If the world were ideal, then no armies or weapons would be needed and there would never be wars. But the reality is that threats both abroad and domestically put national security at risk. This reality forces many states to have a powerful army in the form of human potential and weapons.
There are several outstanding armies that are widely known for their size, combat experience and military equipment. They are among the ten largest armies in the world.
1. China
The world's largest army in terms of army size is unsurprisingly occupied by the most populous country in the world, the Chinese People's Army. This nation is known not only for its large territory, but also for its huge population and, accordingly, the largest army. The Chinese People's Liberation Army was founded in 1927.
Its main part consists of citizens aged 18 to 49 years. Number of people: 2,300,000. Budget $129 billion per year. About 240 installations for launching nuclear missiles. The Chinese army is well trained and has large resources in weapons and mobilization resources in the event of war, it can put 200,000,000 people under arms. It is armed with 8,500 tanks, 61 submarines, 54 surface ships and 4,000 aircraft.
Russian army
The Russian army is one of the most experienced in the world. Its strength is 1,013,628 military personnel (according to the presidential decree of March 28, 2017). The annual budget is $64 billion and ranks 3rd in the world in terms of military spending. It is armed with 2,867 tanks, 10,720 armored vehicles, 2,646 self-propelled guns, and 2,155 towed artillery pieces. Russia also has the largest number of nuclear warheads in the world.
3.United States of America
US Army
The US Army was founded in 1775. The United States currently has 1,400,000 active military personnel and 1,450,000 in the active reserve. The defense budget is what truly sets the US apart from all the other countries on the list; it is over $689 billion per year.
The United States also has the most trained troops and a powerful arsenal. Its ground forces use 8,325 tanks, 18,539 armored combat vehicles, 1,934 self-propelled guns, 1,791 towed artillery pieces, and 1,330 nuclear warheads.
Indian Army
Located in southern Asia, India is the world's largest arms importer. With a strength of 1.325 thousand soldiers and officers. The Army's military budget is $44 billion a year. There are also about 80 nuclear warheads in service.
5. North Korea
North Korean Army
North Korea has a well-trained and coordinated army of 1,106,000, as well as a large number of reservists, 8,200,000 as of 2011. It also has a large number of weapons, they include: 5,400 tanks, 2,580 armored vehicles, 1,600 self-propelled guns, 3,500 towed artillery pieces, 1,600 air defense systems and other powerful weapons. Military conscription in this state is compulsory for everyone; the period of military service is 10 years.
While the totalitarian regime in North Korea has built a large army, much of its military equipment is considered obsolete. However, they have nuclear weapons, which in turn poses a threat to the stability of peace in this region.
6. South Korea
Photo of the South Korean Army
Next on the list of the largest armies in the world is the South Korean army. In this state, the conscription age is from 18 to 35 years, the service period is 21 months.
Its armed forces are called the Republic of Korea Army. It uses both domestic and imported weapons. It is armed with 2,300 tanks, 2,600 armored vehicles, 30 air defense systems and 5,300 artillery pieces. The number of its troops reaches approximately 1,240,000 people.
7. Pakistan
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army rightfully ranks among the largest armies in the world. It has a workforce of 617,000 people and a personnel reserve of about 515,500 people as of 2011.
Its ground forces use a wide range of weapons: 3,490 tanks, 5,745 armored vehicles, 1,065 self-propelled guns, 3,197 towed artillery pieces. The Air Force is armed with 1,531 aircraft and 589 helicopters. The naval force consists of 11 frigates and 8 submarines. With a budget of just over $5 billion, it is the smallest budget of the top ten military powers. Pakistan may be a small country in size, but it is undoubtedly one of the largest armies in the world in terms of size and military prowess. This army is also a permanent ally of the United States.
Iranian army
They say that the most powerful army in the Middle East is the army of Iran. Iran is also known for its large troop numbers. It has approximately 545,000 personnel, divided into 14 infantry divisions and 15 air bases. Their army is equipped with 2,895 tanks, 1,500 armored vehicles, 310 self-propelled guns, 860 air defense systems, 1,858 aircraft and 800 helicopters. The defense budget is just over $10 billion.
