---
node: au_aif
type: organization
slug: australian_imperial_force
title: "Australian Imperial Force"
lead: "The all-volunteer expeditionary army Australia raised for the First World War, which fought at Gallipoli and on the Western Front."
published: 2026-07-15
updated: 2026-07-15
image_file: australian_imperial_force.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Australian_Imperial_Force_on_the_Western_Front,_1916-1918._Q588.jpg"
image_author: "Ernest Brooks"
image_license: "Public domain"
---

## What it was

The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was the volunteer expeditionary army raised when war broke out in 1914. Its soldiers were all volunteers, not conscripts.

## Role

The AIF, together with New Zealand's troops, made up the Anzac and landed at Gallipoli in 1915. It then moved to the Western Front, where it fought under commanders such as John Monash.

## Fate

About 60,000 of its men were killed in the war, a heavy toll for the country's population. A second AIF was raised for the Second World War, and its tradition lives on in today's Australian Army.