Most powerful military in history?

[Riesstiu IV]

I would say that only certain aspects of the US military have surpassed any nation in human history so far.

When it comes to remote combat relying on technologically advanced devices like missiles and unmanned attack and reconnaissance drones, and strategic bombers the US has shown to be very effective at destroying enemy armies. The US has shown to be an awesome killing mission when it comes to conventional armies since the cold war was all about the chance of fighting another powerful conventional army. Just look at how Saddam’s army in the first Gulf War faired. Even though the Iraqi army wasn’t known for its quality, most people expected the war to last many months with US causality figures in the thousands. After all was said and done everybody was amazed at how quickly the massive Iraqi army disintegrated.

On the other hand the US doesn’t seem very effective at dealing with guerrilla warfare and coordination with civilian populations. I would say that our ground army is woefully inadequate for projection and have average training compared to some of the European counterparts. Considering the size of the US our ground forces seem rather small and spread out across the world. Compared to previous superpowers our soldiers are treated much better but this leads to a much higher maintenance and spending costs for each soldier. This I think contributes to the fact we have a smaller army numerically since each soldier is provided with chemical suites, gas masks, night visions, etc. Thus it becomes very expensive to train and army and provide it with top-notch equipment.

 

[Azale]

The Mongols did last, actually. Just not in China. They held sway over the middle east and Russia for hundreds of years, not to considering they changed and shattered many nations.

But they didnt maintain thier Empire or thier massive army over that time period like the Romans did for their whole tenure at the top.

 

[Aegis]

And what was Vietnam? A draw?

Vietnam was a political loss, not a military loss.

 

[Nobody]

all of the East Coast and most of the cental US.

hows this work? do you mean all of the central and most of the east coast?

 

[Fox Mccloud]

USA definently. I mean, the USSR lost in Afghanistan. Afghanistan!

Soviet definently. I mean, the USA lost in Vietnam. Vietnam!

Hey, Mountains and Jungles are the hardest things to fight through, and also the easiest things to defend. That's what those countries were in!

ON Topic: Can't decide. It's very close between the USA, USSR, Mongol, and Roman armies.

 

[BananaLee]

The Mongols did last, actually. Just not in China.

On the contrary, the Yuan Dynasty lasted for 100-ish years (the norm for most Chinese dynasties - Zhou and Qing are exceptional) and the Liao hung about most of the time. The Qing Dynasty also happens to be descendants of the Liao, IIRC.

 

[antonio]

Numericaly dosen't India have the largest army in the world today. I heard it was about 11.9 million a few years ago its probably grown since then.

 

[blackheart]

But they didnt maintain thier Empire or thier massive army over that time period like the Romans did for their whole tenure at the top.

The Romans lasted for what... 400 years? Empires don't last very long, and you really can't measure an empire's power for its length. Considering that the Roman Empire only lasted 400 yrs yet it encompassed a great deal of land, while the Byzantine Empire lasted for 1000 years, yet it did not gain much territory during that period of time.

 

[Kal'thzar]

Just to start with don't compare numbers of pre-industrial and post-industrial "Empires". Total war came into effect around this time and it resulted in the Stalemate of WWI. Both sides were suprised by the massive amounts of resources able to be put at their disposal. (I think American Civil war is also a fair representation of this too, i just don't know much about it).

Now to the Question "Most Powerful military in history"

Numbers are not the be all and end all. The most important in my mind is the Effectiveness of the military, committing the correct resources to the right place etc etc etc. British, Mongols are all contenders here (again in my opinion). I do not consider anything past the nuclear era because no side has a clear advantage in domination ("w00t i have more nukes than you," "yes but i can still destroy you,") . Whilst all these other countries DID dominate in their time.

Next I am going to rule out Mongols in favour of the British. Both had domination in their respective spheres Naval and Army. But the Sea is bigger than the Landmass of this world and it allows access to almost all parts of it.

On another note i think we could all agree on differeint military "superpowers" at different moments in history.

 

[Dreadnought]

Why hasn't anyone voted France. Begining of WW2 they had the most powerful military in the world. Too bad they got their butts kicked by the Germans pre 1945 , who I happened to vote for.

 

[YNCS]

Numericaly dosen't India have the largest army in the world today. I heard it was about 11.9 million a few years ago its probably grown since then.

The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, at 2.81 million, is the world's largest army. The Indian Army has 980,000 active duty troops, 800,000 in the Reserve, and 200,000 in the Territorial Army, and is the 4th largest army.

BTW, number 2 is the Russian and number 3 is the U.S.

