The War of the Currents: Edison Sold Fear to Protect a Monopoly

In 1888, Thomas Edison already had generating stations, wires and direct-current customers in American cities. George Westinghouse sold a different system. Alternating current could be stepped up with transformers for transmission and stepped down again for use in homes. Nikola Tesla brought patents for alternating-current motors into the contest. The difference would decide who supplied electricity to entire cities.

Edison did not wait for customers to compare prices and performance. His direct-current network needed many stations close to the people using power. If Westinghouse proved that one plant could serve a much larger area, Edison’s investment would be boxed in. The War of the Currents was not a celebrity quarrel between inventors. It was a fight over who controlled the growing electrical grid.