Turkish army
Türkiye has the largest army at the meeting point of Asia and Europe. Citizens are called up for service at the age of 20. Conscription lasts approximately 6 to 15 months, depending on the educational level of the students. The strength of the Turkish army is 1,041,900 people, of which 612,900 are regular military personnel and 429,000 are in the reserve. Its army is also well armed and has 4,460 tanks, 1,500 self-propelled guns, 7,133 armored vehicles, 406 air defense systems, 570 airplanes and helicopters. The annual budget of this army is 19 billion dollars.
10. Israel
Israeli army
The army of the State of Israel is known as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Men over 18 years of age are subject to conscription every year. Every year, about 121,000 men can be drafted into the army to serve in any of its military branches. Currently, the Israeli army consists of 187,000 regular military personnel and a reserve of 565,000 people. As a result, the number of troops in the Israel Defense Forces is about 752,000. The army is equipped with the latest technology and is armed with 3,870 tanks, 1,775 armored vehicles, 706 self-propelled guns, 350 towed artillery pieces, and 48 air defense systems.
Not all countries in the world need a large army for reliable protection. However, maintaining peace and order would be impossible without a well-organized and armed army.
Superiority over the enemy has always been determined not by the number of troops, but by the correct strategy and tactics. We decided to remember the most victorious armies of the world in history, which won with their minds.
Army of Alexander the Great
Imagine that against a well-played football team, eleven people take to the field, seeing each other for the first time and running scatteredly around the field. Even if there are fifteen of them. Or twenty - the difference is small, victory will still go to the team that adheres to a certain tactic in its game.
And perhaps the first person to fully understand the need for an army to hold formation and turn on command in one direction, without asking questions, was the ruler of the insignificant ancient state of Macedonia. But not the famous Alexander, but Philip – his father.
Thanks largely to this, Alexander’s army was able to conquer Athens, the invincible and great Sparta, Persia and Egypt, and even go to India.
Roman legion
Now imagine that at the age of eighteen you are not given any rights until you serve in the army. In addition, you must buy all the military equipment yourself, and the training weapons and armor at the young fighter’s courses will weigh three times more than the combat ones. Welcome to the Roman Legion, tiro! In it, anyone became a jack of all trades - recruits not only fought, but built roads, bridges and aqueducts. One glance at the history of the ancient cities of Western Europe is enough to understand that they are based on either a Roman military camp, or a market, or the intersection of trade routes. The number of tactical innovations brought to military affairs by the Roman army is difficult to count.
In addition to the various formations and combat formations, which it is pointless to go into a description of in one article, the Roman legionaries invented almost perfect protection against any type of projectile weapons, except, perhaps, heavy stones, logs and boiling oil pouring from the walls - a formation called "turtle". The front row of legionnaires closed their shields edge to edge in such a way that a solid wall was obtained, while the rear rows raised their shields above their heads, also closing their edges, creating a kind of “roof”. Arrows, throwing spears and small stones simply slid off such a living structure, causing virtually no harm.
Mongol army
No borders, just the horizon. The horse's hooves are dry and cracked, and the only thing that will help is washing them in the waters of the Last Sea. Any manifestation of weakness or cowardice costs not only your own life, but also the lives of nine close associates. And for cowardice shown by a dozen, a hundred will be cut, and for cowardice shown by a hundred... and so on. No wonder there is no word for “back” in the Mongolian language. Only forward - to the Last Sea. Along the way, he conquered China, the state of the Khorezm Shahs, ruined the great Abbasid caliphate, crossed the waters of the Tigris, filling them with scrolls and books from the Baghdad library.
The main type of Mongol troops was cavalry - heavy and light. Due to the fact that the Mongols were excellent shooters, including at a gallop, their main weapon was a bow - each warrior could have several of them. The armor was predominantly leather, with melee weapons including a spear and a curved saber. The high speed and mobility of the Mongol army was ensured by a large number of spare horses and the general unpretentiousness and endurance of the soldiers.
