Austro-Italian ironclad arms race
Austria's defeat in the Seven Weeks War forced Austria to determine a new set of foreign and domestic policies for the future, as Austria's interests since the days of the Holy Roman Empire had primarily been found in Italy and Germany. The Empire thus reformed itself into the Austria-Hungarian Empire following the adoption of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (German: "Ausgleich"), which re-established the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hungary and placed Hungarians within the Empire on an equal footing with Austrians. Under the "Ausgleich", Emperor Franz Joseph I would be crowned as King of Hungary, while a separate parliament at Pest with powers to enact laws for the lands of the Holy Crown of Hungary would be established.
Christian Andreas Käsebier
In 1757, King Frederick the Great was engaged in the Seven Years' War and was conducting the Siege of Prague. He was in need of intelligence operatives who could penetrate behind enemy lines. The King personally recruited Käsebier with the promise of a pardon in return for his intelligence services. Käsebier successfully smuggled himself into the besieged city three times, but on the fourth mission became hesitant over the fear of being known now. The King threatened to send him back to prison, so Käsebier agreed to the fourth mission. He vanished soon thereafter, never to be heard from again, although it is claimed he was executed by the Austrians.