Editing Electrical telegraph (section)

===First World War===
During [[World War I]], Britain's telegraph communications were almost completely uninterrupted, while it was able to quickly cut Germany's cables worldwide.{{sfn|Kennedy|1971}} The British government censored telegraph cable companies in an effort to root out espionage and restrict financial transactions with Central Powers nations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hills |first=Jill |date=June 2006 |title=What's New? War, Censorship and Global Transmission: From the Telegraph to the Internet |journal=International Communication Gazette |language=en |volume=68 |issue=3 |pages=195–216 |doi=10.1177/1748048506063761 |s2cid=153879238 |issn=1748-0485}}</ref> British access to transatlantic cables and its codebreaking expertise led to the [[Zimmermann Telegram]] incident that contributed to the [[American entry into World War I|US joining the war]].<ref>{{cite news |title=The telegram that brought America into the First World War |url=http://www.historyextra.com/article/bbc-history-magazine/telegram-brought-america-first-world-war |work=BBC History Magazin e |date=17 January 2017}}</ref> Despite British acquisition of German colonies and expansion into the Middle East, debt from the war led to Britain's control over telegraph cables to weaken while US control grew.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Solymar |first=L. |date=March 2000 |title=The effect of the telegraph on law and order, war, diplomacy, and power politics |journal=Interdisciplinary Science Reviews |language=en |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=203–210 |doi=10.1179/030801800679233 |bibcode=2000ISRv...25..203S |s2cid=144107714 |issn=0308-0188}}</ref>