An interpretive biography of Alfred Redl, Austro-Hungarian General Staff officer, whose shocking personal life led to the betrayal of an Empire.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Spy Who Betrayed an Empire,
By
This review is from: The Panther's Feast (Paperback)
If you read much about Austria-Hungary during World War 1, you read about Colonel Alfred Redl, who betrayed his own army to every nation who would pay for his information. This is at least a partial explanation of how Austria-Hungary was so completely defeated in 1914 and later in the war. The story of how this came to happen is fascinating, and Robert Asprey does a good job of telling that story, even if the book is sort of strange in some ways.Redl was a commoner, with no family connections or mentor to see to his advancement in the Austro-Hungarian army. Instead, he relied on his skill as an officer and an ability to ingratiate himself with his superiors, combined with a seemingly limitless energy. As he rose in rank, the list of superior officers who thought him worthy of high rank lengthened, and he was soon on the fast track to success, becoming a General Staff officer. But Redl had a secret---he was gay. In those days, homosexuality was strictly prohibited in all of the armies of the world, especially for an officer of such rank and prominence. Redl had affairs with men throughout his life, never apparently able to control himself for long. When he once had an affair with a woman, he apparently contracted syphilis and gonorrhea from that one woman, and he appears to have never been seriously attached to a woman again. Soon after becoming a General Staff officer, Redl was assigned to the Intelligence Bureau, and worked there for most of the rest of his life. During the years leading up to World War 1, Redl was instrumental in setting up Austria-Hungary's intelligence apparatus, and regularizing the gathering of intelligence and its analysis. Thing was, a Russian spy figured out that Redl was gay, and the Russians soon began blackmailing him. Not only was he gay, but once he became a spy in the pay of the Russians it turned out he had extravagant tastes. Since no one paid attention to these things, he could baldly lie, create a ficticious relative who died and left him a large amount of money, and then spend like a fool. No one ever suspected he was earning the money illicitly. This continued for some time, and Redl did a considerable amount of damage prior to Austria-Hungary's entry into World War 1. This book is interesting, if a bit strange. I had two misgivings about the book. One is the author's obvious creation of dialog which the characters speak to one another as if they were characters in a novel. When a character speaks, it's hard to tell if he's saying something he really thought, or something Asprey invented or surmised from other evidence. This leads me to the second misgiving: there are no footnotes, so I didn't know where the information came from. Since so much of the dialog is obviously invented, you have to wonder, then, which is completely an invention, and which is only partially invented. That aside, this is a good book, interesting and informative, and not very long or involved. I would recommend it to specialists interested in World War 1 or espionage, or perhaps gay issues.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Colonel Redl -- the Kim Philby of WWI,
By
This review is from: The Panther's Feast (Paperback)
This extensively researched book tells the story of Colonel Redl, who was the head of counter intelligence for the Austrian empire before WWI -- and who was a Russian spy, blackmailed because of his homosexuality. Redl was the basis for a play "A Patriot for Me" and the movie Col. Redl with K M Brandauer was based on the play. The real story is a bit more interesting.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Spy who betrayed an empire,
By David W. Nicholas (Montrose, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Panther's Feast (Paperback)
If you read much about Austria-Hungary during World War 1, you read about Colonel Alfred Redl, who betrayed his own army to every nation who would pay for his information. This is at least a partial explanation of how Austria-Hungary was so completely defeated in 1914 and later in the war. The story of how this came to happen is fascinating, and Robert Asprey does a good job of telling that story, even if the book is sort of strange in some ways.Redl was a commoner, with no family connections or mentor to see to his advancement in the Austro-Hungarian army. Instead, he relied on his skill as an officer and an ability to ingratiate himself with his superiors, combined with a seemingly limitless energy. As he rose in rank, the list of superior officers who thought him worthy of high rank lengthened, and he was soon on the fast track to success, becoming a General Staff officer. But Redl had a secret---he was gay. In those days, homosexuality was strictly prohibited in all of the armies of the world, especially for an officer of such rank and prominence. Redl had affairs with men throughout his life, never apparently able to control himself for long. When he once had an affair with a woman, he apparently contracted syphilis and gonorrhea from that one woman, and he appears to have never been seriously attached to a woman again. Soon after becoming a General Staff officer, Redl was assigned to the Intelligence Bureau, and worked there for most of the rest of his life. During the years leading up to World War 1, Redl was instrumental in setting up Austria-Hungary's intelligence apparatus, and regularizing the gathering of intelligence and its analysis. Thing was, a Russian spy figured out that Redl was gay, and the Russians soon began blackmailing him. Not only was he gay, but once he became a spy in the pay of the Russians it turned out he had extravagant tastes. Since no one paid attention to these things, he could baldly lie, create a ficticious relative who died and left him a large amount of money, and then spend like a fool. No one ever suspected he was earning the money illicitly. This continued for some time, and Redl did a considerable amount of damage prior to Austria-Hungary's entry into World War 1. This book is interesting, if a bit strange. I had two misgivings about the book. One is the author's obvious creation of dialog which the characters speak to one another as if they were characters in a novel. When a character speaks, it's hard to tell if he's saying something he really thought, or something Asprey invented or surmised from other evidence. This leads me to the second misgiving: there are no footnotes, so I didn't know where the information came from. Since so much of the dialog is obviously invented, you have to wonder, then, which is completely an invention, and which is only partially invented. That aside, this is a good book, interesting and informative, and not very long or involved. I would recommend it to specialists interested in World War 1 or espionage, or perhaps gay issues.
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