Alfred Redl

Alfred Redl was born on March 14, 1864 in Lemberg, Galicia, which was then part of the Austrian Empire. He came from a poor family, but he showed great talent and intelligence, and learned many languages. He joined the Austrian army and became a protégé of General von Giesl, who was in charge of the intelligence service. Redl rose to the rank of colonel and became the head of the counter-intelligence branch of the Intelligence Bureau in 1907. He introduced many innovations and used advanced technology to catch foreign spies. However, he was also secretly working as a spy for Russia since 1902, and he gave them valuable information, such as codes, ciphers, maps, plans, and reports. He also falsified evidence against his fellow officers and exposed low-level Russian agents to maintain his reputation. In 1912, he moved to Prague with von Giesl, who became the commander of the 8th Army Corps, and Redl became his chief of staff. He was succeeded by Major Ronge, who used Redl's own methods to discover his treason. In May 1913, Ronge intercepted two envelopes containing money that were sent to Redl by the Russian and French intelligence. He traced them back to Redl and confronted him with the evidence. Redl confessed and asked to be left alone with a revolver. He wrote short notes to his brother and von Giesl, and then shot himself. His death caused a huge scandal and damaged the prestige of the Austrian army. Some historians believe that his betrayal contributed to the outbreak of World War I, as he revealed the weaknesses of the Austro-Hungarian military to the Russians.