of the electrical telegraph to Prussia’s army and the impact of this innovation on military affairs in Prussia. In doing so, Showalter offers a critical model for how to consider the advent of the telegraph as it pertained to other European forces at this time.

Chappe, Ignace V. J. Histoire de la télégraphie. Paris: L’auteur, 1824.
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Contemporary and celebratory account by Claude Chappe’s brother and partner of the semaphore visual telegraph system they developed during the French Revolution.
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d’Arbaumont, Jean. Historique des télégraphistes coloniaux. Paris: Peyronnet, 1955.
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Covers the history of telegraphers, particularly military telegraphers, in the French colonies.
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Holmes, T. W. The Semaphore: The Story of the Admiralty-to-Portsmouth Shutter Telegraph and Semaphore Lines, 1796–1847. Ilfracombe, UK: Arthur H. Stockwell, 1983.
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Important account of the Royal Navy’s pre-electric telegraph lines linking the headquarters in London with the naval facility in Portsmouth by visual means until the arrival of electrical telegraphy.
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Holzmann, Gerard J., and Björn Pehrson. The Early History of Data Networks. Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society, 1995.
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Examination of the development of the optical telegraph systems of France (developed by Chappe) and Sweden (Abraham N. Edelzrantz) during the wars of the French Revolution.
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Mallinson, Howard. Send It by Semaphore: The Old Telegraphs during the Wars with France. Ramsbury, UK: Crowood, 2005.
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Examination of visual signaling, originally implemented by revolutionary France and then also adopted by the British during the French Revolution and in the wars of Napoleon.
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Morrison, James H. Wave to Whisper: British Military Communications in Halifax and the Empire, 1780–1880. Ottawa: Parks Canada, 1982.
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Examination of the communications network, including the buildings and other constructions, necessary for command and control of British military forces in Nova Scotia.
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Showalter, Dennis. “Soldiers as Postmasters? The Electric Telegraph as an Instrument of Command in the Prussian Army.” Military Affairs 37.2 (1973): 48–52.
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Studies the incorporation of the telegraph into the Prussian military. Demonstrates the problems of innovation for militaries and shows the enhanced political input from civilian leaders that became possible with it. Also indicates that the telegraph was of little use operationally.
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Wilson, Geoffrey. The Old Telegraphs. London: Phillimore, 1976.
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An essential examination of the three principal pre-electric telegraph systems (optical, semaphore, and mechanical) covering Europe, Great Britain, and South Africa.
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US Civil War

Both sides made extensive use of communications devices from the strategic to tactical levels, from electrical telegraphy to flags and musical instruments, to run the war on land. This has led to a relatively broad range of work by historians. The important overviews are Raines 1996 (cited under Reference Works and Surveys) and Plum 1974. The Union’s field communications were the responsibility of Albert Myer’s Signal Corps (see Scheips 1963, Scheips 1966, and Brown 1996). Separate from the Signal Corps was the War Department’s Telegraph Office, for which see Bates 1995 and the popular account of Wheeler 2006. Military communications in the Confederacy is seen through Alexander 1989 and Andrews 1964, with useful survey information in Plum 1974.

Alexander, Edward Porter. Fighting for the Confederacy. Edited by Gary W. Gallagher. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989.
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The memoir of the individual most responsible for establishing a Confederate signal corps.
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Andrews, J. Cutler. “The Southern Telegraph Company, 1861—1865: A Chapter in the History of Wartime Communication.” Journal of Southern History 30.3 (1964): 319–344.
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A history of the company that brought together the Southern portions of several national telegraph companies sundered by the outbreak of the Civil War and which played an important role in meeting the Confederacy’s wartime communications requirements.
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Bates, David Homer. Lincoln in the Telegraph Office: Recollections of the United States Military Telegraph Corps during the Civil War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
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Reprint of the 1907 memoir of the manager of the War Department–administered but civilian-staffed telegraph office that was separate from the Signal Corps. See also Wheeler 2006.
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Brown, J. Willard. The Signal Corps, U.S.A. in the War of the Rebellion. Glen Burnie, MD: Butternut and Blue, 1996.
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A reprint of the 1896 memorial exploring the experiences of the Signal Corps during the Civil War. Read with Plum 1974.
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Plum, William R. The Military Telegraph during the Civil War. New York: Arno, 1974.
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Reprint of an 1882 work that explored the use of telegraphy on both sides during the war; organized by region and particular notable battles.
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Scheips, Paul J. “Union Signal Communications: Innovations and Conflict.” Civil War History 9.4 (1963): 399–421.
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Examines the development of signal communications in the Union Army during the war, drawing from Scheips’s research for his dissertation (Scheips 1966).
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Scheips, Paul J. “Albert J. Myer, Founder of the Signal Corps: A Biographical Study.” PhD diss., American University, 1966.
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An important work and the only lengthy scholarly treatment of the individual critically involved in the creation of the Signal Corps during the war and as an entity that continued after the war.
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Wheeler, Tom. Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War. New York: HarperCollins, 2006.
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More popular account of the role of telegraphy in facilitating centralized command and control by Lincoln from the White House through the US Military Telegraph.
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Strategy and International Relations

