Technical innovation in the nineteenth century made the era one of rapid and significant change, and laid the groundwork for today’s interconnected world. Railway lines were being laid extensively, as were telegraph lines, which allowed people to send messages across long distances at unprecedented speed. As telegrams grew in popularity, the telephone was not far behind. Meanwhile, improvements to the press made printing news much quicker. The combination of these changes meant that news began to travel much faster during this period: for the first time, news could reach people in hours instead of days or weeks.