It is well understood that communication is the process of passing a message from one person to another, therefore there are always different means of communication and also different levels of communication. Cold war defines the period from 1945 and 1991, whereby there was war between Soviet Union and the United States. From time way back during the ancient times until roman empires and up to the cold war period, the adoption of communication by the military has proven to be the victory facilitator. The most proven difficult task during war is that of communicating with the allies and having the information on the whereabouts of the enemies. As the military say 1“information during the warfare is equivalent to halfway the battle”. Communication in military has its history from way back on the use of arrows with flames to send a signal to the allies, to the use of pigeon’s leg to send messages and finally the adoption modern communication machines and devices like mobile phones. The invention of a satellite as a tool for communication was a breakthrough in the history of military communication during cold war. From the military experience, ‘information during the war is equivalent to half way the battle’.
2During earlier times in the war, the best means of communication in the battlefield was displayed by the use of torch signals. When the battle was in progress the allies could communicate by use of a torch which represented a signal that was only known to the allies. In this case they could coordinate with the help of torch signal therefore gave them a victory. There was also the use of signal flags. The soldiers could have different flags that communicated different message. They could write a message on the flag, and then release it to fly towards the direction where the allies were located. This gave them victory because they could send and receive messages about their enemies with the help of a flag.
There was also the use of flash mirrors as a means of communication whereby the soldiers used to translate the message sent through a flash mirror. There was a message with each method of the heliograph and therefore the soldiers could prepare themselves for attack whenever they received a message from their allies. This was considered the effective means of communication since the flash mirror indicated a certain signal, and it was mostly associated with a sense of danger. Another form of communication was the use of fire smoke; this could send a signal to the allies in many locations as it also indicated a sense of danger. The soldiers could organize themselves upon the view of fire smoke by meeting at a central place where they could come up with ways of attacking the enemies. Ancient means of communication adopted during the cold war involved use of flags, torch signals, smoke signals and heliographs.
When electricity was discovered by scientists, it gave a breakthrough on many discoveries that involved the innovation of communication machines that used electricity, this was during the 18th century and the first device was the invention of a telegraph in. The electromagnetic telegraph was easy to use and it was adopted by the military due to its efficiency and its portability. The use of telegraph was influenced by the war in napoleon and the French revolution, the military adopted the use of telegraph in the arena; this was because efficient communication was needed in coordinating and controlling the military and to also supervise. Many experiments were done which lead to improving the state telegraph.
Another attempt on the use of telegraph was the need of effective communication among the Soviet Union during war. 3Telegraph was used to command the soldiers who were in the battle field; it was a field telegraph which was made specifically for this purpose. More telegraphs were made, approximately six. They were used by the soviet military to enhance communication with staff on the formation and training of the military in the battle field. The use of telegraph proved to improve the exercise of commanding the military in the battle fields and also at their training grounds. The greatest challenge on the use of telegraph in the history of military was the need of a large number of specialists who would control the telegraph to facilitate smooth flow of communication.
4There followed the radio invention in 1912, it was an invention that used wireless connection and this was considered an achievement. The radio was adopted in the battle field because it had the capacity to transmit and receive signals to the extent of 250m. The military used the radio to communicate with the allies and acquired information about the enemies. There was an increase in the use of signals in war, especially during the First World War. These signals helped the army to organize themselves when executing weapons and also when they were located and from there, they could receive the message and set themselves for action. 3telegraph marked the first use of electronic machine during cold war, followed by the use of the radio; all these were an attempt to improve military communication.4
Communication was made efficient and therefore it was easier to train the military and organize them according to the strategies of conquering their enemies.
The adoption of radio stations as means of communication proved to be effective but there was a problem with transmitting signals with high frequency and therefore could not handle commanding levels that were high. They implemented many channels to reduce the congestion of communicating through one channel, all these channels when combined could display single channel in television. In the year 1950, the culminated problems of radio stations led to radioactivity. This resulted to setting up radio stations at a distance away from another station in order to reduce the effect of radioactivity caused by electromagnetic force due to signal transmission. The use of radio continued for a long time with experiments done frequently on how to improve the efficiency and portability of the radio, many changes were made and this enabled scientists to invent more electronic gadgets. The military on the other hand had a handful experience on the use of radio to communicate during the battle field.
