Historical Background
Set in the Austro-Hungarian empire in the period before World War I, the film charts the rise of Colonel Redl from a boy at military school, right up to his betrayal, compromise and suicide.
The film also charts the rise of inter-ethnic tensions in Austro-Hungary, which were to bring about the assassination in Sarajevo - Redl is himself a Ruthenian, one of the minor Slavic groups, and ends up suffering because of that.
Redl himself goes from being a fanatical supporter of the Habsburg monarchy, to a pathetic victim, but by that time it is too late for him.
Read more about this topic: Colonel Redl
Famous quotes containing the words historical and/or background:
“After so many historical illustrations of the evil effects of abandoning the policy of protection for that of a revenue tariff, we are again confronted by the suggestion that the principle of protection shall be eliminated from our tariff legislation. Have we not had enough of such experiments?”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)