Page "Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener" Paragraph 41

At the outset of World War I, the Prime Minister, Asquith, quickly had Lord Kitchener appointed Secretary of State for War ; Asquith had been filling the job himself as a stopgap following the resignation of Colonel Seeley over the Curragh Incident earlier in 1914, and Kitchener was by chance briefly in Britain on leave when war was declared.

Against cabinet opinion, Kitchener correctly predicted a long war that would last at least three years, require huge new armies to defeat Germany, and suffer huge casualties before the end would come.

Kitchener stated that the conflict would plumb the depths of manpower " to the last million.