Understanding the impact of changes in the interrelationship between militaries and communications on the larger balance of international politics is vital if not difficult. Headrick 1991 pioneered the archival-based analysis of the strategic importance of changes in communications technology. Hugill 1999 offers a similar analysis but from a more decidedly geopolitical point of view. Winkler 2008 and Yang 2010 build on Headrick 1991 to show how concern for communications became part of the strategic assessments of rising powers. Hills 2002 and Hills 2007 approach similar questions of power from the regulatory side, providing very important context to a multifaceted issue.

Headrick, Daniel. The Invisible Weapon: Telecommunications and International Politics, 1851–1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
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Important pathbreaking analysis of how development of international communications networks influenced (and was shaped by) parallel shifts in international politics.
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Hills, Jill. The Struggle for Control of Global Communications: The Formative Century. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2002.
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Examination of the development of international communications and its regulation globally since the 1840s. Though largely political, technological, and economic in focus, this book provides critical context for thinking about how militaries would have viewed the importance of communications technology.
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Hills, Jill. Telecommunications and Empire. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2007.
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Examination of development of international communications, particularly its regulation and political economy from World War II to the present day. As with earlier work, this is important for thinking about not only the power relationships that evolved with communications but also the context within which militaries would have thought about the importance of communications technology.
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Hugill, Peter. Global Communications since 1844: Geopolitics and Technology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.
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Analysis of a similar period as that of Headrick 1991, from a geography/geopolitics perspective, attempting to answer the question of what role adoption of communications technology played in power shifts on the international stage through the mid-20th century.
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Winkler, Jonathan Reed. Nexus: Strategic Communications and American Security in World War I. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.
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Analysis of how the US government discovered the nation’s vulnerabilities and requirements in international communications as a consequence of being neutral and, subsequently, a participant in the war.
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Yang, Daqing. Technology of Empire: Telecommunications and Japanese Expansion, 1895–1945. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010.
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Examination of how the Japanese discovered the importance of long-distance communications technology for imperial management and power projection. Read with Winkler 2009 (cited under Early-20th-Century Military Communications [to World War II]) for a comparison of two rising powers.
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Early-20th-Century Military Communications (to World War II)

As cable telegraphy matured and the new field of wireless telegraphy emerged, militaries used the technologies to solve particular problems of command and control from the tactical to the strategic level. In addition to the surveys of land and sea communications previously listed, such as Hezlet 1975 (cited under At Sea), important overviews include Howeth 1963, an official history now in need of updating against the larger collection of archival material. Aitken 1985 is one of the most insightful works demonstrating the significant interconnections between the military and commercial firms as they developed the new radio industry. Winkler 2009 and Lambert 2005 demonstrate how military officials recognized the larger strategic impact of the changes in communications technology and incorporated these into their plans for war. Wolters 2003 shows how the US Navy utilized the evolving technology to solve critical command and control problems at the tactical level. Yeang 2004 is illustrative of the close ties between the military and scientific researchers, some of whom were also military officers, and the effects on the science and technology that resulted. Some of the pioneers have been well recognized, but others have frequently been overlooked, a point that Lessing 1956 and others have made about Edwin Armstrong in the United States. Often overlooked is the critical issue of spectrum allocation and management, and Rosen 1980 helpfully incorporates the navy’s views into the domestic US discussions of the 1920s and 1930s.