The success of the Mongols was largely due to their siege techniques. Unlike most nomadic tribes, they did not rely on their numerical superiority, using all possible means to minimize potential losses. They dug tunnels, used local rivers to dam or, conversely, to divert water from the besieged city. They also borrowed the latest technology from the China they conquered - a multi-shot crossbow and a stone-throwing tower.
Spanish tercio
For many centuries, bows, and even later crossbows, which today are just a sport and a hobby, flooded the Earth with blood. Their role finally faded into the background with the advent of firearms, which pierced almost any armor. But still, the reload time left much to be desired, and almost any rider managed to get to the least accurate musketeers. The most effective way to protect riflemen from cavalry and infantry was developed in Spain.
The military formation - tertia - allowed musketeers and arquebusiers to fire at enemy cavalry units, while being covered by pikemen. Almost any cavalry attack ran into a “forest” peak, after which the surviving reitars (cavalry riflemen in heavy armor) tried to hit the shooters standing in the third. But since a horseman, by definition, was a much easier target than foot musketeers and arquebusiers, this was of little use. Breaking the Spanish third became possible only thanks to the invention of silicon weapons, which were distinguished by a greater rate of fire and range than matchlock muskets and arquebuses.
Grand Army of Napoleon
The Corps of the Grand Army, under the command of a marshal or division general, included all types of troops that existed at that time and was an autonomous operational unit that was able to conduct combat operations in isolation from all other forces.
The size of the corps is from 20 to 70 thousand people - infantrymen, cavalrymen, artillery, sappers and supply troops. This kind of autonomy and balance of power was a strategic innovation that allowed Napoleon to conquer almost all of Europe and part of North Africa (of course, the personal qualities and military genius of the emperor also played a significant role in this).
A kind of innovation in supplying troops was the organization of food points every fifteen miles, called the well-known word “store”.
Kutuzov’s strategic talent, not least of all, lay in the fact that, having surrendered Moscow, he could turn noble guardsmen and soldiers, distinguished by a high level of training and discipline, into a gang of embittered marauders.
Russian army
Russia has been at war almost its entire history. Bismarck believed that the Russians could not be defeated. Attempts at military expansion of our country were made more than once, but ended in the same thing - the defeat of the aggressor.
Russian military glory was forged by both our commanders and ordinary soldiers and sailors, whose heroic behavior has always served as an example for subsequent generations.
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A powerful and combat-ready army is the key to a country’s significant weight in the international arena. Moreover, in connection with the well-known events in Syria and Ukraine, the closest attention is increasingly being paid to the military power of different countries. Many people ask the question: “Who will win the world war?”
Today we present an annually updated, official ranking of the world's armies, a list that includes the most powerful armies in the world in 2017.
When compiling the rating, the following are compared:
- the number of armies of the world (regular number of troops, reservists)
- weapons (airplanes, helicopters, tanks, navy, artillery, other equipment)
- military budget, resource availability, geographical location, logistics.
Nuclear potential is not taken into account by experts, but recognized nuclear powers receive an advantage in ranking.
By the way, San Marino has the weakest army in the world in 2017 – only 80 people.
10 South Korea
The Korean army is the third largest in Asia - 630 thousand troops. The country has a very high number of military personnel per thousand inhabitants - 14.2 people. Korea's defense budget is $33.7 billion.
9 Germany
The country's military budget is $45 billion. The number of German armed forces is 186,500 people. The German army is completely professional, i.e. There has been no compulsory conscription in the country since 2011.
8 Türkiye
The Turkish army is the best in the Middle East. The number of the country's armed forces is 510,000 people. Turkey's military budget is $18 billion. There are just over 7 military personnel per thousand residents of the country.
7 Japan
The Japanese army is seventh in the list of the best. The combat-ready part of the army numbers 247 thousand military personnel. With such a large armed force, the country has a simply huge defense budget - $49 billion.
