August von Spiess

Who was August von Spiess?

Col. August Von Spiess, also spelled von Spieß, formally known as Oberst August Roland von Braccioforte zum Portner und Höflein, was an officer, writer, famous hunter and Hunting Master for the Romanian royal court.

Von Spiess was born in Austria and became a Romanian citizen after the Union of Transylvania with Romania, following the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. He was married to Auguste Herbert from Sibiu. Their daughter was the ornithologist Silvia Stein Spiess.

In 1875, at 11 years old, he entered the military school of Sankt Pölten, after which he joined the Theresian Military Academy of Wiener Neustadt, Vienna. After 10 years of military studies, in August 1885 he became a lieutenant in the Transylvanian 64th Infantry stationed in the Orăştie-Sebeş-Alba Iulia area. In May 1889 he advanced to the rank of Major and settled in Sibiu, where he acted as drill officer. In 1893 he became a professor at the Military Infantry Cadet School of Sibiu; in 1911 he was named commander of the school. In February 1915, he advanced to the rank of Colonel and took command of the 2nd Regiment Infantry in Sibiu.

Von Spiess finished his military career after the end of World War I, and was appointed by King Ferdinand I of Romania as Director of the Royal Hunts from 1 July 1921. He kept this function until 1939. Simultaneously, he was a member of the Commission for Protection of Nature and National Parks, alongside honorary memberships of many domestic and foreign societies and associations with similar interests.