Spy of the Century, Alfred Redl & the Betrayal of Austro-Hungary

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.