United Kingdom / Sudan / India: Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (1850 Ð 1916), pointing at the Tomb of the Mahdi, Omdurman, after he had ordered it blown up (1898)

Kitchener won fame in 1898 for winning the Battle of Omdurman and securing control of the Sudan, after which he was given the title 'Lord Kitchener of Khartoum; as Chief of Staff (1900-02) in the second Boer war he played a key role in Lord Roberts' conquest of the Boer Republics, then succeeded Roberts as commander-in-chief - by which time Boer forces had taken to guerrilla fighting and British forces imprisoned Boer civilians in concentration camps. His term as Commander-in-Chief (1902-09) of the Army in India saw him quarrel with Viceroy Lord Curzon, who eventually resigned. Kitchener then returned to Egypt as British Agent and Consul-General (de facto Viceroy). In 1914, at the start of the First World War, Lord Kitchener became Secretary of State for War, a Cabinet Minister. One of the few men to foresee a long war, one in which Britain's victory was far from secure, he organised the largest volunteer army that Britain, and indeed the Empire, has seen and a significant expansion of materiels production to fight Germany on the Western Front. His commanding image, appearing on recruiting posters demanding 'Your Country Need You!', remains recognised and parodied in popular culture to this day. He died in 1916. (Photo by: Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)