Maximilian von Spee

Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubert Reichsgraf von Spee was a naval officer of the German Kaiserliche Marine, who commanded the East Asia Squadron during World War I. Spee entered the navy in 1878 and served in a variety of roles and locations, including on a colonial gunboat in German West Africa in the 1880s, the East Africa Squadron in the late 1890s, and as commander of several warships in the main German fleet in the early 1900s. During his time in Germany in the late 1880s and early 1890s, he married his wife, Margareta, and had three children, his sons Heinrich and Otto and his daughter Huberta. By 1912, he had returned to the East Asia Squadron as its commander, and was promoted to the rank of Vizeadmiral the following year.

22 June 1861

Born on the same birth day (22 June): Bobby Gillespie • Brit Hume • Clair Cameron Patterson • Cédric Mongongu • Dan Brown • John Hunt, Baron Hunt • Julian Huxley • Kris Kristofferson • Mary Lynn Rajskub • Terttu Savola • Vernon Kirby • Yeoh Ghim Seng • Yevgeny Kychanov

Born in the same month (June 1861): Alexander Peacock • Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig • Frederick Gowland Hopkins • Gustav Heinrich Tammann • José Rizal • Omar Bundy • Pete Browning • Pierre Duhem • Robina Nicol • William James Mayo • William Propsting • Émile Haug