 

[alex994]

The Romans lasted for what... 400 years? Empires don't last very long, and you really can't measure an empire's power for its length. Considering that the Roman Empire only lasted 400 yrs yet it encompassed a great deal of land, while the Byzantine Empire lasted for 1000 years, yet it did not gain much territory during that period of time.

Well the Eastern Roman Empire ended at around the end of the 15th century... 1400 years and you still didn't count the Roman years of power during the republic before Octavian took over.

The normal Chinese dynasty stands for around 300 years

Britain is my vote.

 

[Dreadnought]

Don't they have a list somewhere of the most powerful military countries for the modern times?

 

[blindside]

I don't see why people are voting for Britain. It was certainly one of the greatest empires of all time but not the most powerful military in history. Its navy may be the best but its army was not of the time. Compare that to the US today which definetly has the most powerful army and navy (and airforce).

 

[Himalia]

Everything has to b kept relative to its time priod theres no point in comparing Rome to say just about any European country of today that would not be realative. I feel alot of people are jus tvoing for there own country on this and not looking at the facts. AS for most powerful army today, yep that would be USA however if they went up against another nuclear power suddenly there army is pretty insignificant. So on paper they are but it would be a stalemate against some of the worlds other nuclear powers.

 

[Bugfatty300]

AS for most powerful army today, yep that would be USA however if they went up against another nuclear power suddenly there army is pretty insignificant. So on paper they are but it would be a stalemate against some of the worlds other nuclear powers.

I disagree. The U.S. ground forces are pretty big, (1,200,000 troops combined) But despite that the Army and Marines are hopeless with out the Navy and Air Force.

Any country can raise 10,000,000 troops and say they are the best. But thats not the case with the US. What gives the US military its strength is not tanks and soldiers but its Air Force and Navy.

 

[Pyotr Veliky]

Mongolia, without a doubt. Sure the US has the most powerfull army ever seen, but one has to look at the odds in each specific time frame; Mongolian superiority over their enemies (any enemy) was greater than the US now has over runner-ups. Russia could still kill them due to their nuclear arsenal, China could drag a conventional war on the Asian mainland out to a bloody draw.

 

[Himalia]

I disagree. The U.S. ground forces are pretty big, (1,200,000 troops combined) But despite that the Army and Marines are hopeless with out the Navy and Air Force.

Any country can raise 10,000,000 troops and say they are the best. But thats not the case with the US. What gives the US military its strength is not tanks and soldiers but its Air Force and Navy.

Dont get me wrong it is a mighty army indeed and i would much rather they had it than certain other countries but the point im making is what good are troops like that when it all turns nuclear. Yes its best to have them than not but they can come pretty obselete very quickly. The positions of nuclear submarines around the world would be a key point here. Not knowing were they are would be deadly and lets face it no one is going to tell another about the location of any subs like that. The plus side was the US is the sheer size of the country whic hwould make even weapons like that not so effective, however the flipside is the fact that the country is so large that there are so many ways of hurting them even without direct hits radiotion is going to be a bigger problem than anything i belive for them. I cant see any of this happening which is a good thing.

 

[Bugfatty300]

Dont get me wrong it is a mighty army indeed and i would much rather they had it than certain other countries but the point im making is what good are troops like that when it all turns nuclear. Yes its best to have them than not but they can come pretty obselete very quickly. The positions of nuclear submarines around the world would be a key point here. Not knowing were they are would be deadly and lets face it no one is going to tell another about the location of any subs like that. The plus side was the US is the sheer size of the country whic hwould make even weapons like that not so effective, however the flipside is the fact that the country is so large that there are so many ways of hurting them even without direct hits radiotion is going to be a bigger problem than anything i belive for them. I cant see any of this happening which is a good thing.

Yeah I agree. Thats what makes armies obsolete in conventional warfare. But not only nukes, but Air Forces and Navies that deploy the nukes.

The Army has no deployable nuclear capability that know of. Thus they are pretty weak compared to those that do.

Thats pretty much what im trying to say. America doesn't get its power from its army but its nuclear "triad" which is Nuclear bombers, missiles and subs.

 

[blindside]

Everything has to b kept relative to its time priod theres no point in comparing Rome to say just about any European country of today that would not be realative. I feel alot of people are jus tvoing for there own country on this and not looking at the facts. AS for most powerful army today, yep that would be USA however if they went up against another nuclear power suddenly there army is pretty insignificant. So on paper they are but it would be a stalemate against some of the worlds other nuclear powers.

You're right. It is all relative. Thats why I feel that Britain and Rome really don't deserve to be called the single greatest militaries ever. The only two I see from the list are the US and the Mongols.