Balloon mail

About 66 unguided mail balloons were released from Paris to communicate with the outside world; the great majority succeeded in delivering their cargo.

As Prussian forces surrounded the city, telegraph lines were cut and messengers were captured, shot or turned back.

After the siege, Anglo-French scientist Dr Pierre Wesby travelled to Burton-on-Trent, where in 1873 he started a business to transport mail from England across the Irish Sea to Dublin.

A balloon can be released from outside the sphere of influence of these governments and, wind permitting, can travel several hundred kilometers.

This method of balloon mail has been used by private activists to distribute leaflets to Warsaw Pact countries from West Germany in the mid-1950s,[4] and by South Koreans to North Korea discussing the health of their leader, Kim Jong-il.