7. Austria-Hungary’s Head Spy Catcher Was a Spy
Austria-Hungary’s chief of counterintelligence from 1900 to 1912 was Alfred Redl (1864 – 1913), an army officer in charge of tracking down and rooting out traitors and spies. Unbeknownst to his bosses, however, Redl was himself a traitor. He betrayed his country and sold its secrets to its main rival and likeliest future enemy, Russia, whose chief spy in the Austro-Hungarian Empire he became. He also spied for both the Italians and French in exchange for money.
Redl was gay, in an era when homosexuality was a taboo that could ruin a person. Russian intelligence set out to entrap Redl, and captured him on camera committing homosexual acts, then used the photos to blackmail him into turning a traitor. Over the next 11 years, Redl sold the Russians Austro-Hungarian mobilization plans, army orders, ciphers, codes, maps, reports on road and rail conditions, and other secrets. He was finally caught in a sting operation, and committed suicide after confessing to his treason.