6 UK
The country's military budget is $53 billion. The size of the British armed forces is 188,000 military personnel - this is the smallest army in the ranking. But the Royal Navy of Britain is the second in the world in terms of tonnage.5 France
Opens a list of the 5 most powerful armies in the world. The country's military budget is $43 billion. The number of French armed forces is 222,000 people. The key to the combat effectiveness of this army is the presence in it of a full range of weapons of its own production, from warships to helicopters and small arms.
4 India
The country's military budget is $46 billion. The number of Indian armed forces is 1,346,000 people, the country's army is the third largest in the world.3 China
The largest army in the world ranking is the Chinese army, numbering 2,333,000 troops. Wikipedia shows that there are 1.71 military personnel per 1,000 inhabitants of the Celestial Empire. China's military budget is $126 billion.
2 Russia
The Russian armed forces are superior to almost all armies of the world in terms of weapons power in all branches of the military - air, ground and sea. The size of the Russian army for 2017 is 798,000 people. Military budget - $76 billion. Among the superpowers, Russia has a very high rate of the number of military personnel per 1000 inhabitants - 5.3 people.
1 USA
The most powerful army in the world, according to Globalfirepower, is American. By the way, it is not the largest in terms of numbers, but the most powerful in terms of available weapons, including nuclear potential, which is not taken into account by experts. The US Army has a strength of 1,492,200 people and a defense budget of $612 billion.The Global Firepower website assessed the strength of the armies of 126 countries using 50 criteria. At the same time, the nuclear potential of countries was not taken into account, but the state of the economy was taken into account. The authors put the US Army in first place (0.1661 points), Russia in second (0.1865), and China in third (0.2315). How much does the rating reflect reality? And what are the prospects for the three strongest armies in the world?
Tank Armata
The authors warn that when compiling the rating, the nuclear potential of countries, the current potential of political and military leadership were not taken into account, the number of weapons was not a determining factor, and landlocked countries were not punished for the lack of a navy, and vice versa, maritime powers — were punished. Factors such as geographic location and economic situation in the country were taken into account.
The absolute value of the "power index" ("PwrIndx") for a perfect army should be "0.0000", which is realistically unattainable. The rating is formed by a system of bonuses and penalties. For example, Austria, which is landlocked, does not receive a penalty for having an insufficient navy, but does receive one for not having a capable merchant fleet.
The authors indicate the following factual sources: cia. gov, CIA World Factbook, wikipedia. com, available data in the media and bloggers. Some values were estimates when official data were not available, the introduction states.
As a result, the top ten most powerful included the armies of the USA, Russia, China, India, Great Britain, France, South Korea, Germany, Japan and Turkey. Let's compare the performance of the first three most powerful armies.
1. By the number of military personnel The Chinese army is in first place with 2.333 million people, the United States is in second place (1.4 million), and the Russian army is in third place (766.055 thousand troops). The data on the personnel reserve is interesting. Here Russia is in first place - 2.485 million people, China is in second - 2.3 million, and the USA - 1.1 million people.
Of course, the quality of the military personnel varies. The US military is 100 percent contracted. The level of their material and technical equipment is high.
Russia has only just begun to modernize military equipment, while the Chinese army is still gaining in numbers. But in terms of fighting spirit, the Russians, seasoned in recent conflicts, are superior to the soldiers of their “rivals”. At the beginning of the year, an attack on the American cruiser Vicksbur was imitated by a Su-34. There was no electronic impact on the ship, but the Americans did not even manage to use the air defense system, and two dozen sailors submitted their resignation.
2. On ground combat systems, in particular for tanks, the Russian army is in first place - 15,398 tanks (main battle tanks, light tanks and wheeled or tracked tank destroyers). In second place is the Chinese army (9,150 tanks), and in third place are the Americans (8,848 armored vehicles).
