In war, and in the steps to war, single individuals frequently make
significant contributions to the course of events through espionage.
The nature of their craft often means that their actions go unnoticed
for many years or, sometimes, for ever. This first full biography in
English of Alfred Redl is a much under-told story that contains all
the elements of a cracking fictional tale of spies.
Strongly Recommended.
NAME: Spy of the Century, Alfred Redl & the Betrayal of Austro-Hungary FILE: R2419 AUTHOR: John Sadler, Silvie Fisch PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword BINDING: hard back PAGES: 170 PRICE: £19.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: WWI, World War 1, World War I, First World War, changing alliances, road to war, intrigue, espionage, decaying empires, catalogue of errors ISBN: 1-47384-8760-9 IMAGE: B2419.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/hrpjp6g LINKS: Current Discount Offers http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/sale DESCRIPTION: In war, and in the steps to war, single individuals frequently make significant contributions to the course of events through espionage. The nature of their craft often means that their actions go unnoticed for many years or, sometimes, for ever. This first full biography in English of Alfred Redl is a much under-told story that contains all the elements of a cracking fictional tale of spies. Strongly Recommended. The opening decade of the Twentieth Century was a period of great change. Old empires were crumbling and even the British Empire had reached its height, from which decay was almost guaranteed. However, that had not restricted military power but had encouraged an arms race and the forging of new alliances. All that stopped Europe from going to war was a trigger and a series of tragic errors and misunderstandings. Given the nature of the environment, those factors were inevitably about to conspire. Redl led the Austro-Hungarian military intelligence and had been considered totally loyal to the Habsburg Empire. In fact, he had betrayed secrets to the French, Russians and Italians and it ended with him shooting himself in hotel, little more than a year before the outbreak of the Great War that was to completely change the future for Europe and the World. Spies and traitors were not new. They had featured in the affairs of nations for millennia. What was different at the start of the Twentieth Century was that all the nations of Europe had greatly expanded their intelligence services and increased the level of routine espionage. It is difficult, a hundred years on, to fully appreciate the societies and level of intrigue that was becoming established. This is a story of sex, espionage, betrayal, decadence and human weakness that would do credit to the plot of any fictional spy story. There is suspense and success, failure, fall from greatness, leading to a sensational climax. By any standards its a great read, but all the more from the way that it lifts the covers off a previously hidden part of the story of the march to war in 1914.