The Great War of 1914¬–18 is often perceived in Britain and the former Dominions as bloody, stupid, ignorant, and unsophisticated in its conduct. Bloody it undoubtedly was. Over 900,000 British and Empire troops were killed, and nearly two million were wounded. Almost no family in the United Kingdom – nor the numerous Dominions for that matter – was left untouched. The British Empire fought in Africa, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and as far away as German New Guinea. Yet, it was in Europe, in the great crucible of the Western Front, that the largest portion of British Empire casualties fell. The experience of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on the Western Front from 1916 to 1918 was inherent to the British Army’s experience. Australian infantrymen who arrived from the Mediterranean in 1916 went on to serve in almost every major British campaign on the Western Front until early October 1918. In those two years, the British Army underwent a learning process that resulted in a highly effective and disciplined force by the end of the war. The cost was high. By the November 1918 Armistice, tens of thousands of Empire troops were buried or remained unaccounted for in the shattered Picardy and Flanders landscapes.