[1] He was the final governor of the Kiautschou Bay Leased Territory from 1911 to 1914 and was most notable as the German naval commander in the Siege of Tsingtao during World War I. Meyer-Waldeck was born Alfred Meyer in Saint Petersburg in the Russian Empire on 27 November 1864, the eighth of ten children of Friedrich Meyer and Dorothea von Boursy.

[1] Alfred Meyer left Heidelberg University, entered the Imperial German Navy as a cadet on 21 April 1884, and completed his basic training on the sailing frigate SMS Niobe.

He was appointed Seekadett (midshipman) on 16 April 1885, just after reporting aboard Moltke, and was promoted to Unterleutnant zur See two years later .

From 7 April to 30 September 1891, Meyer served as watch and training officer on the brig SMS Musquito.

He was assigned to inspect the torpedo establishment for three months before he completed the II Coetus at the Naval Academy.

After successfully completing his studies, Meyer left for Panama, then a part of Colombia, on 1 May 1899 for duty as first officer on the unprotected cruiser SMS Geier.

She visited Puerto San José, Guatemala, from 11 to 17 May 1899, meeting a British cruiser there, and the two ships settled financial disputes with the Guatemalan government.

She stopped at Acapulco, Mexico, then arrived on 14 August 1899 at San Francisco, California, where she underwent a boiler overhaul.

She departed Acapulco on 11 July 1900 and after stops at Honolulu, Hawaii, and Yokohama, Japan, arrived in China at Yantai, known to the Western world as "Chefoo," on 29 August 1900, where she joined the ships of the German East Asia Squadron.

Her first assignment was to patrol the Bohai Sea before docking in Tsingtao (now Qingdao) in the German-held Kiautschou (now Jiaozhou) Bay Leased Territory in October 1900.

He then served as first officer on the coastal defense ship SMS Hagen for two months before transferring to the German Imperial Admiralty Staff, where he had duty until 28 January 1905.

A few months after returning to Germany, Meyer-Waldeck was appointed Troppel's successor as governor on 19 August 1911, and he arrived in Tsingtao to take over his duties from Höpfner on 22 November 1911.

Japanese and British forces began an assault on Tsingtao on 27 August 1914, and Meyer-Waldeck telegraphed Emperor Wilhelm II that he would "stand up for the fulfillment of duty to the utmost."

He later wrote about his time as a prisoner-of-war, saying that conditions were inhumane that POWs “were subjected to the arbitrariness of subordinate authorities in various camps for five long years.