The year was 1896 and the country of Zanzibar was a protectorate of the British Empire.
Britain had installed a ‘puppet’ Sultan named Hamad bin Thuwaini to lead the region,
a man that supported British interests there. On August 25th, he bit the dust, and it was
widely thought that he’d been poisoned by his cousin, the man that stepped into his shoes.
To say the least, the Brits were a little bit peeved about this and the new man in
charge knew that, so he ordered an armed Royal Yacht to get ready for a fight. He
also sent 3,000 soldiers and a few artillery guns to the harbor to prepare for battle.
In those days the British had quite the formidable military, and before you could say,
“Do you fancy a cuppa tea, mate”, two massive war ships had destroyed the artillery,
the palace, and had taken out about 500 soldiers. The war lasted a grand total of 38 minutes,
making it the shortest war in history. The countries you are going to hear about today
might have fared just as badly as Zanzibar if they got into a war with a military powerhouse,
but we’ll let you decide just how well they’d do. 10. El Salvador
The South American nation has a surprisingly large budget for being on this list,
at around $165 million. That might sound like a lot, but it’s not so much when you
consider the New York Police Department had a budget of $5.6 billion that year. It also had
55,304 people working for it. El Salvador on the other hand only has 35,000 soldiers,
and 10,000 of those guys and gals are reserves. The country has some fighter aircraft,
bought from the USA around the time the first Star Wars movie hit the theaters,
and you could say the same about its helicopters. As for artillery and
armored cars, some of that hardware dates back to the second world war. In the sea,
El Salvador has only three patrol boats so there’s not much happening there.
This is not a modern military by any means, but you might ask if it needs to be. The
country hasn’t seen many conflicts of late. Back in the 50s when the U.S. was talking
about “Reds Under the Bed” and was paranoid that communism was going to catch-on in many nations,
it supplied El Salvador weapons to thwart an uprising if one happened.
In 1969, there was the Football War with Honduras, and from 1979 to 1992 there was
the Salvadoran Civil War. These days the military spends most of its time fighting organized crime,
drug trafficking outfits that no doubt have a much bigger budget than the armed forces.
Our next country was an ancient military power house, but not so much today...
9. North Macedonia (formerly just Macedonia) Hang on a second, you’re thinking, wasn’t like
one of the greatest military men in history from this country. Surely it hasn’t gone that
downhill. Well, things have changed a lot since Alexander the Great was taming wild horses on the
plains and dreaming about his future empire. Right now, the country only has 8,000 active
personnel and another 5,000 in the reserves. That’s not so many people,
but hey, what are you gonna do with a military budget of 108 million dollars.
Still, it has a much better reputation than the military we put at number ten. It might be small,
but the North Macedonia military has seen plenty of action in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It has some armored vehicles and towed artillery, but most of those have seen better days and
wouldn’t stand out in an episode of MASH. The country has no navy to speak of and while
it has some helicopters and small pilot trainer planes, it doesn’t have any attack planes.
Next is another country with a shockingly large budget,
but still a weak military. 8. Namibia
Namibia actually has quite a large budget compared to the country we’ve just talked about,
and that is a whopping $505 million. The country has a population of around 2.7
million, but it also has a massive desert. That’s why it’s known as one of the least
densely populated countries in the world. Out of those people, 10,000 of them work in the military.
The country owns seven tanks, but they were made back in the 1940s. Whether they work these days
is questionable. In fact, just about all of the country’s land vehicles and artillery date
back to a time when wars were watched on black and white TV. Namibia might have a big budget,
but it’s weapons are very much from another era. For instance, it’s said that the country has six
fighter planes, but they’re so old no one’s sure if they even work anymore.
Next is a country which might not have a powerful military, but has faced lots
of war in its recent past. 7. Bosnia and Herzegovina
The budget for this military is $165 million, and it has 10,500 personnel in total. The air force
has zero planes, but it does have some helicopters that were made in the former Soviet Union.
It actually has 320 tanks and 332 armored vehicles, so you might be wondering why it
comes this low on the list. The answer is, again, those tanks come from another era. Such as the
American M46 Patton main battle tank, made in the 50s, and the Soviet T-55, made in the 40s and 50s.
You can add to that some self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery and some anti-aircraft
artillery, but still, when you consider that the country has no navy at all,
we think it deserves the number seven spot.
Next is a country who’s military is so weak, it can’t even seize power if it tries to.
6. Gabon If you don’t
know where Gabon is, it’s on the west coast of Central Africa. Its military was pretty busy last
year attempting a coup d'état. It didn’t work. So, when we talk about personnel, no doubt quite
a few of those guys are new. A lot of people in the military who were pro-coup rans for the hills,
were shot, or metaphorically speaking went to the chopping block.
It’s actually a tiny military of just 5,000 people, and they are supported
with a $83 million dollar budget. It has no tanks but does have 70
armored vehicles. If you take a look at those bad boys, you’ll see that 16 of them
are Panhard AMLs. These French made killing machines were damn good, back when folks were
blown away by the high-tech game Space Invaders. That’s the reason it’s so low on the list. Its
land forces are very, very weak. But one thing it does have is some nice aircraft. It has three
Dassault Mirage 5s and six Dassault Mirage F1s. They might have been built in the 60s and 70s,
but they were state of the art back then. The Gabonese navy exists, but the few old
fast attack crafts and patrol vessels can’t do much except scare pirates away.
