Dr. John R. Schindler

U.S. Naval War College

`A Hundred Years On (Nearly)

Rethinking The Great War, finally … maybe?

Austria-Hungary? Really?What does a second-tier

naval power matter now?What does intelligence

from 100 years ago have to tell us today?

Die k.u.k. Kriegsmarine

Austria-Hungary and the Mediterranean naval arms race before 1914

KM OOB 1914:4 BB (DN)9 BB7 CA 6 CL30 DD6 SS

Austro-Hungarian Intelligence

Vienna’s military espionage apparatus before 1914- readiness for war?

The Evidenzbureau- roles & missions- the Redl debacle

The Marine-Evidenzbureau- roles & missions

Vienna’s “Great Secret”

A-H code-breaking before 1914 and its place in the intelligence system

The (Viennese) birth of SIGINT

War planning, strategy, and A-H strategic concepts on the eve of the Great War

Crisis and War

Sarajevo assassination and the July Crisis

The Navy and the coming of the war

Vienna plays va banque … and loses

The Navy and the Italian threat

Intelligence in the Adriatic

Understanding the intelligence battlefield in the Adriatic

KM SIGINT and the Navy’s strategic thinking, 1915-1918

How code-breaking becomes a critical enabler for Austria-Hungary

Fleet (In)Action and Intelligence

ADM Haus and his “fleet in being”

KM HUMINT, covert action, and sabotage against Italy

A-H Naval aviation and intelligence over the Adriatic

Austria-Hungary and the U-Boat War

Vienna and unrestricted submarine warfare

The KM’s U-Boat arm and its role in the Mediterranean naval struggle

SIGINT and Austria-Hungary’s submarine arm

1917: The Pivotal Year

Unrestricted submarine warfare and the Allied blockade’s impact on Austria-Hungary

Otranto and limited surface fleet action

The “Caporetto Miracle” and illusions of victory

1918: Decline and Fall

January: Naval mutiny and the general crisis of the war effort

Piave: one last (doomed) gamble by Vienna

The Navy and the last months of war: imminent defeat

The final collapse

Assessing the Impact

What is the real role of intelligence in Austria-Hungary’s naval war?

What lessons today can be derived from the experience of the k.u.k. Marine-Evidenzbureau?

History, legacies and remembrances