The Road to Omdurman. - Review - book review

Contemporary Review, April, 2001

Kitchener. John Pollock. Constable. [pound]20.00. 598 pages. ISBN 0-09-480340-4. At first sight this book may be slightly confusing. In 1998 Constable published The Road to Omdurman, a biography of Kitchener in his earlier years. This volume incorporates that earlier text and completes the biography.

It is therefore two volumes in one. The author writes well, in what may be called a 'relaxed' style and gives us a biography of Lord Kitchener which places him in the context of his age. Mr Pollock reminds readers of the degree to which Britain and the Empire almost worshipped Kitchener by the time of his death at sea en route to Russia in 1916. His place in history has been secured as historians argue over the Great War and how it was fought by the Allies. Politicians at the time also debated Kitchener's influence and value but the author argues effectively that had he lived and had Lloyd George not totally marginalised him, Kitchener could have helped bring about more realistic peace treaties with the defeated Central powers. Had he gone to America he might well have off-set what Mr Pollock accurately calls Wilson's 'ignorant prejudices about Europe'. This is not only a deeply researched biography but a pleasurable one to read.