Aitken, Hugh G. J. The Continuous Wave: Technology and American Radio, 1900–1932. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985.
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A sequel to an earlier work by Aitken about the history of radio, it examines the corporate, military, and technological evolutions in the field at a critical period. An important work.
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Howeth, Linwood S. A History of Communication Electronics in the United States Navy. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1963.
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An official history and important work, this text covers the origins of the US Navy’s exploration of wireless from the beginning of the 20th century through the outbreak of World War II.
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Lambert, Nicholas A. “Strategic Command and Control for Maneuver Warfare: Creation of the Royal Navy’s ‘War Room’ System, 1905–1915.” Journal of Military History 69.2 (2005): 361–410.
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Important article that explores how the Royal Navy intended to use advances in electrical communications and information processing to improve overall control of war at sea.
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Lessing, Lawrence. Man of High Fidelity: Edwin Howard Armstrong. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1956.
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Biography of the early radio pioneer and US Signal Corps officer in both world wars who was responsible for many important radio developments, including FM (frequency-modulated) radio.
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Rosen, Philip T. The Modern Stentors: Radio Broadcasters and the Federal Government, 1920–1934. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1980.
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The only published account so far that adequately includes the role and perspective of the US Navy in the interwar evolution of radio policy in the United States. Use with Howeth 1963.
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Winkler, Jonathan R. “Information Warfare in World War I.” Journal of Military History 73 (July 2009): 845–867.
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Argues that both Germany and Great Britain launched concerted but historically overlooked campaigns against each other’s global communications networks through the war, at times using novel techniques, for military and strategic effect.
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Wolters, Timothy S. 2003. “Managing a Sea of Information: Shipboard Command and Control in the United States Navy, 1899–1945.” PhD diss., Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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Important and largely unique analysis of the development of tactical communications and information management aboard and between warships through World War II. Complements Boslaugh 1999 (cited under Command, Control, and Communications in the United States in the Cold War and Beyond) and its work on the Cold War period.
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Yeang, Chen-Pang. “Scientific Fact or Engineering Specification: The U.S. Navy’s Experiments on Wireless Telegraphy circa 1910.” Technology and Culture 45 (2004): 1–29.
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Lays out the radio engineering and scientific discoveries relating to wave propagation stemming from the 1910 Arlington station, which laid the foundation for the idea that long-distance high-power work required giant stations transmitting with straight lines.
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World War II

While wireless had emerged before World War I and played a not-inconsequential role in that war, military communications had matured by the 1930s and were integral to military operations at all levels for the first time. The works listed here largely concern the United States and should be used in conjunction with those works listed in the section on British and other Anglophone countries. The most thorough overviews are the three-volume official army histories: Terrett 1956; Thompson, et al. 1957; and Thompson and Harris 1966. The US naval perspective should not be neglected; though it is unpublished, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations 1948 is a good resource. The perspective of the ordinary enlisted signalman is best presented by Nauss 2005. The story of the Navajo code talkers employed by the US Marines in the South Pacific to provide tactical communications security is generally remembered, but the story of the Comanche (and their Choctaw predecessors) is often overlooked. Meadows 2003 is virtually the only scholarly work on the matter. That growing dependence on communications at all levels raised new problems of supply, quality control, and reliability of equipment is made clear by Thompson 2007 with regard to the issue of quartz crystals, at once vital and frequently overlooked by historians.

