In September 2015, China celebrated their World War Two victory over Japan with a massive
military parade.
Roughly 12,000 troops marched through Tiananmen Square, a small fraction of China’s total
military manpower.
Military size often correlates with global influence, so we wanted to know: what are
the world’s biggest militaries?
Well, military strength can be measured in a number of different ways.
In terms of total troop levels, China takes the lead, with roughly 3 million armed forces
personnel.
That’s about twice as many as the United States.
This figure includes paramilitary forces who may serve to replace or support the military
when necessary.
However it does not include reserve troops, which would boost other countries considerably.
In fact, accounting for reserve forces, would boost North Korea to five million troops.
This is due to mandatory conscription forcing all citizens to serve for a period of ten
years.
One can also measure military power through total military expenditure.
You might have a 5-million-strong army, but a small fleet of expensive aircraft would
have little trouble winning a war of attrition.
In this regard, the United States is by far the most powerful army in the world.
With a budget of roughly 600 billion dollars, the US spends more on its military than the
next seven countries combined.
China, the next biggest spender, has a military budget of about 130 billion.
The United State’s massive budget also means that it has more military hardware than any
other country, including weapons and vehicles.
But the dawn of the atomic age radically changed the rules of warfare.
Just like a large army can’t stand against superior equipment, a well funded military
doesn’t have much of a chance against a nuclear weapon.
And while it doesn’t really matter how many nukes a country has, it is still telling when
a country amasses a huge number of them.
Only 9 countries officially hold nukes, of which there are more than 15,000 worldwide.
98% of them are owned by only two countries.
As of 2015, Russia holds about 7,500 nuclear weapons, however many of them are in need
of updates, and date back to the Cold War.
The United States holds about 7,200 nukes, and spends more money on them than the other
8 countries combined.
Additionally, the US’s nukes are spread around the world, hosted in a number of allied
countries, and ready to retaliate faster than any belligerent nation.
Although the criteria for what constitutes the most powerful military can vary, there
is little debate that the militaries of China, Russia, and the United States are considered
the most powerful in the world.
And although tensions have been high between there superpowers, especially in regards to
Russia and the US, some experts say that having massive militaries is safer.
Countries are less likely to fight enormous military campaigns, instead preferring proxy
wars, or diplomacy.
Others say that large militaries lead to more conflict, as due to so much of the economy
and workforce being dependent on continued military funding.
This situation is known as the military-industrial-complex, and is a controversial reality of massively
militarized countries.
To learn more about the US’s military relationship, check out
this video.
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