Who was Horatio Herbert Kitchener?

Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (1850-1916), was a British field marshal and imperial administrator. Kitchener served in the Middle East starting in 1874. In 1892, he became commander in chief of the Egyptian army. Later, he commanded British forces in the South African War, employing harsh tactics such as internment camps. Upon returning to England, Kitchener was sent to India as commander in chief, where he reorganized the army. In 1914, at the start of World War I, he became secretary of state for war, organizing armies on an unprecedented scale and becoming a symbol of British resolve. In June 1916, Kitchener drowned at sea when the HMS Hampshire sunk due to a German mine.

What does it mean to be a British field marshal?

A British field marshal is the highest-ranking officer in the British Army. The title originated from the masters of the horse of the early Frankish kings. As cavalry declined, the position became associated with command, maintaining order, and deciding chivalry questions. King George II introduced the modern military title of field marshal into the British army in 1736, importing it from Germany. In Britain, the rank is bestowed upon a few senior army officers, such as the chief of Britain’s Imperial General Staff.

What important wars did Kitchener take part in?

Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, a British field marshal, participated in several significant wars. As commander in chief, Kitchener combated guerilla resistance during the South African War (Boer War). Kitchener crushed Sudanese forces at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. At the start of World War I, Kitchener became secretary of state for war and organized armies on an unprecedented scale.

What is the significance of Kitchener’s recruitment poster during World War I?

Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, a British field marshal, served as secretary of state for war at the start of World War I. He is renowned for organizing armies on an unprecedented scale in British history, becoming a symbol of the nation's determination to win. During the war, graphic design, including posters, played a vital political role. Governments used posters to raise funds, encourage productivity, present negative images of the enemy, boost morale, and encourage enlistment. Kitchener's image was used on a famous recruitment poster that urged Britons to join the army. It became one of the most iconic images of the war.

Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener

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Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener

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In full:: Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum and of Broome

Also called:: Viscount Broome of Broome, Baron Denton of Denton, Baron Kitchener of Khartoum and of Aspall (from 1898), and Viscount Kitchener of Khartoum, of the Vaal, and of Aspall (from 1902)

Born:: June 24, 1850, near Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland

Died:: June 5, 1916, at sea off Orkney Islands (aged 65)

Title / Office:: governor-general (1898-1899), Anglo-Egyptian Condominium

Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener

Q: How did Kitchener’s leadership impact British military strategy and history?

As secretary of state for war at the start of World War I , Horatio Herbert Kitchener organized armies of unprecedented scale in British history and became a symbol of the national will to victory. Kitchener warned his colleagues, most of whom expected a short war, that the conflict would be decided by the last 1,000,000 men that Great Britain could throw into battle. Quickly enlisting a great number of volunteers, he had them trained as professional soldiers for a succession of entirely new “Kitchener armies.”

British field marshal

Also known as: Baron Kitchener of Khartoum and of Aspall, Denton of Denton, Baron, Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum and of Broome, Viscount Broome of Broome, Baron Denton of Denton, Viscount Kitchener of Khartoum, of the Vaal, and of Aspall(Show More)

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Top Questions

Who was Horatio Herbert Kitchener?
Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (1850-1916), was a British field marshal and imperial administrator. Kitchener served in the Middle East starting in 1874. In 1892, he became commander in chief of the Egyptian army. Later, he commanded British forces in the South African War, employing harsh tactics such as internment camps.

Upon returning to England, Kitchener was sent to India as commander in chief, where he reorganized the army. In 1914, at the start of World War I, he became secretary of state for war, organizing armies on an unprecedented scale and becoming a symbol of British resolve. In June 1916, Kitchener drowned at sea when the HMS Hampshire sunk due to a German mine.
2 Britannica Sources
1. Military Commanders of World War I: Horatio Herbert Kitchener
2. Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What does it mean to be a British field marshal?
A British field marshal is the highest-ranking officer in the British Army. The title originated from the masters of the horse of the early Frankish kings. As cavalry declined, the position became associated with command, maintaining order, and deciding chivalry questions.

King George II introduced the modern military title of field marshal into the British army in 1736, importing it from Germany. In Britain, the rank is bestowed upon a few senior army officers, such as the chief of Britain’s Imperial General Staff.
2 Britannica Sources
1. marshal
2. Definition of field marshal
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What important wars did Kitchener take part in?
Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, a British field marshal, participated in several significant wars. As commander in chief, Kitchener combated guerilla resistance during the South African War (Boer War). Kitchener crushed Sudanese forces at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. At the start of World War I, Kitchener became secretary of state for war and organized armies on an unprecedented scale.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How did Kitchener become famous during World War I?
As secretary of state for war at the start of World War I (1914–18), Horatio Herbert Kitchener organized armies on a scale never seen before in British history and became a symbol of the national will to victory. By enlisting numerous volunteers, he had them trained into professional soldiers forming new "Kitchener armies".
2 Britannica Sources
1. Military Commanders of World War I: Horatio Herbert Kitchener
2. Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What is the significance of Kitchener’s recruitment poster during World War I?
Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, a British field marshal, served as secretary of state for war at the start of World War I. He is renowned for organizing armies on an unprecedented scale in British history, becoming a symbol of the nation's determination to win.

