December 1914: Royalty and World War I

by Susan Flantzer

Maximilian, Graf von Spee, Vice Admiral of the Imperial German Navy
Timeline: December 1, 1914 – December 31, 1914
A Note About German Titles
December 1914 – Royals Who Died In Action


Maximilian, Graf von Spee, Vice Admiral of the Imperial German Navy

Maximilian, Graf von Spee; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

On December 8, 1914, the British Royal Navy won a decisive victory over the Imperial German Navy in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. The British lost only ten men, but the Germans lost 1,871 men when four of their ships were sunk. Among those killed was the commander of the Imperial German Navy during the battle, Maximilian, Graf von Spee and his two sons Otto and Heinrich.

The Spee family was an old noble family from the German Rhineland, sometimes called Rhenish. Maximilian, Graf von Spee was born in Copenhagen, Denmark on July 22, 1861. He joined the Imperial German Navy when he was 17 years old. By the time he was 26 years old, he was commanding ports in the German Cameron, a German colony in West Africa. In 1899, while serving as first officer on the battleship SMS Brandenburg, von Spee participated in the Boxer Rebellion in China.  In 1912, he became the commander of the German East Asia Squadron operating out of Tsingtao, China and was given the rank of Vice Admiral.

Early in World War I, Graf von Spee was the commander in German victories in the Battle of Papeete in French Polynesia and the Battle of Coronel in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Coronel, Chile. During the Battle of the Falkland Islands, von Spee’s flagship the SMS Scharnhorst, together with the SMS Gneisenau, the SMS Nürnberg, and the SMS Leipzig were all sunk. 1,871 men died including von Spee and his two sons, Lt. Otto von Spee, who served aboard the Nürnberg, and Lt. Heinrich von Spee who served on the Gneisenau.

Memorial for Vice Admiral Maximilian, Graf von Spee and his sons in Kiel, Germany; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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Timeline: December 1, 1914 – December 31, 1914

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A Note About German Titles

Most of the royals who died in action during World War I were German. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire.  The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army.  German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to Unofficial Royalty: Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

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December 1914 – Royals Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website or from The Peerage.  If a person has a Wikipedia page, their name will be linked to that page.

Otto Aribert, Graf von Westarp

Maximilian, Graf von Spee

  • son of Rudolf, Graf von Spee and Fernanda Tutein
  • born June 22, 1861 in Copenhagen, Denmark
  • married Margareta, Freiin von der Osten-Sacken, had issue (two sons, below, who died with him and one daughter)
  • killed in action aboard the SMS Scharnhorst in the South Atlantic Ocean near the Falkland Islands, age 53

Otto, Graf von Spee

Heinrich, Graf von Spee

Wilhelm, Graf von Redern