Meadows, William C. The Comanche Code Talkers of World War II. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003.
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While the Navajo with the Marines are better known, the Comanche, discussed here, served in World War II in Europe with the 4th Infantry Division, both following on the service tradition of the Choctaw with the AEF in World War I. This is one of the very few scholarly works on their service.
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Nauss, Lovern. Troubleshooting All the Way: A Memoir of the 1st Signal Company and Combat Telephone Communications in the 1st Infantry Division, 1944–1945. Wheaton, IL: Cantigny First Division Foundation, 2005.
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A memoir by an enlisted signalman who served in the European theater from the D-Day invasion to the end of the war, and one of the few such memoirs from the perspective of this branch of service.
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Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Naval Communications. Washington, DC: Operational Records Branch, Naval History and Heritage Command, 1948.
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This unpublished work is the official history of the part of the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations responsible for naval communications ashore (not aboard warships) during World War II.
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Terrett, Dulany. The Signal Corps: The Emergency (to December 1941). Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1956.
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The first volume of the official history of the Signal Corps during World War II, it examines both the interwar period and the period from 1939 to 1941 as the Signal Corps prepared for what was to come.
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Thompson, George R., and Dixie R. Harris. The Signal Corps: The Outcome (Mid-1943 through 1945). Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1966.
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The third part of the army’s official history. Covers from Sicily to the end of the war in Europe and the bulk of the Pacific operations. All three volumes are important works going beyond simply operational details to include organizational, bureaucratic, technological, and even strategic issues.
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Thompson, George R., Dixie R. Harris, Pauline M. Oakes, and Dulany Terrett. The Signal Corps: The Test (December 1941 to July 1943). Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1957.
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The second volume in the three-volume history of US Army communications during the war, covering the outbreak of the war to the operations in North Africa.
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Thompson, Richard J. Crystal Clear: The Struggle for Reliable Communications Technology in World War II. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2007.
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First explanation of the problem of sourcing the enormous quantities of quartz crystals essential for radio operations during the war.
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Radar

Radio detection and ranging (radar) and the information it provided to military personnel led to dramatic changes in warfare in the air, on land, and at sea. In the view of some historians, this advancement was the critical component in permitting the Allies to survive and then defeat the Axis Powers in the war. Buderi 1998 provides the overview with a focus on the wartime, while Brown 1999 is a critical starting point for understanding what each country was doing. Kroge 2000 explores the German research into radar and the role of one key company. Allison 1981 examines research and development by the US Navy. Zimmermann 1996 clarifies the British transfer of critical technology and expertise regarding radar to the United States. The British research establishment is covered by Latham and Stobbs 1999, while Zimmermann 2001 analyzes how the British air defense processed the information delivered by radar and acted on it. Brain, et al. 1993 provides a South African perspective on the research into radar by other parts of the British Empire.

Allison, David K. New Eye for the Navy: The Origin of Radar at the Naval Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: Naval Research Laboratory, 1981.
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History of the research and development efforts leading to radar in the US Navy prior to World War II from not only the technical point of view but also the organizational and political perspectives.
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Brain, Peter, Sheila Lloyd, and F. J. Hewitt. South African Radar in World War II. Cape Town, South Africa: SSS Radar Book Group, 1993.
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The little-known story of radar’s development in South Africa, the Special Signals Service and its use in the war at sea at the beginning of World War II.
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Brown, Louis. A Radar History of World War II: Technical and Military Imperatives. London: Taylor & Francis, 1999.
DOI: 10.1887/0750306599Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Authoritative synthesis of developments in radio detection and ranging and its application in every country during World War II.
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Buderi, Robert. The Invention That Changed the World. New York: Touchstone, 1998.
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Popular account that effectively conveys the technical matters associated with radar but focuses largely on the wartime application of radar and on the biographies of key individuals.
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Kroge, Harry von. GEMA: Birthplace of German Radar and Sonar. London: Taylor & Francis, 2000.
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Analysis of the development of German radar and sonar and the role of the German company (Gesellschaft für Elektroakustische und Mechanische Apparate) that was a critical component in this development.
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Latham, Colin, and Anne Stobbs. Pioneers of Radar. Stroud, UK: Alan Sutton, 1999.
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Oral history of the participants in the Telecommunications Research Establishment, which was the wartime British organization developing radar.
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Zimmerman, David. Top Secret Exchange: The Tizard Mission and the Scientific War. Montreal: McGill/Queen’s University Press, 1996.
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One of the secrets Lord Tizard brought to the United States was the cavity magnetron, which when shared with the United States permitted major improvements in US radar development.
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Zimmerman, David. Britain’s Shield: Radar and the Defeat of the Luftwaffe. Stroud, UK: Amberley, 2001.
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Properly contextualizes the importance of radar to Britain in 1940 within the larger story of the creation of British air defense and the development of a processing system to handle the information radar conveyed.
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Signals Intelligence and Detection in World War II

