The internet started as the ArpaNet project connecting university computers in the 60's. The e-mail service came in the 70's and became a big success in the 80's
The government, more specifically the military was using the internet for many years before the general public used it. It was used as a form of communication.
It began in 1962 when the RAND corp started developing a communications system in case of nuclear war. 1969,first computers from Standord and UCSB comminicated with each other via internet.
The internet started a ARPA research project connecting computers at four US universities in the 70s. the email service joined in later ontop of the network.
Data sharing between the military and major universities were set up between super computers in the 1960s to ensure communication in case of nuclear war.
It was created as a large electronic communication network. It was designed to allow people to share information. Eventually email became the tool of choice for talking.
The ancestor of the modern internet was ARPANET which was a military project to create a decentralized communications system that could not be taken out by Soviet attack. It was also used by scholars to easily share information.