Our next country probably as more powerful militias than an official military…
5. Somalia Back in the late 80s this military
was on the verge of collapse and then in the 90s it was dissolved. Hardly a professional force,
its military was accused of murder, assault, looting and all kinds of corruption. Back then
a foreign diplomat wrote, “The inefficiency of the Somali armed forces is legendary.”
So, that’s not a good look for Somalia. The military did reinvent itself,
but in a country that has seen so much internal discord it was never easy making things right.
The budget last year was just over $62 million, and in total there were 20,000 active personnel.
They were actually very active not long ago, fighting insurgents with some help from the U.S.
So, unlike some other countries we’ve mentioned the Somali military
has seen its fair share of action of late. If you look at what it’s got in terms of hardware,
you’ll find there are quite a lot of main battle tanks. Look a bit closer, and you’ll see some of
them such as the British Centurion date back to the second world war. It’s the same with
the armored personnel carriers, they are more museum pieces than formidable fighting machines.
There used to be an air force, but that all fell apart in the bad old days in the 90s.
Now it’s non-existent. The same goes for the navy. 4. Laos
Thanks to the U.S, the country of Laos, pronounced without the ‘s’, can say it’s
the most bombed country in the world. To stop the spread of communism, the U.S thought Laos needed
a bit of hellfire. From 1964 to 1973 the US dropped bombs every eight minutes,
24 hours a day. Laos was obliterated, and it was all done mostly in secret. A tenth of the
population died, 98 percent of them civilians. Ok, the history class is over. Laos didn’t try
to build a bigger military after it was partly destroyed, and the reason is there
just wasn’t any money. While it’s more built up today, it is still very poor.
That’s why the military budget is just over $18 million.
Laos actually has a lot of main battle tanks, numbering close to 130. Hmm, you think,
that’s quite a lot. But again, you have to understand that those things are antiques.
They probably don’t get used. The air force consists of utility and transport helicopters
and the navy only has patrol boats. Laos is not likely to get into a war,
far from it, but like its neighbor Thailand – a country now buying all kinds of expensive
military hardware – the military is used against its own people when they stand up
against corruption. The army, no kidding, has been accused of extrajudicial killing,
torture, kidnapping, rape, attacks against civilians, and starving minorities.
That’s another reason why Laos is so low on this list. You can’t call that good soldiering.
The next country gets a bad rap, but its soldiers have done some honorable things.
3. Sierra Leone Back in 2014, soldiers with the
Sierra Leone military did a commendable job. They helped protect quarantine zones during the Ebola
Outbreak. That’s not a nice disease to have, so you’d think those soldiers were well compensated.
They weren’t. Reports about the military say that it’s kind of a
last stop for people. Back in the 90s some reports said that many of the soldiers were drifters,
drug addicts and criminals. In the 2000s, privates were earning about 50 bucks a month and
there was no running water in the barracks. The bathroom was a hole in the ground in a mud hut.
So, when you bear that in mind, what kind of military do you think the country has.
It might have a $75 million dollar budget, but if you can’t take care of your soldiers, you’re
likely not going to get much professionalism. The military has two T-72 main battle tanks but
as they are a few decades old it is very doubtful that they work. It also has 13 armored vehicles.
As for airpower, Sierra Leone has seven helicopters and no planes. Two of the
helicopters are Mil Mi-24s, vehicles the Soviets once called “flying tanks.”
The Sierra Leone Navy consists of some very old gun boats and patrol boats. They might
not have done much fighting, but in 2007 British trained naval officers interrupted a hold-up of
another boat by some pirates. It turned out the pirates were actually Guinean Naval officers.
Next up is a country that’s hard-pressed to keep its military from deserting.
2. Liberia This is one small military, with only around
2,100 active personnel. We say active, but reports suggest that 300 of those people have defected.
Over the last few decades this country has seen all kinds of conflicts, regime changes,
and a civil war, and that’s not good when you want to build a modern military.
There isn’t really anything modern about Liberia’s equipment,
with the air force consisting of mainly old transport planes. It has one helicopter,
but that’s getting on in years, too. Believe it or not, it has no land vehicles
at all. In terms of infantry weapons, Liberia has to rely on assault rifles and machine guns.
There isn’t really a navy, either, but it does have a National Coast Guard.
Finally, our number one country- who unlike the rest maybe needs no military at all!
1. Bhutan If you look at the Global Peace Index, Bhutan
is high up on the list. This wonderful country located in the Eastern Himalayas wins all kinds
of prizes for being peaceful, not being corrupt and generally being a really cool place to live.
That’s likely why it doesn’t spend too much cash on its military.
At $10 million or so a year, Bhutan’s military won’t be buying any F-35s anytime soon.
But it does have a military, and in it there are 7,000 personnel. The country is protected
by India, but that country has been trying to help Bhutan improve its army and air force.
There’s not really that much happening, though, and we can’t find any sources
that talk about Bhutan buying any new weapons. The Royal Bhutan Army has had
to shoot at people before, notably in 2003 when it took on 3,000 militants.
In its arsenal of weapons, it has one very old armored personnel carrier,
mortars, and various kinds of rifles. If the army uses other weapons, they are supplied by India.
It doesn’t have any power in the air, with the air force only owning two Mil Mi-8 transport
helicopters. This is certainly a very, very small military and would be no match for the NYPD.
Now you need to watch this, “The Insanely Crazy Story of a Tiny Soldier”. Or have a
look at this, “How A Soldier Single-Handedly Liberated An Entire German Occupied City.”