The literature on the subject of signals intelligence during World War II is extensive. It ranges from the technical aspects of intercepting transmissions and creating code-breaking systems to the personal experiences of the participants to the impact of the intelligence on the operational and strategic direction of the wars at sea and on land. Sexton 1996 provides an important starting point for literature to the mid-1990s. Of the various memoirs, Hinsley and Stripp 2001 offers a particularly notable collection from the British experience. How and why signals intelligence was so valuable for the naval operations in the Atlantic is made clear through Syrett 1994 and Williams 1996. DeBrosse and Burke 2004 have detailed how the US Navy constructed its own early computers to attack the German naval codes, while Burke 1994 examined the difficulties of handling the tremendous volume of information generated with signals intelligence. The Pacific theater also saw extensive use of signals intelligence, detailed at the strategic level by Drea 1992 with the experience of frontline collectors remembered in Murray 2001.

Burke, Colin. Information and Secrecy: Vannevar Bush, ULTRA and the Other Memex. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1994.
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A close and important examination of an often-overlooked topic badly in need of much greater research: the attempts to process and store for later automatic retrieval the information generated in the course of collecting signals intelligence data.
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DeBrosse, Jim, and Colin Burke. The Secret in Building 26: The Untold Story of America’s Ultra War against the U-Boat Enigma. New York: Random House, 2004.
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Account of the little-known parallel US Navy effort to develop mechanical devices to compute solutions to intercepted German communications.
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Drea, Edward J. MacArthur’s Ultra: Codebreaking and the War against Japan, 1942–1945. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992.
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Revisionist analysis of how the US commander used signals intelligence captured from the Japanese. Drea concludes that MacArthur did not, in fact, depend on it heavily unless it matched with his own strategic perceptions.
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Hinsley, F. H., and Alan Stripp. Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
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Collection of narratives by participants in the Bletchley Park operations, in a volume edited by the official historian of British intelligence during the war.
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Murray, Gil. The Invisible War: The Untold Secret Story of Number One Canadian Special Wireless Group, Royal Canadian Signal Corps, 1944–1946. Toronto: Dundum, 2001.
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History of the Canadian Army’s signals intercept group, one among the several allied special wireless units, which operated against Japan in the Pacific.
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Sexton, Daniel J. Signals Intelligence in World War II: A Research Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.
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Extensive annotated bibliographic listing of principal works on the topic with a global perspective.
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Syrett, David. The Defeat of the U-boats: The Battle of the Atlantic. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1994.
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Pathbreaking analysis of Allied efforts in 1943 to stop German submarine attacks in the Atlantic, important here for indicating how the integration and processing of information from various sensors made it possible to find and destroy otherwise hard-to-find targets in the open seas.
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Williams, Kathleen Broome. Secret Weapon: U.S. High Frequency Direction Finding in the Battle of the Atlantic. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1996.
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Examination of the sea-based system utilized by the allies for pinpointing transmissions by German U-boats. This essential part of the antisubmarine campaign had previously received comparatively less historical attention.
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Sensors and Detection in the Cold War

A considerable amount of US military expenditures during the Cold War went toward the development of electronic systems that could detect the movements of ships and aircraft, communicate that data to central processing locations, and direct the interception of possible threats. Redmond and Smith’s two important works (Redmond and Smith 1980 and Redmond and Smith 2000) explain the development of what became the SAGE air defense system used in the first half of the Cold War. Winkler 1997 examines the development of the air-defense radar sites and the communications grid necessary to handle the data. Weir 2006 has elucidated what is known about the ocean-based submarine surveillance system used for tracking Soviet subs, while Ford and Rosenberg 2005 has revealed what is known about how the navy processed information coming in from the various sensor systems. Richelson 1999 examines the early warning satellites that detect ballistic missile launches.

