The Imperial Training Network: The Armies of Britain, the Dominions and India, 1939-45

Megan Hamilton assesses how armies from across the British Empire coordinated their training to fight effectively together during the Second World War.

Britain never stood alone during the Second World War, enjoying the support of an empire that spanned the globe. This included troops from Canada, South Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand, as well as further territories across Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

At the peak of enlistment, the British Army was responsible for training 30,000 new recruits each month. Efforts were made to standardise training methods according to British doctrine, manuals and equipment, ensuring that armies from across the world could operate as a cohesive unit.

In this insightful talk, Megan Hamilton will examine how different armies of the British Empire were able to coordinate their training, allowing them to fight more effectively together in a multinational global war. She will also illustrate how the growing independence of the Dominion armies began to disrupt the traditional British-dominated hierarchy of knowledge production.

About the speaker

Megan Hamilton is a PhD candidate in the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London, in collaboration with the Imperial War Museum. She served as the postgraduate research lead for the Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War until 2025 and is currently a regional director for the Second World War Research Group.