The Middle East campaign began in 1916 with Australian troops taking part in the defence of the Suez Canal and the allied re-conquest of the Sinai Desert. From 8 August they then took part in a series of decisive advances until they were relieved in early October. In 1918 the Australians reached the peak of their fighting performance in the battle of Hamel on 4 July. Throughout 19 losses on the Western Front were heavy and gains were small. The next year Australian forces fought campaigns on the Western Front and in the Middle East. This began a campaign that ended with an evacuation of allied troops beginning in December 1915. On 25 April 1915 members of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) landed on Gallipoli in Turkey with troops from New Zealand, Britain, and France. On 9 November 1914 the Royal Australian Navy made a major contribution when HMAS Sydney destroyed the German raider SMS Emden. The ANMEF took possession of German New Guinea at Toma on 17 September 1914 and of the neighbouring islands of the Bismarck Archipelago in October 1914. The first significant Australian action of the war was the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force’s (ANMEF) landing on Rabaul on 11 September 1914. The outbreak of war was greeted in Australia, as in many other places, with great enthusiasm.
Australia’s involvement in the First World War began when Britain and Germany went to war on 4 August 1914, and both Prime Minister Joseph Cook and Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher, who were in the midst of an election campaign, pledged full support for Britain.