Der Fall des Generalstabschefs Redl

In the tense years before the Great War, the Austro‑Hungarian Empire was rocked by a scandal that seemed ripped from a thriller. A senior staff officer, Colonel Alfred Redl, was discovered to have sold military secrets to foreign powers, and the pressure on him culminated in a forced suicide that the authorities tried to hush. The episode ignited a storm of rumors, accusations and conflicting reports that still echo through the corridors of power.

The narrative follows a meticulous inquiry that draws on original dossiers, testimonies from high‑ranking officials and the secretive methods of the empire’s intelligence bureau. Readers hear how visitors were photographed and fingerprinted without their knowledge, how even a cigar case could betray a spy, and how a web of intrigue linked the bureau’s chief to the tragedy. By piecing together these fragments, the book offers a vivid portrait of early‑20th‑century espionage and the human cost of a world on the brink of war.