Russia has a huge advantage (many times) in armored combat vehicles (armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles), self-propelled guns, towed guns and multiple launch rocket systems. We will not present the numbers here; the reader can look at them on his own. This advantage is due to the fact that our possible theater of military operations is the near abroad, and no one has yet canceled the proposed tank attack on Berlin.
New Russian tanks will consolidate this superiority. Mass delivery of the latest T-14 Armata tanks to the Russian army will begin at the turn of 2017-2018. There are no new developments in the United States; the Pentagon relies on modernized versions of its Cold War-era combat vehicles - the M-1 Abrams and Bradley.
China has a third generation tank - VT-4 (MBT-3000). The Chinese claim that in key parameters it even surpasses the Armata. But this tank is intended exclusively for export; the Chinese army is not going to fight with it. The question is why?
3. Air Force- the rating takes into account airplanes and helicopters of all military branches. Here the US Army has leadership; of course, their “island” position obliges them to do so. The proposed theater of military operations is in Eurasia, and equipment and soldiers must be delivered there.
The United States has 13,892 aircraft, of which 2,207 are fighters, 2,797 attack aircraft, 5,366 transport aircraft, and 6,196 helicopters.
In second place is the Russian army. It has a total of 3,429 aircraft, of which 769 are fighters, 1,305 attack aircraft, 1,083 transport aircraft, and 1,120 helicopters. China has a total of 2,860 aircraft in service, of which 1,066 are fighters, 1,311 attack aircraft, 876 transport aircraft, and 876 helicopters. 908.
In terms of quality indicators, the Russians have begun to catch up with the Americans. The commander of the US Air Force in Europe, General Frank Gorenc, said this recently at a meeting with reporters. The general especially noted “the ability (of the Russians) to create extremely well-protected zones using access restriction systems,” for example, in Crimea and the Kaliningrad region.
4. Naval forces. In the rating, the concept of aircraft carrier also includes helicopter carriers. The concept of “ships of all” also includes auxiliary vessels. In terms of the number of warships, the Chinese army is in first place, 673 in total, the United States is in second (473), and Russia is in third (352 units).
There are large differences in the “range” and quality composition of ships, primarily in aircraft carriers. When the United States talks about military dominance in the world, they mean, first of all, the superiority of fleets in the oceans. Of course, 20 aircraft and helicopter carriers is a huge force, considering that the crew of such ships reaches 5 thousand people.
Global Firepower counted one aircraft carrier each from Russia and China. Russia surpasses its rivals in the number of minesweepers - 34 (USA -11, China - 6) and coast guard ships - 65 (USA -13, China -11). For submarines, the quantitative picture is approximately the same (USA - 72, Russia - 55, China - 67).
Russia is actively rearming its fleet. Sergei Shoigu said that by 2020 the Russian Navy will receive eight new missile submarines, 16 multipurpose submarines and 54 surface combatants of various classes.
In general, the Chinese fleet has made fantastic progress over two decades; it was built virtually from scratch and today, in terms of power and quality, it ranks second in the Pacific region after the US fleet.
For Americans, the dynamics are the opposite, all American experts admit this. The US fleet is decreasing in number, with only 273 warships left, which is less than it was under Reagan and even before the First World War. However, only 85 ships are at sea at a given time. This is important because the Chinese, in the event of a crisis, are able to deploy their entire fleet, as well as land-based missiles and aircraft, against the United States, while the Americans can only rely on the ships that are at hand in the region at that moment.
This fall, the United States will not send an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf for the first time due to budget cuts. According to the current US Navy 30-year procurement plan, the attack submarine fleet in 2022 will be 48 units below the acceptable minimum, and after another 6 years there will be only 41 submarines left. Most likely, given the national debt of 17 trillion dollars, there will be no money for the development of the fleet.
5. The rating takes into account data on defense budgets and the financial situation of countries. The United States spends $577.1 billion annually on the army, Russia — 60.4 billion, China — 145 billion. Moreover, America spends mainly on maintaining what it has, including military bases, and very little on rearmament and new developments. China and Russia have the opposite picture.
