Varna

Varna was the starting point of the first telegraph line to be built on the south of the Danube, in the Ottoman Empire, and in the Black Sea region as a whole. This happened during the Crimean War (1853-1856) when France and England build the installation in order to use it for the needs of their armies taking part of the war. The first message on the telegraph from Varna to the Crimea and from Varna to Ruse and further to Bucharest, Paris, and London, passed on April 24, 1855. After the war the installation was sold to the Ottoman Empire and continued to be exploited, however only for civil needs. In 1869 Varna already had telegraph connection to all of the 35 stations of the Danubian Vilayet. Varna’s telegraph station had a special section for foreign telegraphy^[1].Bibliography:

Библиография:

Roussev, I. Un épisode de la modernisation des Balkans à l’époque de la Guerre de Crimée (1853–1856) : la France, l’Angleterre et la construction des premières lignes télégraphiques dans l’Empire ottoman. – The Crimean War 1853–1856. Colonial Skirmish or Rehearsal for World War? Empires, Nations, and Individuals. Edited by Jerzy W. Borejsza, Wydawnictwo Neriton, Institut Historii PAN, Warszawa, 2011, p. 469–490.

[1] Roussev, I. Un épisode de la modernisation des Balkans à l’époque de la Guerre de Crimée (1853–1856) : la France, l’Angleterre et la construction des premières lignes télégraphiques dans l’Empire ottoman. – The Crimean War 1853–1856. Colonial Skirmish or Rehearsal for World War? Empires, Nations, and Individuals. Edited by Jerzy W. Borejsza, Wydawnictwo Neriton, Institut Historii PAN, Warszawa, 2011, p. 469–490.