Cold war reached at its climax in the year 1952, there was formation of the radio amateur society, which was catalyzed by the need of emergency system of communication whenever there was a sense of disaster. This improved the radio frequency and influenced the use of communication by the military. A radio was created to target the Soviet Union and its broadcast was from Germany. However the formation of radio liberty faced interference by the soviet military. They use a jamming technology which could interfere with radio signals and hence failure of transmission.
5The discovery of satellite was a breakthrough in the military communication. Satellite was a tool used to communicate with one another; it advanced technologically and became the main tool of communication in the military. Since 1946, United States adopted the use of satellite which became the major tool for communicating and it was influenced by communicating with astronauts. The United States navy began communicating with the use of the moon as the reflector. The navy continued with the experiments on the use of satellite until they realized they needed proper communication system with the use of satellite in the battle field.
With the expansion of satellite technology, it influenced many countries to adopt the use of satellite in the military operations. This technology enabled countries to spy on each other and led to complications especially on how to keep communication a secret between the two parties and prevent others from accessing the content of the message being communicated. Alternative methods of passing a message were sough and it involved the adoption on the use of coded language. The use of coded language was adopted until an issue on whether to separate the military communication from the civilian under the use of satellite. It was then decided that there should be a separate satellite for military purpose only, and allowed the government to use it for communicating information that was not highly needed. The decision to separate satellite communication was explained to be an objective for security purpose.
Satellite inventions gave a breakthrough in military communication, with advancement of technologically based means of communication
While the military was working on developing the traditional means of communication, they also embraced the advanced technology. Communication using radio and telephone was advanced more with the help of a satellite; there was invention of several radio stations and also different models of the radio. The most effective model of a radio was used by the army of Soviet Union in the year 1960 during war. This radio was portable and therefore was used effectively by placing it in the vehicle used to command troops in the field. The vehicle could move around passing information to the troops. However the disadvantage of using such means of communication was the fear of the enemies taping the message being passed to the allies.
Towards the end of Second World War, there was greater development which aimed at providing an automated security. This was done through the adoption of computers by the military, they were used to track and observe the movement of the enemies with the help of a satellite. These computers enabled the military to effectively communicate and used them in laboratories for research purposes. Computers were used to control weapons in the battle field and also they were used in executing commands. The development of computers was an achievement that motivated the military in their work because it became easier to perform many operations in the field at once while communicating effectively. Many countries also adopted the use of computer in their government operations; it enhanced security among civilians and also the military.
With advanced use of satellite as means of communication, military improved their communication such that they could hold a conversation with the head quarters and used satellite as a weapon. In this case, missiles were guided with laser which contained satellite chips that could communicate and direct the weapon to the main target. This advanced the tactics of the army because they could locate their enemies and use a guided missile to conquer them. The commanders in the field could communicate with their superiors globally to seek information about any development that took place in the field. A person could be tracked and located with the use of tracking satellite system, location of the enemies could be video recorded and this could make it easier when planning to execute operations.
Use of propaganda was another means of communication that was effectively used during the first stages of cold war. The British government adopted the use of propaganda to influence civilians to participate during the war; it was inclusive of the Soviet Union and the United States. United States campaigned on the use of propaganda through influencing people through schools, books, movies and comics. It was used with the purpose of instilling hatred to their enemies, by ensuring that the citizens were able to support the war. Each of the two countries developed their own means communicating propaganda. The use of radio and television highly influenced the spread of propaganda. The period of propaganda during the cold war is marked by accusations by both united states and the soviet union, threats and interfering of foreigners.
Use of propaganda during cold war was a weapon used to influence citizens of the two fighting governments. It was characterized by insulting and inciting the other government, this was a means of communication that entailed huge deliberation of resources.
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