(born June 24, 1850, near Listowel, Co. Kerry, Ire.—died June 5, 1916, at sea off Orkney Islands) British field marshal and imperial administrator. Trained as a military engineer, Kitchener served in posts in the Middle East and Sudan before being appointed commander in chief of the Egyptian army in 1892. In 1898 he crushed the rebellious Mahdist movement in the Battle of Omdurman and forced concessions from France in the Fashoda Incident. He entered the South African War as chief of staff in 1899, becoming commander in chief a year later.
In the last 18 months of the war, he resorted to brutal methods, burning Boer farms and herding Boer women and children into concentration camps. He was later sent to India to reorganize the army there. A clash with Lord Curzon over control of the army resulted in Curzon's resignation in 1905. In 1911 Kitchener returned to Khartoum as proconsul of Egypt and the Sudan. As secretary of state for war during World War I, he organized armies on a scale unprecedented in British history and became a symbol of the national will to victory. He died on a mission to Russia when his ship was sunk by a German mine.
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