Not proofread: Created page with "<section begin="s1"/>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..."
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<noinclude><pagequality level="1" user="Slowking4" /><div class="pagetext">{{rh|682|KLINGER—KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS|}}
</noinclude><section begin="s1"/>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.)
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<section begin="s2"/>'''KLINGER, MAX''' (1857-1920), German painter, etcher and sculptor (see 15.847), died July 6 1920.
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<section begin="s3"/>'''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).
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<section begin="s4"/>'''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<section end="s4"/><noinclude></div></noinclude>