During the war, graphic design, including posters, played a vital political role. Governments used posters to raise funds, encourage productivity, present negative images of the enemy, boost morale, and encourage enlistment. Kitchener's image was used on a famous recruitment poster that urged Britons to join the army. It became one of the most iconic images of the war.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How did Kitchener’s leadership impact British military strategy and history?
As secretary of state for war at the start of World War I, Horatio Herbert Kitchener organized armies of unprecedented scale in British history and became a symbol of the national will to victory. Kitchener warned his colleagues, most of whom expected a short war, that the conflict would be decided by the last 1,000,000 men that Great Britain could throw into battle. Quickly enlisting a great number of volunteers, he had them trained as professional soldiers for a succession of entirely new “Kitchener armies.”
2 Britannica Sources
1. Military Commanders of World War I: Horatio Herbert Kitchener
2. Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (born June 24, 1850, near Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland—died June 5, 1916, at sea off Orkney Islands) was a British field marshal, imperial administrator, conqueror of the Sudan, commander in chief during the South African War, and (perhaps his most important role) secretary of state for war at the beginning of World War I (1914–18). At that time he organized armies on a scale unprecedented in British history and became a symbol of the national will to victory.

Educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Kitchener was commissioned in the Royal Engineers, and from 1874 he served in the Middle East. In 1886 he was appointed governor (at Sawākin [Suakin], Sudan) of the British Red Sea territories, and he subsequently was assigned to Egypt as adjutant general in Cairo. His energy and thoroughness led to his appointment as sirdar (commander in chief) of the Egyptian army in 1892. On September 2, 1898, he crushed the religious and politically separatist Sudanese forces of al-Mahdī in the Battle of Omdurman and then occupied the nearby city of Khartoum, which he rebuilt as the centre of Anglo-Egyptian government in the Sudan. His reputation in Great Britain was enhanced by his firm, tactful, and successful handling (from September 18, 1898) of an explosive situation at Fashoda (now Kodok), where Jean-Baptiste Marchand’s expeditionary force was trying to establish French sovereignty over parts of the Sudan. (See Fashoda Incident.) He was created Baron Kitchener in 1898.

After a year as governor-general of the Sudan, Kitchener entered the South African War (Boer War) in December 1899 as chief of staff to Field Marshal Sir Frederick Sleigh Roberts, whom he succeeded as commander in chief in November 1900. During the last 18 months of the war, Kitchener combated guerrilla resistance by such methods as burning Boer farms and herding Boer women and children into disease-ridden concentration camps. These ruthless measures, and Kitchener’s strategic construction of a network of blockhouses across the country to localize and isolate the Boers’ forces, steadily weakened their resistance.

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American infantry streaming through the captured town of Varennes, France, 1918.This place fell into the hands of the Americans on the first day of the Franco-American assault upon the Argonne-Champagne line. (World War I)

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On returning to England after the British victory in the war, he was created Viscount Kitchener (July 1902) and was sent as commander in chief to India, where he reorganized the army in order to meet possible external aggression rather than internal rebellion, which previously had been the primary concern. His quarrel with the viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, over control of the army in India ended in 1905 when the British cabinet upheld Kitchener and Curzon resigned. Remaining in India until 1909, Kitchener was bitterly disappointed at not being appointed viceroy. In September 1911 he accepted the proconsulship of Egypt, and until August 1914 he ruled that country and the Sudan. Protection of the peasants from seizure of their land for debt and the advancement of the cotton-growing interest were his basic concerns. Tolerating no opposition, he was about to depose the hostile Khedive ʿAbbās II (Ḥilmī) of Egypt when World War I broke out.

Kitchener, who was on leave in England and had just received an earldom and another viscountcy and barony (June 1914), reluctantly accepted an appointment to the cabinet as secretary of state for war and was promoted to field marshal. He warned his colleagues, most of whom expected a short war, that the conflict would be decided by the last 1,000,000 men that Great Britain could throw into battle. Quickly enlisting a great number of volunteers, he had them trained as professional soldiers for a succession of entirely new “Kitchener armies.” By the end of 1915 he was convinced of the need for military conscription, but he never publicly advocated it, in deference to Prime Minister Herbert H. Asquith’s belief that conscription was not yet politically practicable.

In his recruitment of soldiers, planning of strategy, and mobilization of industry, Kitchener was handicapped by British governmental processes and by his own distaste for teamwork and delegation of responsibility. His cabinet associates, who did not share in the public idolatry of Kitchener, relieved him of responsibility first for industrial mobilization and later for strategy, but he refused to quit the cabinet. His career was ended suddenly, by drowning, when the cruiser HMS Hampshire, bearing him on a mission to Russia, was sunk by a German mine.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener

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