The external debt of countries is analyzed in relation to their gold and foreign exchange reserves. The US has a debt of 15.7 trillion dollars with reserves of 150.2 billion. Russia has a debt of 714.2 billion, and reserves of 515.6 billion dollars. China has a debt of 863.2 billion, reserves of 3.821 trillion dollars.
The US military budget is an order of magnitude larger than the Russian one and three times larger than the Chinese one. But their huge debt is not backed by anything; gold and foreign exchange reserves are four times smaller than Russian ones and an order of magnitude smaller than Chinese ones. This indicates an impending collapse of the dollar and a transition to the gold-backed yuan. Of course, China is in an excellent financial position, and it will be the one that will rapidly gain military power. But Kiaya has big problems with scientific potential.
As for Russia, it will persistently move along the path of modernization. It may lack American and Chinese economic and financial power, but its priorities are clear and its scientific potential is enormous. In addition, the Russian army is underestimated because the ranking does not take into account air defense forces, missile power and cyber troops.
What will America's communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and intelligence systems be worth if there is no one to manage them? As for air defense systems, the Russian one is recognized as the most effective in the world. NATO experts clearly agree that in the event of an air attack on Russia, the air defense system will destroy up to 80 percent of enemy aircraft, including the latest cruise missiles flying to the target while skirting the terrain.
The American Patriot system cannot boast of such indicators. According to the latest report from the analytical agency Air Power Australia, in the event of a large-scale military conflict between Russia and the United States, the likelihood of survival of American aviation is completely excluded.
“The US Army has almost half of its personnel in the navy, which in the event of a major war will not reach anywhere, and the air force, which will also not reach with the current development of air defense - . - That is, the very parameters of this The ratings are somewhat incorrect, because the power of all armed forces is taken, including those that cannot be used anywhere.
And the expeditionary forces do not have the power that can destroy everything. Therefore, this whole rating is a comparison of the incomparable.”
“In America there is a lot of advertising - we are the first here, we are the first there, but when you start looking at the numbers, it turns out that this is just self-promotion. The basis of firepower is missile weapons, in which we are superior to everyone,” the expert said.
"The Russian Army is the best in the world"
Imagine for a second: your child came up to you and asked a seemingly simple question: what is the best army in the world? Well, or, if the example with a child is not suitable, then imagine a “business” conversation with men in the garage, in which this question suddenly pops up. And issues of a global scale always come up in a “business” garage conversation. How would you answer?
If, as they say, offhand, then the first thing that may come to mind is, of course, the words about the “invincible and legendary”, who was able not only to protect the state within the longest borders, but also to unite peoples that seemed completely different from each other . Whoever says that our country is, from its origins, a state built on brotherhood and good neighborliness of different faiths and ethnic groups - nonsense! They gathered us all: Slavs, Varangians, Tatars, Chechens and others only with fire and sword. Many peoples wanted to give up “brotherhood” at first, but when they saw bows, arrows, battering guns and other “motivators” of good neighborly relations, they decided that maybe it was better to live side by side. Some, it must be said, peoples are still trying to abandon our fiery neighborhood, but this is not always possible, since the descendants of the invincible and legendary are ready to stand up for their integrity. And those who not so long ago decided to dissociate themselves are now quietly biting their elbows in the closets, perhaps with a stick system of universal fraternization, but with a full belly, life would be better.
It turns out that our Russian (Russian, Red, Russian, Soviet) army can be called the best army in the world. But here a parallel question arises: which one is the best? – the one who shed more blood than other people or still more than her own? If we talk about shedding our own blood, then ours, undoubtedly, can lay claim to the highest point of the pedestal. Let's take the losses of the Red and Soviet Army during the Great Patriotic War. According to the most conservative estimates, they are almost three times higher than the losses of the Wehrmacht. Victory at any cost is our mentality. They stood, they survived, they ground! It is not for us today to judge that in such and such a battle the outcome could have been decided with much smaller forces. As they say, after a fight they don’t wave anything. But the fact that the blood spilled by our fighters is enough for a good tenth of foreign armies remains a fact. History knows many Russian (Soviet) victories, when the price of these victories was too high: the Russian-Finnish War, the Great Patriotic War, both Chechen campaigns. In this regard, those Russian commanders and admirals who won battles with minimal losses among the rank and file can be called real Russian heroes, in comparison with whom even the glory of epic heroes fades.
