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.

He joined the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in 1878 and initially served in the main German naval base at Kiel.

[2][3] He was commissioned an officer at the rank of Leutnant zur See (lieutenant at sea), and was assigned to the gunboat SMS Möwe, which was sent to western Africa.

During this voyage, the Germans signed treaties with local rulers in Togo and Cameroon, creating the colonies of Togoland and Kamerun, respectively.

[7] In December 1897, Spee was stationed in Germany's East Asia Squadron after it seized the Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory, with its port at Qingdao.

[3] After arriving back in Germany, he was promoted to the rank of Korvettenkapitän (Corvette Captain) and assigned as the first officer aboard the pre-dreadnought battleship Brandenburg.

[5] Between 1900 and 1908, Spee held command of several ships, including the aviso Hela, the minelayer Pelikan, and finally the pre-dreadnought Wittelsbach.

[3] In late 1912, Spee was given command of the East Asia Squadron, replacing KAdm Günther von Krosigk on 4 December.

While en route to Truk in the Caroline Islands, they received news of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary.

[10] On 17 July, the East Asia Squadron arrived in Ponape in the Carolines, where the ships remained while tensions steadily rose in Europe.

On 31 July, word came that the German ultimatum that Russia demobilize its armies was set to expire; Spee ordered his ships' crews to prepare for war.

Spee recalled his ships to consolidate his forces; Nürnberg arrived on 6 August and the three cruisers plus their colliers moved to Pagan Island in the Marianas, at that time a German colony.

On 13 August, Commodore Karl von Müller, captain of the Emden, persuaded Spee to detach his ship as a commerce raider.

[16] To keep the German high command informed, on 8 September Spee detached Nürnberg to Honolulu to send word through neutral countries.

[18] Spee decided against attacking the Allied troops ashore, since doing so would risk killing Samoans and damaging German property.

[21] Spee then continued across the Pacific, passing through the Marquesas Islands, where his ships acquired supplies including fresh meat by barter, purchase, or confiscation.

Since Chile was neutral, only three ships could enter the port at a time; Spee took Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Nürnberg in first on the morning of 3 November, leaving Dresden and Leipzig with the colliers at Mas a Fuera.

There, Spee's ships could take on coal while he conferred with the Admiralty Staff in Germany to determine the strength of remaining British forces in the region.

[28] In addition, Spee sought to counter British press reports that attempted to minimize their losses and exaggerate German casualties.

[32] The ships remained in the port for only 24 hours, in accordance with the neutrality restrictions, and arrived at Mas a Fuera on 6 November, where they took on more coal from captured British and French steamers.

[32] In the meantime, the Royal Navy sent a pair of battlecruisers—Invincible and Inflexible—commanded by Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee to hunt down Spee's squadron and avenge Cradock's defeat.

As they approached, observers aboard Gneisenau spotted smoke rising from Port Stanley, but assumed it was the British burning their coal stocks to prevent the Germans from seizing them.

[37] Sturdee attempted to widen the distance by turning two points to the north to prevent Spee from closing to within the range of his numerous secondary guns.

[41] Spee was hailed as a hero in Germany and the men of the East Asia Squadron were celebrated in the press, which emphasized their bravery and refusal to surrender.