The man’s passport identified him as an American named Charles Inglis But he was really Carl Hans Lody a German-born spy For several months Lody had been observing British war ship movements in English ports and sending coded telegrams to his handler in Germany Lody who had been given very little spy training didn’t realize his messages were being intercepted and read by British counterespionage agents Most of the messages contained harmless or wrong information and British agents let them go through to Germany In September 1914 Lody worried about being discovered de cided to flee to Ireland He sent off one last detailed report to Germany This one contained valuable military infor mation The message was stopped and British agents soon tracked Lody down in Ireland and brought him to London to stand trial He was imprisoned in the Tower of London On November 6 1914 Lody faced a firing squad becom ing the first spy executed by the British in World War I A SPY UNCOVERED
COMPLEX ALLIANCES LEAD to WAR I N THE EARLY 1900S European powers competed with each other for land power and resources Great Britain France and Germany wanted to control areas in Africa and the Middle East Austria Hungary and Russia were vying for domination in the Balkan coun tries of southern Europe Adding to the rivalry between nations were strong feelings of distrust Many countries established alliances with each other promising to step forward if one of them was attacked by an enemy Europe was a powder keg just waiting to explode The fuse on that keg was lit on June 28 1914 when Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand Meant to allow friendly greetings with passersby the archduke’s open car proved deadly instead
the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne in Sarajevo Bosnia Austria Hungary blamed Serbia for the act and declared war on Serbia exactly one month later That started a chain reaction Serbia had an alliance with Russia so the Russians declared war on Austria Hungary Because France had an alliance with Russia it joined the war on Serbia’s side too Meanwhile Germany came out in support of Austria-Hungary its partner in another alliance and declared war on Russia and France When German troops moved into neutral Belgium on the way toward France Great Britain honored its own agreement to protect Belgium by declaring war on Germany By September 1914 most of Europe was at war The main combatants were the Central Powers Germany Austria-Hungary and Turkey and the Allied Powers Britain France Russia and later Italy Soon blood would be shed in many parts of the world One country that decided to stay on the sidelines at least for the time being was the United States A great deal of political pressure would be put on U S president Woodrow Wilson to join the Allied Powers Another type of pressure would be exerted by German espi onage agents in the U S trying to undermine any American efforts to help the Allies Both sides wondered what America would do COVERT OPS SUCCESS ON THE SECOND TRY The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand didn’t go as planned on June 28 1914 Members of the Serbian terrorist group the Black Hand were assigned to attack the archduke as he traveled through Sarajevo that day The first man lost his nerve and let the royal party drive right by him The second threw a bomb at the wrong car and seriously wounded two of Franz Ferdinand’s close friends Later the archduke insisted on visiting his wounded friends at the hospital It was during that second trip that Gavrilo Princip spotted the arch duke’s car and fatally shot the Austrian heir and his wife 0909
