I've been thinking about it for a while now and after having a conversation with a friend and we were trying to determine which nation has the strongest military in the world. America has a large military with a lot of great technological advances as well as amazing training. China, though, has superior numbers and has a very strong land force. Then you've got Israel, although they are small, their soldiers are pretty elite. You've got Great Britain who is pretty close to us in technology, but lacks the numbers. So, who in your opinion, has the strongest military in the world?
China.
Their well equipped women's army is bigger than the US population.
And they have the nuke.
And our weapons technology.
And a booming economy.
So, yeah. China.
China is starting to scare me. They're may too militarized. That's a conflict just waiting to happen.
Interestingly enough, Iran actually has the largest military with twelve million soldiers. Granted, eleven million of those are paramilitary, but still...Now, since China is the big talk right now, I just want to look at one thing that China lacks that would be a necessity to make it the real 'strongest military.' That's a navy. They lack a navy entirely. Their navy can basically do one thing: patrol their waters. They can't send their navy elsewhere and they really cannot do much to fight against any navy if it invaded. That is what, I believe, really weakens them. Sure, they have the ability to prepare an army two times the size of America's, but consider it like this...If those soldiers are poorly trained (which they are no experts in war), can they stand up against the might of a nation hardened by war (America)? I consider America to be the strongest military in the world simply because we have a strong navy, a strong air force and extremely strong land forces.
I agree with Jacob, although I'd change the wording a bit. You have an extremely strong air force and navy, and a strong land force.
Modern warfare is totally different than past experience, and particularly with popular opinion having a bigger impact on the home front with 24/7 coverage and live camera footage. Against a reasonably developed opponent - which has not been fought by the US lately - you would probably start to see some casualties. It would depend on the entire scenario, anyway.
Of course, against the faceless hordes of China, a couple of tactical nukes here and there would thin out the ranks.
And that would be that. Boom. Everybody loses.
Considering everybody else lacks power projection beyond their immediate area, the US wins.
The United States, and it's not due to the technology or the best weapons or the biggest booms. Its because of the training. Iran has guys who stand there and pull a trigger, the US fights in an entirely different way. The only reason Muslim countries have lacked in military strength is because of their leadership establishment. They have no officers in between the privates and the generals, allowing no executive decision making. The US trains their soldiers to think, not just obey. We have the strongest because our units can fight small and effectively.
China is strong only because of its numbers, and if a major war would occur, most of those soldiers would die of starvation. They cannot produce enough bullets for every member, let alone enough food. Then again, a lot of the battles fought these past few decades have been missiles launched from far away. Which, again, the United States has a lot of. Britain, not much of a dangerous threat. And thats not a personal attack -- thats really the truth. As far as North Korea goes, their own population is starving down to nothing. And they distrust each other a lot, so a long campaign would be out of the question for them.
Yeah, North Korea is a hell hole.
But I disagree with those who say the PLA (People's Liberation Army) would starve or not have enough ammo... their military has advanced RAPIDLY with the ability to get new technology... they supply weapons to countries on a scale the USSR held, mostly in Iran and the continet of Africa.
Also, the United States military is an all volunteer organization. All of our enemies require and discipline their soldiers to join the army. As Vietnam showed, the more determined enemy wins. No one is going to fight that hard, and many will defect, if they are forced to fight.
US, I think would have the strongest military in the world, we've got the size and the tech so it's a great powerful combination that other countries lack.
The US has the technology and the knowledge on how to implement it. In the highly unlikely event of China vs the US, we would take out most of their ability to project their military within the first two days or less. Our command and control structure is highly sophisticated and is arguably the best in the world (I should know, I work on one of the platforms). Our ability to completely dominate the air within the first few days will limit their ability to move freely on land and sea.
But major nation-on-nation conflict is an extremely rare thing these days because of technological advancements such as nuclear arms, WMD, surveillance satellites, etc which Mostly it's a small guerilla force vs a national entity such as the US versus Islamic terrorism, militant rebels in Africa, Russia in Chechenia(sp), etc, and always fighting in urban areas, negating the use of WMDs and such. It’s no longer “Kill the enemy, take their territory, subjugate their people” and such.