Ford, Christopher, and David Rosenberg. The Admiral’s Advantage: U.S. Navy Operational Intelligence in World War II and the Cold War. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005.
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Explains how the communications and detection systems worked to bring operational intelligence to naval commanders in the Cold War rivalry at sea.
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Redmond, Kent C., and Thomas M. Smith. Project Whirlwind: The History of a Pioneer Computer. Bedford, MA: Digital Press, 1980.
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History of the Whirlwind computer, a US Navy–funded project that led to an important early digital computer and was used to demonstrate the possibility of a computer-based air-defense system in the early Cold War.
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Redmond, Kent C., and Thomas M. Smith. From Whirlwind to MITRE: The R&D Story of the SAGE Air Defense Computer. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000.
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Examines the development of the computer system at the heart of the air-defense network of the United States constructed in the 1950s and used until the 1980s.
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Richelson, Jeffrey T. America’s Space Sentinels: DSP Satellites and National Security. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1999.
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First historical account of the development and use of the satellite-based early warning system that uses infrared sensors to monitor for launch of ballistic missiles.
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Weir, Gary E. “The American Sound Surveillance System: Using the Ocean to Hunt Soviet Submarines, 1950–1961.” International Journal of Naval History 5.2 (2006).
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Based on classified and unclassified documentation, the article explores the ocean-based sensor system created during the Cold War by the US Navy to track Soviet submarines at sea.
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Winkler, David F. Searching the Skies: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program. Langley, VA: Air Combat Command, 1997.
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History of the development, evolution, and eventual restructuring of the air-defense radar and command and control stations in the United States during the Cold War.
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Electronic Warfare

The growing use of the electromagnetic spectrum for military communications, particularly for detection and tracking, triggered parallel efforts to defeat those systems through what has come to be known as “electronic warfare.” De Arcangelis 1985 notes that the real origins go back as far as the Russo-Japanese War. Price, one of the most prominent authors on the subject, has written extensively on electronic warfare. His work on World War II (Price 1977) covers a broad perspective, while his three-volume overview (Price 1984–2000) is extensive and essential while focused on the United States. Johnson 1995–1999 provides the official US history of the National Security Agency, one of several intelligence agencies involved in this mission. Kuehl 1992 examines the US bombing experience in the Korean War from the perspective of electronic warfare. Burrows 2001 recounts the now recognized “ferret” missions to gather electronic intelligence about air defenses in Communist countries through the Cold War.

Burrows, William E. By Any Means Necessary: America’s Secret Air War in the Cold War. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001.
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More popular account detailing what was known up to that point about secret US missions flown over Communist countries, known as “ferrets,” to gather electronic information about air defenses and military communications.
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de Arcangelis, Mario. Electronic Warfare: From the Battle of Tsushima to the Falklands and Lebanon Conflicts. Poole, UK: Blackford, 1985.
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Translated from the original Italian, this examines the evolution of electronic warfare, particularly the development of countermeasures, and pushes the origins back to the beginning of the 20th century.
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Johnson, Thomas R. American Cryptology during the Cold War. 4 vols. Fort Meade, MD: Center for Cryptologic History, National Security Agency, 1995–1999.
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Official history of the activities of the NSA, which played a role in gathering intelligence about Soviet military communications particularly involving air defense.
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Kuehl, Daniel T. “Refighting the Last War: Electronic Warfare and U.S. Air Force B-29 Operations in the Korean War, 1950–1953.” Journal of Military History 56.1 (1992): 87–112.
DOI: 10.2307/1985712Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examination of how the US Air Force relearned many lessons during the Korean War about the importance of electronic warfare, particularly electronic countermeasures against air-defense radar, for minimizing bomber losses.
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Price, Alfred. Instruments of Darkness: The History of Electronic Warfare. New York: Scribner, 1977.
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Important standard early account of electronic warfare’s origins during World War II, written from perspective of a British participant.
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Price, Alfred. History of U.S. Electronic Warfare. 3 vols. Arlington, VA: Association of Old Crows, 1984–2000.
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Extensive examination of the development of US electronic warfare through World War II, to the beginning of the Vietnam War, and from the Vietnam War to the present.
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Southeast Asia

The US involvement in Southeast Asia presented novel problems in military communications, including the large absence of existing infrastructure, the tremendous use of radio by all parts of the military, and the complex navigational issues associated with the enormous air campaign. Myer 1982 and Rienzi 1972 present initial US Army observations on the lessons learned. Bergen 1986 provides the official US history. Castle 1999 provides an important part of the story of communications in the air war, while Pribbeneouw 2003 examines how the North Vietnamese reacted to changes in electronic warfare, among other developments. Hanyok 2002 offers the history of signals intelligence during the war, though parts remain classified. Tambini 2007 and Deitchman 2008 are the most recent treatments on the ground-based sensors used in the war.