Or maybe the best army is the one that always fights, fights everywhere, giving no rest to itself or others? And there is such an army. At the same time, there is absolutely nothing to go back into centuries for. You can encounter such an army if your country has a lot of oil, there is no nuclear power plant, but there are plans to create one, and there is no outside support, and the person who is at the helm has not left this helm for...twenty years. Such an army can come completely unexpectedly if suddenly the UN Security Council decides that someone has buried an ampoule of anthrax somewhere on the territory of your country. And today this army, which claims to be the best, wanders around the world and is looking for where else to send its Tomahawks, Abrams and other state budget investments.
Or maybe the best army is the army that spends the least amount of money on its maintenance, but at the same time manages to fight and how to fight! Such an army can include the army of the Mongol-Tatars, which managed to enslave hundreds of peoples, among which we are Russians. Moreover, if we talk about army discipline, the Mongolian army (the era of Genghis Khan and Batu) is an example of brilliant simplicity and uncompromisingness. Any disobedience to the orders of the command was punishable by death, so the Mongols, with a truly iron fist, imposed their “Mongolian order” almost everywhere in Asia and in vast European territories. Some may object and say that the Mongol army won many battles only because of the presence of corrupt military leaders and civil authorities in the enemy camp. But this is also one of the methods of warfare that works today and will probably always work. One of the most striking modern examples is the Afghan army. No, of course, not the one that now calls itself state, but the one that put a spoke in the wheels of first the Soviet and then the Stars and Stripes army. And what? The expenses are minimal - a couple of million counterfeit dollars, a turban, a Kalash on your back and a MANPADS on your shoulder - and forward, as they say, with a song against the infidels. And it does help... How many people have already been fighting with these people in quilted robes, and their number is not decreasing.
Many will say that the best army in the world is the Carthaginian army led by Hannibal Barca. At the same time, we recall the greatest march in history of Hannibal’s army with elephants across the Alps to Rome. However, that same Alpine campaign, without detracting from its historical role, can by no means be called successful. Arriving in Italy, Hannibal's army lost almost 80% of its original strength, but thanks to the authority of its leader, it continued to inflict crushing blows on the Romans. But this army was also destined to suffer a crushing defeat from the same Roman legions in 202 BC. under Zama.
Maybe then the army of Alexander the Great is the only one that should be called in history as the best army in the world. The army of Alexander the Great was able to conquer many peoples living in vast territories from the Aegean Sea to the Indian Ocean. Thanks to the successful campaigns of Alexander's army, the Macedonian Empire absorbed Greece, Egypt, Persia, the states of the Middle East and Central Asia.
However, this army is a vivid example of the fact that, based only on the strong-willed qualities and talent of one person, the further future of the army is more than vague. After the death of this greatest commander, the army itself died so quickly that its power was spoken of only on the pages of the chronicles of glorious campaigns, and by the veterans themselves in heated debates about the greatness of the Macedonian Empire.
But when talking about the best army in the world, we need to mention the army of Napoleon Bonaparte. Although in this case Napoleonic army has much in common with Alexander's army. The truth is that the difference is also obvious: Alexander and his army died victors, and Napoleon and the French legions died defeated.
Why can’t the army be called the best if the word “army” in general, the conquistador Francisco Pizarro, is applicable to two hundred soldiers and 27 horses! It was he who managed to conquer hundreds of thousands of Incas, having such a limited military contingent at his disposal. The reasons for the conquest of the entire Indian Empire are still debated, but the fact remains - a surprisingly spectacular and effective campaign of the first half of the 16th century.
So the question of the best army in the world can still be considered open, because there are probably as many opinions on this matter as there are people.