Kitchener: Saviour of the Realm

The biography of Horatio Herbert, 1st Earl of Kitchener of Khartoum, 1850-1916, the victor of Omdurman and a man who, at the turn of the last century, caught the popular imagination of the people of Britain. Part 1 of this double volume deals with the reconquest of Sudan, where Kitchener lead the Anglo-Egyptian force at Omdurman. Part 2 opens with Kitchener of Khartoum arriving in the Indian Empire as Commander-in-Chief and his posting to Egypt as pro-consul. When the Great War broke out he said it would last at least three years and that he must raise a new army of three million men. The author argues that despite his untimely death, Kitchener was the architect of allied victory, and that his planning was masterly. The aftermath of Mons, the Munitions Crisis, Gallipoli, the Kut disaster, the stalemate on the Western Front and Kitchener's vision of peace are all recreated in this work.