Bergen, John D. Military Communications: A Test for Technology. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1986.
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Official history of army communications in Vietnam, examining the environmental, organizational, and logistical problems confronted and the effects of the communications systems on command and control in the war.
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Castle, Timothy. One Day Too Long: Top Secret Site 85 and the Bombing of North Vietnam. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999.
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Discusses the March 1968 battle and capture of Lima Site 85, a secret US mountaintop base in Laos. Tactical air navigation and ground-directed bombing aids at the small location played an important, if brief, role in the bombing of North Vietnam.
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Deitchman, Seymour J. “The ‘Electronic Battlefield’ in the Vietnam War.” Journal of Military History 72.3 (2008): 869–887.
DOI: 10.1353/jmh.0.0024Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Important article by a participant in the electronic war at the time. Based largely on secondary sources and congressional testimony, it does draw from some materials the author was able to have declassified.
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Hanyok, Robert J. Spartans in Darkness: American SIGINT and the Indochina War, 1945–1975. Fort Meade, MD: Center for Cryptologic History, National Security Agency, 2002.
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Declassified in 2008 (with redactions), this report provides an overview of the signals intelligence and information security efforts undertaken to support military activities during the conflict.
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Myer, Charles R. Division-Level Communications, 1962–1970. Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 1982.
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Official analysis of the efficacy of tactical communications at the level of the division and below, including the particular problems of riverine operations, the invasion of Cambodia, and communications security. Use with Bergen 1986.
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Pribbeneouw, Merle. “The ’Ology War: Technology and Ideology in the Vietnamese Defense of Hanoi, 1967.” Journal of Military History 67.1 (2003): 175–200.
DOI: 10.1353/jmh.2003.0066Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Analysis of North Vietnamese reaction to improvements, particularly in electronic warfare, to US bombing campaigns in North Vietnam by 1967.
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Rienzi, Thomas M. Communications-Electronics, 1962–1970. Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 1972.
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Official study of military communications in Vietnam from the theater-level and chronological perspective by one of the senior signal officers in Vietnam during this period. Use with Bergen 1986.
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Tambini, Anthony. Wiring Vietnam: The Electronic Wall. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2007.
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Discusses the development and implementation of sensor technology, particularly IGLOO WHITE, also known as the “McNamara Line,” for use in detecting the movement of North Vietnamese forces and communicating that information to US forces.
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Military Communications and Space

The use of space for communications, navigation, reconnaissance, and detection is one of the more significant long-term developments in military affairs during the 20th century. Federici 1997 provides an overview to the end of the 20th century from the perspective of the US Navy. Whalen 2000 examines the story of satellite communications from the commercial and policy sides, which must be understood in parallel with the military developments. Arnold 2005 has elucidated the overlooked story of how the satellites do what we want them to. Deac 2008 and McDonald and Moreno 2005 tell the previously very secret story of electronic intelligence satellite programs in the early 1960s. Friedman 2000 clarifies how important space communication and navigation are in order to have ballistic and cruise missiles function at all.

Arnold, David Christopher. Spying from Space: Constructing America’s Satellite Command and Control Systems. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2005.
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Historical examination of the network of facilities used to communicate with and operate the reconnaissance satellites.
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Deac, Wilfred P. “The Navy’s Spy Missions in Space.” Naval History 22.2 (2008): 52–59.
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Useful overview written by a participant of the GRAB satellite program, an early electronic intelligence operation run by the US Navy. Read with McDonald and Moreno 2005.
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Federici, Gary. From the Sea to the Stars: A History of U.S. Navy Space and Space-Related Activities. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1997.
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An official history of the development of US Navy space activities from the 1940s to the beginning of the 21st century, focusing the use of space for communications and navigation from the tactical to the strategic levels. Available online.
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Friedman, Norman. Seapower and Space: From the Dawn of the Missile Age to Net-Centric Warfare. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2000.
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Examination of the critical interrelationship between developments in space-based communications and the parallel improvements in missile technology used by the navy.
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McDonald, Robert A., and Sharon K. Moreno. Raising the Periscope . . . Grab and Poppy: America’s Early ELINT Satellites. Chantilly, VA: National Reconnaissance Office, 2005.
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Official history of two of the first electronic intelligence satellite programs, based on declassified documents in what is otherwise a very secret world.
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Whalen, David Joseph. Space Policies, Space Commerce, and Satellite Communications: The Origins of Communications Satellite Technology (1945–1965). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2000.
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A history of the development of satellite communications largely from the business perspective of AT&T and Hughes Aircraft, but understanding the military’s incorporation of space-based communications also requires understanding the parallel civilian satellite history.
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Command, Control, and Communications in the United States in the Cold War and Beyond

