History of Internets and Intranets

On October 4, 1957 the world changed dramatically. The cold war, between the U.S. and the Soviet Union became much colder. The Soviets showed the world that the U.S. was not the most technologically advanced country. With one small piece of equipment the Soviet Union showed the world that they could deliver a nuclear payload anywhere in the world. This piece of equipment was Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite sent into space by mankind. Later that year the United States government formed the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the Department of Defense. The purpose of ARPA was to reestablish the U.S.’s lead in technology.
ARPA was in charge of designing and building a redundant military research network of computers. The purpose of this network was to decentralize command and control of their nuclear missiles and supporting staff. That way if Washington D.C. was attacked and destroyed there would still be communications and control over the U....