A networked army: the Australian Military Forces and the other armies of the interwar British Commonwealth (1919-1939)

The Australian Military Forces (AMF) of the interwar period was a networked institution. Between 1919 and 1939 AMF leadership developed, maintained, or extended interaction between their force (and its officers) and the other armies of the British Empire. These interactions formed sophisticated inter-army connections—pathways for liaison and the exchange of information in military developments—that facilitated cooperability in peace and war. Such linkages were grounded in structural ties, based on the mobilities of individuals, or reliant on the personal initiative of officers. Through such means the AMF was embedded within an imperial military structure that defended the empire, and which included the armies of Britain, British India, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa. By examining the varied ways in which the AMF was connected to its empire counterparts in the interwar period this thesis corrects longstanding assumptions and stereotypes of that force, emphasising that this was not a time of intellectual or physical isolation from military developments occurring in other Commonwealth armies. Additionally, through the insights of the historiographical approach known as network theory (popular in imperial histories but rarely applied to the military context) this thesis demolishes the outmoded core-periphery model of the military structure of the interwar British Empire to reveal a pan-empire network of military interaction that involved each army in mutually beneficial information and communication flows. Utilising deep archival research on four continents, previously unexplored source material, and modern historiographic approaches, this thesis presents an innovative and original analysis of the AMF’s relationships with the other armies of the interwar British Empire, its place within an imperial military structure, and the inter-army connections that fostered Commonwealth military cooperability.