Egon Erwin Kisch wasn't just any reporter; he was known as 'The Raging Reporter' for a reason. In Der Fall des Generalstabschefs Redl (The Case of Chief of Staff Redl), he turns that energy on one of the pre-WWI era's most shocking secrets. The book is his attempt to reconstruct the truth from the fragments left after a state-sanctioned cover-up.

The Story

In 1913, Colonel Alfred Redl, a brilliant officer who led the Austro-Hungarian Empire's spy agency, was found dead in a Vienna hotel room. It was quickly ruled a suicide. But the real story was buried: Redl had been a double agent for Russia for nearly a decade. He sold military secrets, mobilization plans, and the identities of his own spies, crippling Austrian security. The discovery threw the empire's leadership into panic. They hushed it up, destroyed evidence, and pushed a simple narrative of a corrupt officer. Kisch steps in years later, interviewing surviving colleagues, dissecting the official lies, and painting a far messier, more human picture of the scandal.

Why You Should Read It

What makes this book stick with you isn't just the 'what'—it's Kisch's relentless focus on the 'why.' He moves past the easy answer of greed. He shows us Redl as a complex man: a career officer from a modest background, possibly trapped by debts or personal secrets, living a life of immense pressure and hidden duality. Kisch's writing has this urgent, detective-like quality. You feel like you're following him down cobblestone streets as he hunts for a source who might finally explain the unexplainable. It transforms a historical case file into a profound character study and a stark look at how institutions protect themselves at all costs.

Final Verdict

This is a must-read for anyone who loves narrative nonfiction that reads like a mystery. It's perfect for history buffs who enjoy stories about personal failure and systemic rot, and for true-crime readers who appreciate a deep dive into motive. It’s not a dry military history; it’s a journalist’s passionate quest to understand a man who became a ghost in his own life, and in doing so, exposes the fragile nerves of a dying empire. A fascinating, page-turning slice of real-life espionage.