Holtzendorff was born into a noble family in
Berlin on 9 January 1853. He joined the navy in 1869, served in the
Franco-Prussian War and afterwards as a staff officer in the West Africa Squadron. Promoted to captain in 1897; he was present during the
Boxer Rebellion as commander of a cruiser in the
East Asia Squadron. He served as chief of staff at the Baltic Sea Naval Station and was director of the
Imperial Shipyard at Danzig, before becoming a Vice Admiral in 1904. Two years later he was appointed commander of the
I Battle Squadron. By 1909 he commanded the
High Seas Fleet, becoming a full Admiral in the next year. In 1913 he was forced into retirement due to his opposition to rapid German naval expansion in competition with the
British Royal Navy. In the same year he became a member of the
Prussian House of Lords. This policy succeeded in disturbing both the Royal and the
Merchant Navy with Allied shipping losses over 6 million GRT in 1917. German submarines became less successful when
convoys were introduced, the US joined the war, and Britain was not compelled to surrender. He was the husband of Margarethe Zitelmann and adoptive father to her widowed sister-in-law's two daughters. Admiral Holtzendorff died in the
Uckermark district on 7 June 1919. ==Decorations and awards==