As digital computers became smaller and easier to incorporate into military communications, the speed and volume of information increased exponentially to reach the astonishing proportions seen today. Boslaugh 1999 provides an important starting point for understanding how the US Navy incorporated this into its warships through the Cold War and should be read closely with Friedman 2009. Gebhard 1979 provides the official history of the navy research center’s participation in this and other elements of Cold War naval communications. Norberg and O’Neill 1996 and Williams 2004 explore the critical role of the military and its requirements in developing the nascent computer industry. The air force’s story is in Snyder 1991, though it needs a more thorough treatment. The global communication system that linked the services with the headquarters in Washington is best explained by Pearson 2000. Campen 1992 was among the first to argue that the presence of these communications networks had fundamentally changed the character of warfare, something that Cebrowski and Garstka 1998 argued in an important article would now lead to something new: network-centric warfare.

Boslaugh, David L. When Computers Went to Sea: The Digitization of the United States Navy. Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society, 1999.
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Examination by a participant in the development of command-and-control systems, such as the Navy Tactical Data System, the Link system, and AEGIS, to provide defense against aircraft and missiles through the Cold War.
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Campen, Alan D., ed. The First Information War: The Story of Communications, Computers, and Intelligence Systems in the Persian Gulf War. Fairfax, VA: AFCEA International, 1992.
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An edited collection of essays discussing the importance of communications and information to the waging of the war in 1991 and asserting that this war was different from previous wars because of the technological tools that made the level of information management possible.
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Cebrowski, Arthur K., and John J. Garstka. “Network-Centric Warfare: Its Origin and Future.” United States Naval Institute Proceedings 123.1 (1998): 28–35.
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Important article that argued a transformation in military affairs had occurred because of advances in communications and the parallel evolution of American businesses influenced by this. Instead of thinking about platforms, in their view the military should think about networks and how to leverage information moving through the networks to achieve military success.
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Friedman, Norman. Network Centric Warfare: How Navies Learned to Fight Smarter through Three World Wars. Andover, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2009.
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One of the few detailed historical accounts of how the US Navy and its allies adopted naval communication and command-and-control systems as the technology evolved, with most of the focus on the post–World War II period.
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Gebhard, Louis A. Evolution of Naval Radio-Electronics and Contributions of the Naval Research Laboratory. Washington, DC: Naval Research Laboratory, 1979.
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Official history of the organization within the navy responsible for leading research and development and that played a critical role in pursuing advances in communications through the Cold War.
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Norberg, Arthur L., and Judy E. O’Neill. Transforming Computer Technology: Information Processing for the Pentagon, 1962–1986. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
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Study of developments in computing achieved by the US Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency that improved command-and-control systems but also had long-term significance for computer science and the Internet.
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Pearson, David E. The World Wide Military Command and Control System: Evolution and Effectiveness. Maxwell Air Force Base, AL: Air University Press, 2000.
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Nearly unique account of the complex US military communications system that evolved in the Cold War to link the senior civilian leaders with the worldwide conventional and nuclear forces.
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Snyder, Thomas S. eds. Air Force Communications Command: 1938–1991, An Illustrated History. Scott Air Force Base, IL: Air Force Communications Agency Office of History, 1991.
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Copiously illustrated official history of the successive units that provided communications to the air force in all forms, from long-distance trunk networks to weather and air-traffic-control information.
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Williams, Kathleen Broome. Grace Hopper: Admiral of the Cyber Sea. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2004.
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The first scholarly biography of the woman who played a critical role not only in the development of computing in the navy but also in the history of computer science generally, written to concentrate on her naval experiences.
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