23 Facts About Alfred Redl

Alfred Redl was an Austro-Hungarian military officer who rose to head the Evidenzbureau, the counterintelligence wing of the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Army.

Alfred Redl was one of the leading figures of pre-World War I espionage; his term in office was marked by radical innovations and the use of advanced technology to ensnare foreign spies.

Alfred Redl's revelations did not have a significant effect on the course of the war, although the changes for Gallica by Conrad who changed the attack in August 1914 from eastern to western Gallica did have serious consequences according to Buttar.

Alfred Redl was born on 14 March 1864 in the city Lemberg, located in the Austrian Empire.

Alfred Redl came from a relatively poor family, his father was a railway clerk.

At the age of fifteen Alfred Redl entered the Karthaus Military Academy in Brno, as a cadet.

Alfred Redl then served with the Infantry Regiment No 9 stationed in Lemberg reaching the rank of lieutenant.

Alfred Redl attended the War School in Vienna, which normally accepted only fifty entrants a year from about a thousand applicants.

However, at the same time, Alfred Redl himself became a spy for Russia and his subsequent exposure was largely due to the improvements he had developed himself.

In 1902, Alfred Redl reportedly passed a copy of Austro-Hungarian war plans to the Russians.

In consultation with his Russian contacts, Alfred Redl identified several low-level agents as Russian spies, thereby protecting himself and enhancing his reputation for efficiency.

Alfred Redl owned several expensive automobiles, several apartments in Vienna and a house in Prague.

Alfred Redl is thought to have sold to Russia one of Austria-Hungary's principal attack plans, along with its order of battle, its mobilization plans and detailed plans of Austrian fortifications that were soon overrun by Russia.

Alfred Redl is known beyond question to have sent Austro-Hungarian agents into Russia only to sell them out to protect himself.

Alfred Redl had Austro-Hungarian agents within the Russian Imperial Staff but betrayed them too, to be hanged or to commit suicide.

Alfred Redl is believed to have informed on various Russian officers who contacted Austro-Hungarian intelligence.

In 1912, Alfred Redl became chief of staff of the VIII Corps under his old commander, Arthur Giesl von Gieslingen.

When he left the counter-intelligence service, Alfred Redl was succeeded by Major Maximilian Ronge, a man trained by Alfred Redl himself.

Alfred Redl was confronted in his apartment by a party of military officers.

Field Marshal Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf, the army's Chief of Staff, ordered that Alfred Redl was to be left alone with a loaded revolver.

Alfred Redl shot himself in the early morning of 25 May 1913.

Alfred Redl's death was regretted both by Emperor Franz Josef, who would have preferred that the colonel avoided dying in mortal sin, and by the intelligence service, which would have preferred to interrogate him on the full extent of his disclosures to the Russians.

McCarthy believed the Alfred Redl case illustrated that "the pervert is easy prey to the blackmailer," and that therefore homosexuals should be banned from working for the State Department.