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Top 29 Most Powerful Armies In The World Right Now
The world is increasingly becoming a more military place, as total global firepower goes off the charts. But then again, sometimes the strongest armies in the world are not the ones with the largest number of guns: sometimes the strongest military in the world is the one that is the best trained. The most powerful army in the world could be the one with the most friends. The strongest military in the world could be the one with the most feet on the ground. So what do you think makes the best kind of army? Is it all about global firepower, people power, powerful friends . . . or something else? Sometimes it is just your enemies knowing that you think that you are the most powerful army in the world that can make the difference. Global firepower, after all, can only do so much. Some of the strongest armies in the world of our history books have risen and fallen, like the Romans, or the Huns, and we have no real idea why. Being the strongest military in the world, of course, doesn’t mean that your own people are happy. If you were in charge of the most powerful army in the world, what would you do? Would you seek out all of the other strongest armies in the world, and try to join forces with them? Or would you see that as a great betrayal of the global firepower that you already hold. We’re going to have a look at the thirty strongest armies in the world, and see what it is that makes them so powerful – and so terrifying.
1. The United States of America
Active Military (Wikipedia): 1,369,532
Although many people put the United States of America’s military above China’s, we think that the sheer people power of China wins out – but that does not mean that America doesn’t have anything going for them. When you are talking about who the most powerful army in the world is, then you are always talking about money. Money makes the world go round, and without money, there would be no way for countries to invest in research of weaponry, scientific monitoring of communications, resources, rations, and of course the pay checks of the men and women on the ground! Without a rather large income, it is impossible for any country to support an army that is worth keeping around, and that is where the United States of America comes in. Generally considered to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world, there is a huge amount of investment going into their Air Force, Navy, and Army. According to several studies, as of 2014 the army of the United States of America is one of the strongest armies in the world, if not the strongest – and that comes down to money. The yearly budget that the United States of America government has allocated to their army is more than six hundred and twelve BILLION dollars. Yup, you read that right: more than six hundred and twelve billion dollars. It is hard to match the global firepower of a country that spends that much on an army! This is probably because, despite not having a single battle on their own soil for tens if not hundreds of years, American troops are currently deployed in nearly one hundred and fifty countries.
2. Russia
Active Military (Wikipedia): 766,000
Ah, Russia. Although it has only technically been Russia the last two decades or so, the power and the history of the USSR still overshadows almost everything that it does.
Once considered the most powerful army in the world, the military power of Russia is still making huge changes in the way that politics happens around it. After all, it is hard to argue with a country that has over eight thousand nuclear warheads, the most any country in the world owns! It has been pretty difficult to ignore the radical time that Ukraine has been having for the last few months – although Russia has never officially got involved in the military rebellious conflict that has been happening in Ukraine, almost every single person in the world is pretty convinced that they have been supplying global firepower to Ukrainian rebels, and perhaps even sending their own troops over the border. And other countries that share a border with Russia should be getting more concerned; since the year 2008, Russia has increased its military spending by almost a third – and it was spending quite a lot to begin with! Although President Vladimir Putin would never outwardly state that Russia had any plans to take over any other countries, it has always struggled to escape its USSR history – and having one of the strongest armies in the world at your disposal, taking over other countries must get pretty tempting . ..
3. China
Active Military (Wikipedia): 2,285,000
We have all seen the video footage of the lines and lines of soldiers parading, and that is the key to China’s incredibly military power: in fact, some have even called the Chinese army the strongest military in the world. Why? The answer is simple. It is a numbers game. You have to remember that China is the most populous country on the entire planet. That means that they have far more people at their disposal to join the army. In a study of the strongest armies in the world that was published in July 2014, it was revealed that China has the largest manpower of any army – almost seven hundred and fifty million people, six hundred million of them are fit for service (They only use 2,000,0000+ of all this manpower on their front line). Try to imagine that many people in one room, and you will probably get a very intense headache! That is a number bigger than most countries’ entire population! It does not take a genius to realise that their global firepower impact is therefore huge. All you would have to do is give each and every member of that army a rifle, and they could take down most neighbouring countries . . . which is probably why China’s neighbours always try to remain on good terms with them!
4. India
Active Military (Wikipedia): 1,325,000
If there is one country in the world that is desperate to modernise, then it is India. This has been proved time and time again, but the best latest piece of evidence is when President Pranab Mukherjee gave a speech this June. In it, he stated that one of the big commitments that this new government wanted to make to the people of India was that every school would soon have its own toilet. Many people do not realise that a huge number of people in India will never use an indoor toilet in their lives – and that is just part of the modernisation process that the new Modi government are keen to push. New roads, new schools, new hospitals – and a new military system. Some would argue that you shouldn’t try to fix what isn’t broken, but India has the potential to become the most powerful army in the world. After all, India is the second most populous country in the world, and contains a huge number of businesses that are committed to technology and research. And India could very easily become a world player because of their global firepower – analysts estimate that they have between eighty and one hundred nuclear warheads. It doesn’t take much to realise that being able to hit Pakistan and China with ballistic missiles makes you one of the strongest armies in the world. Many people just hope that India’s difficult relationship with Pakistan will not ever cloud their military judgement.
5. The United Kingdom
Active Military (Wikipedia): 198,810
It may not be called the United Kingdom for very long! The independence debate that is currently raging about the British Isles at the moment will be decided through a vote on whether or not Scotland is going to separate from the rest of the United Kingdom on the 18th of September. Whether or not Scotland is a part of the United Kingdom may not seem to have actual relevance – or anything to do with at all – the question of whether nor the United Kingdom is one of the strongest armies in the world, but in fact, a change in the structure of the company could have huge repercussions on their global firepower. At the moment, Trident, the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent, lies just off the coast of Scotland. That means that if the people of Scotland decide to become independent, the rest of the United Kingdom will have to think about how they are going to move those nuclear weapons. It will cost a huge amount of money, take a very long time . . . and leave Scotland pretty much defenceless. A lot of what has been discussed with regards to the potential separation has been vague, so we hope that someone has bothered to think up a clever way of dealing with this – otherwise the United Kingdom could lose their status as one of the strongest military in the world.
6. France
Active Military (Wikipedia): 222,215
Some people may be spending more and more in their attempts to make themselves the most powerful army in the world, but that is certainly not what France is doing. If anything, they are doing quite the opposite . . . although funnily enough, with the opposite effect. In 2013, France decided to ‘freeze’ military spending, which meant that it chose not to increase the spending along with the rate of interest. This actually meant that in real terms, one of the strongest armies in the world cut their military spending. France also got rid of one in ten people, as they were trying to raise a little bit of extra cash so that they could buy fancier equipment – in the world of the military global firepower is often seen as more important than actual people. Although these changes do not sound very extreme, they are actually pretty huge. It means that France now only spends around 1.9% of its GDP on its military, which is way below the spending target that NATO has set for its member countries to strive for. However, being the strongest military in the world clearly doesn’t depend on how much money you spend. Despite all of this, France’s army is still one of the best in the world, and French troops are deployed in far off countries such as the Central African Republic, Senegal, and even Mali.
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