In June 1918, the Ottoman troops took control of Batumi and made the town's garrison, including Spāde, captive.
Released in October 1918, Spāde joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of South Russia, a White party to the Russian Civil War.
In March 1920, Spāde, together with the defeated White forces, was evacuated to Constantinople, where he accepted Latvian citizenship and returned to Latvia with his wife.
[1] Spāde joined the Latvian military in 1926 and received training at the French Naval Academy in 1928.
Having spent several years in labour camps, Spāde was freed in 1954, but was still prohibited from returning in Latvia.