xv1782 The first Habsburg political police force is organized by Jo-
hann Pergen.
1819 23 March: August von Kotzebue is assassinated as a sus-
pected Russian spy.
1830 Prussia sends its first military attaché to Paris.
1833 Chancellor Klemens von Metternich of Austria establishes the
Mainzer Informationsbüro.
1848 March: Metternich is forced to resign. May 18: The Frankfurt
National Assembly meets for the first time.
1850 Frederick William IV of Prussia appoints Wilhelm Stieber to
monitor dissident activity. Austria-Hungary sets up its mili-
tary intelligence office as the Evidenzbüro.
1866 August Schluga Baron von Rastenfeld is engaged as a Prus-
sian agent.
1871 Otto von Bismarck unifies Germany under Prussian leader-
ship.
1888 William II becomes emperor.
1896 Germany embarks on a new naval expansion program.
1889 German military intelligence (Abteilung IIIb) is formed.
1894 November: The German government denies involvement in
the Dreyfus Affair.
1898 A central intelligence collection agency for the Second Reich
is established.
1902 The imperial naval intelligence unit (“N”) is authorized.
1913 25 May: The unmasking of Alfred Redl as a Russian spy
prompts his suicide in Vienna.
1914 August: World War I begins. Alexander Bauermeister supplies
vital intelligence at the Battle of Tannenberg. 26 August: The
wreck of the Magdeburg results in the loss of German naval