It was invented by Claude Chappe, a Frenchman, in 1794. Originally, it was all visual using flags with the dots and dashes to get their point across, and was later on an electrical tool for many.
(Picture from http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~djg11/howcomputerswork/h.jpg.)Even though the telegraph was an easy way to send messages to and from friends and family, it was most used during war, as a way of communicating messages from one post to another during battle, or secret operations. It was one of the most crucial tools in warfare, considering, you can have all the weapons you want, but it doesn't make a difference if you don't know where to point them.
The book Tamar by Mal Peet offers both WWII "present day" scenes, and flash forwards. In the beginning, one of the main characters, Dart, uses the telegraph a lot to send secret coded messages, and although it is obvious that it plays a big part in his secret mission, in the flash forward, it tells about his secret mission in the past (actually present) being compromised. I personally think that the telegraph has a large part to play. Since all of Dart's telegraph devices aren't hidden very well, it would be easy to find and infiltrate them. I guess we'll see what happens.
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