The Australian Imperial Force, the AIF, was raised for service overseas in the war against Germany. The 1st Infantry Division and the 1st Light Horse Brigade were to be enlisted, readied and dispatched overseas in approximately six weeks from the time war was declared.
Raised by voluntary enlistment, the AIF was to remain the only army on either side throughout the war that did not conscript. Recruiting began on 10 August, and was regionally based. This policy of drawing units from particular states, and often from particular regions or districts within a state, was also to be a feature of the AIF throughout the war. The AIF were repatriated to Australia in the course of 1919, the scheme supervised by Monash in London and by Chauvel in Cairo. Men were demobilized as they reached Australia, and the Australian Imperial Force officially ceased to exist on 1 April 1921.
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