Danish-German admiral (born 1861)

Maximilian von Spee

Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubert Reichsgraf von Spee was a German naval officer in the Imperial German Navy, 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.

Born

1861

June 22

Died

1914

Era

1860s

Country

—

About

Maximilian, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1861 Born
1914 Died

Also on June 22

What else happened on this day, through history

-217 Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom.
-168 Battle of Pydna: Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus defeat Macedonian King Perseus who surrenders after the battle, ending the Third Macedonian War.
431 The Council of Ephesus, the third ecumenical council, begins, dealing with Nestorianism.
813 Battle of Versinikia: The Bulgars led by Krum defeat the Byzantine army near Edirne. Emperor Michael I is forced to abdicate in favor of Leo V the Armenian.

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The world in 1914

When Maximilian departed

april 20 Nineteen men, women, and children participating in a strike are killed in the Ludlow Massacre during the Colorado Coalfield War.
april 21 Ypiranga incident: A German arms shipment to Mexico is intercepted by the U.S. Navy near Veracruz.
april 24 The Franck–Hertz experiment, a pillar of quantum mechanics, is presented to the German Physical Society.
august 1 World War I: The German Empire declares war on the Russian Empire.

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Same-day contemporaries

Also born on June 22

Abbas Kiarostami 1940–2016 Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer (born 1940) Clifton McNeely 1919– American basketball player and coach (died 2003) Darryl Brohman 1956– Australian rugby league player and sportscaster Jimmy Somerville 1961– Scottish singer-songwriter Jo Cox 1974–2016 English political activist and MP (born 1974) Prunella Scales 1932–2025 English actress (died 2025) Rui Zong 662–716 Chinese emperor (born 662) Stephen Chow 1962– Hong Kong actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Ura Kazuki 1992– Japanese sumo wrestler

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Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1861

Georges Méliès 1861–1938 French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1938) Gerald Strickland 1861–1940 1st Baron Strickland, Maltese lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Malta (born 1861) Henri Mathias Berthelot 1861– French general during World War I (died 1931) Nettie Stevens 1861–1912 American geneticist (died 1912) Pierre Duhem 1861– French physicist, mathematician, and historian (died 1916) Victor Horta 1861– Belgian architect, designed Hôtel van Eetvelde (died 1947) William Attewell 1861–1927 English cricketer (born 1861)

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More to explore

Maximilian's birthday June 22 Maximilian's zodiac Cancer When Maximilian departed 1914