APRAnet was a project to build a communications network without a centralized node to determine routing so that if large chunks of the physical network were des

APRAnet was a project to build a communications network without a centralized node to determine routing so that if large chunks of the physical network were destroyed (nuclear attack is the typical scenario envisioned) then the network would dynamically figure out how to route around the broken/missing network segments and traffic would get through. Rumor is that the first real-world test of this ability was the first Gulf War when the allied coalition physically destroyed upwards of 80% of Iraqi telecoms... but messages on the Iraqi network still got through, albeit delayed after bouncing around alternative routes outside of Iraq before reentering near the destination node.