After being chief-of-staff in India (1909) he commanded the 1st Army Corps in Flanders at Ypres and Loos and succeeded Sir John French as commander-in-chief. His strategy of attrition created huge numbers of casualties on the Somme (1916) and at Passchendaele (1917) and was much criticized. His conduct of the final campaign (1918) ended the war more quickly than Foch expected. After the war he devoted himself to working tirelessly for ex-servicemen, and instituted the “Poppy Day” appeal associated with his name.