100,000 men. It was followed by analogous appeals at short intervals, and the response was wonderful. He has been criticised for not making greater use of the existing Territorial organization in the earlier days the numbers at the front might conceivably have, within narrow limits, been increased more rapidly had he done so. But he was looking far ahead. Realizing that the war would last long enough for his daring and original plan to bear fruit, he was resolved to transform the United Kingdom into a great military Power while the struggle was actually in progress, and complete success eventually crowned his efforts. If clothing and equipping the swarms of new levies presented obstacles at first, the skilfully tapped textile wealth of the country overcame them within a short space of time. But armament from the outset presented a much more perplexing problem. Plants admitting of a vastly increased output did not exist and had to be created, while expenditure of ammunition in the field speedily proved to be far in excess of the estimates which European experts had made in peace-time. Although steps were taken at once to expand munitions manufacture on a great scale, months were bound to elapse before these could possibly produce satisfactory results, industrial troubles indeed aggravating the difficulty.
While this swelling of the national fighting resources consti- tuted Kitchener's greatest and most urgent preoccupation, the Secretary of State for War was also closely concerned in the general disposition of the military forces, and in superintending the plans that were being adopted to achieve victory in the field. India and the colonies were practically drained of regular British troops so as to strengthen the Expeditionary Force. His rela- tions with the French were from the start most cordial, and that the western front represented the vital theatre of war he never doubted; but he found difficulty in restraining the ardour for ventures in the Near East that was displayed by certain Cabinet colleagues who were impatient at the slow progress of the Allies in France and Flanders. He was, no doubt, largely responsible for committing the country to the Dardanelles operations; but in the first instance he agreed to them under the influence of non- professional Admiralty optimism, and a special interest in Egypt perhaps weakened his soldierly reluctance to dissipate fighting forces. As member of a Government whose objections had been over-ruled by French insistence, he was obliged to assent to Macedonian projects in the autumn of 1915. Unwarranted confi- dence entertained by his fellow countrymen it was reflected by the attitude of the military authorities in pre-war days tended however to make his position difficult. Victory had been expected within a few months, whereas a situation of stalemate succeeded the dramatic opening weeks of the conflict. The public as a whole, it is true, never lost their trust in Kitchener, but doubts made themselves heard in some quarters, and these found expres- sion in scarcely veiled attacks upon him in connexion with the shell shortage from which the British armies suffered during the first half of 1915. They helped to focus attention upon an all- important subject, and to bring about the setting up of the Ministry of Munitions, which made such effective use of the foundations laid by Kitchener and his subordinates.
When in the late autumn of 1915 evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula was in contemplation he dreaded the effect which withdrawal might exert in the East, and he proceeded to the Aegean. But there he satisfied himself that no other course was admissible; his proposal to divert the forces that would be made available to Alexandretta was opposed by naval and mili- tary experts at home, whose view the Government accepted* He visited Salonika and Athens, where he saw King Constantine, and on his way home spent a few hours at Italian headquarters. Shortly after his reaching England, work in connexion with operations, previously kept largely in his own hands, was trans- ferred to the chief of the general staff, and he thenceforward concerned himself almost entirely with administration. There were already 45 British infantry divisions, produced by volun- tary enlistment, in the field on Jan. i 1916; but some of them were short of training, and it was only after the death of the creator of the " new armies " that they proved their real worth.
Amidst his multitudinous labours Lord Kitchener had accepted heavy responsibilities in 1915 in connexion with rearming the Tsar's forces, and it was now arranged that he should visit Russia to discuss matters on the spot. On June 5 1916 he sailed from Scapa Flow in H.M.S. " Hampshire." The cruiser struck a mine off the Orkneys, and the great War Minister and most of his staff were drowned.
One of the foremost figures of his time, Kitchener inspired multitudes to a singular extent by his personality. Although a soldier by profession, with victorious campaigns to his credit, his title to fame rests upon statesmanship even more than upon martial prowess. He proved a resolute, capable commander on the Nile, at Paardeberg, and during the later stages of the S. African contest. His recovery of the Sudan was a masterpiece of military organization. To him was it due that India in 1914 possessed nine divisions fit to take the field. But his most con- spicuous services to his country are to be traced to his grasp of political conditions and to his comprehensive and prescient outlook over public affairs. In the S. African War other generals might have worn down the Boer guerillas as he did, none would have stood so firm for reconciliation as opposed to insistence upon unconditional surrender. His record while virtual ruler of Egypt for four years was worthy of the traditions laid down by Lord Cromer. The crowning triumph of his career the cre- ation of the "new armies" and the raising of the United King- dom to the status of a great military Power within the period of a few months resulted from his instinctive realization of the gravity of an emergency which others, better situated to form conclusions than he was, had failed to appreciate. Thanks to diplomatic gifts of no mean order, he handled delicate interna- tional problems with unfailing tact. An accomplished linguist, he understood Oriental susceptibilities and aspirations to an extent given to few. Never sparing himself, he exacted a high standard of application and efficiency from subordinates. He thus achieved far-reaching administrative successes both in peace and in war, and as War Minister in 1914-6 he not only enjoyed public confidence as no other man could have done, but paved the way for the ultimate victory. (C. E. C.)
KLINGER, MAX (1857-1920), German painter, etcher and sculptor (see 15.847), died July 6 1920.
KLUCK, ALEXANDER VON (1846- ), Prussian general, was born May 20 1846 at Miinster in Westphalia. He took part in the campaigns of 1866 and 1870, and was twice wounded at the battle of Colombey-Neuilly. In 1906 he was promoted to the rank of general of infantry, and at the outbreak of the World War was Generaloberst and Inspector-General of the VIII. Army Inspection. He was placed in chief command of the I. Army of the West, which he led in the battles of Maubeuge and St. Quen- tin,and the advance upon the Marne. He claimed to have re- pelled the outflanking movement of the French in the battle of the Marne, but he was nevertheless compelled, in consequence of the faulty disposition of the German forces in the line of battle and the success of the Allied offensive, to withdraw his army be- fore what he described as overwhelming odds to the Aisne posi- tions. In March 1915 he was wounded while visiting the front trenches, and was placed on the retired list in Oct. 1916. He published Fiihrung und Taten der I. Armee (1920).
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS. The American order of Knights of Columbus is a fraternal beneficiary society of Roma* r ':.tho- lics, founded by Rev. Michael Joseph McGivney in New Haven, Conn., on Feb. 2 1882, and organized under a charter granted by the state of Connecticut (March 29 1882). Beginning with n members the society grew rapidly; branches or councils were established throughout the state, then in other states, and finally in adjacent countries. In 1921 there were 2,200 councils, with a membership of over 800,000, found in every state of the United States, in Alaska, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, the Canal Zone, and Panama. From its beginning the order maintained a system of insurance, in which originally all members were required to participate; but after 1893 non-insurance members were enrolled as associates. On Jan. 1 1919 there were 128,935 insured members of an average age of 35 years; the Mortuary Reserve and Death
