The Indonesian military placed above Canada due its high numbers of active personnel and its relatively large number of tanks. The military, however, suffers from a lack of carriers and aircraft, as well as a minute number of submarines. The German military ended up low on the list due to their lack of power projection platforms. Germany does not have an aircraft carrier and has relatively few submarines which, according to the Credit Suisse methodology, drops its ranking.
But Germany does have a fair number of attack helicopters. Recently, the country has started considering offering military support to eastern European NATO members. Poland edges out Germany in the list due to its larger number of tanks and a more fleshed out submarine fleet. Poland has also drastically increased its military spending in reaction to Russia's seizure of Crimea and the ongoing Ukraine crisis. Thailand's military is currently in control of the country following a coup in May The military is a major player in maintaining Thai unity, and Thailand receives strong scores from Credit Suisse for its number of active personnel, its number of tanks, and its possession of an aircraft carrier.
Thailand also scores well as it has an aircraft carrier, although it does not have an aircraft fleet to complement the vessel. Australia's military is comparatively small — it receives bottom scores on the report for the number of active personnel and the number of tanks.
It also receives near bottom scores for the number of aircraft it has in its fleet. In absolute terms, Israel has a small military. But with mandatory military service a large percentage of the Israeli population is militarily ready. With a past history of being surrounded by aggressive neighbors, Israel also has a large tank, aircraft, and attack helicopter fleet.
Israel also has qualitative military advantages. It has space assets , advanced fighter jets, high-tech armed drones , and nuclear weapons. Threatened by China, which continues to have plans for how to invade and retake the country, Tawain has focused its military development on defensive plans. As such, the island has the fifth highest number of attack helicopters in the list.
It also has a fairly large fleet of aircraft and a number of tanks. The Egyptian military is one of the oldest and largest armed forces in the Middle East. Forget I said that. Uh oh Man, there's nothing scarier than the Russian military, unless you're actually a Russian.
Then, you probably find your military quite comforting. A lot of people from America grew up thinking the Russians were going to attack us at any minute, and while that never happened, they still are just plain old freaky to a lot of people.
Check these numbers. Yeah, that's a lot of cash, but they still come in second, just barely, mostly because, at one point, they fell well behind the United States in technology. According to PBS. After the five-day war with Georgia in , the weaknesses in the Russian military were exposed. Since then, the Russian military has undergone an overhaul to make its army more professional and modern and replace its old equipment that languished after its Soviet days.
China scares just about everyone, unless, of course, you're Chinese. Then, you're all like "Man, my military is totally cool. And plus, who really knows what these guys are up to? While most other countries have a whole bunch of different allies and work as a part of some sort of a team, China has always been a bunch of total wild cards.
It's sort of like you're a really big guy and you live in this house on a quiet street; then, all of a sudden, a family of 10 dwarves moves in next door. These guys are all totally loud, and honestly, they seem as if they might be more than a little bit crazy. Every time you go outside to sit on your porch, they yell at you and call you names. You know you could take any one of them on all by yourself, but the thing is, they stick together, so you don't dare go at them.
Yeah, that's what China is like. Are you a bit surprised that India is 4th in the world in military strength? I know that I kind of was. I mean, I know that they aren't anyone who's pushed around easily, just because of their vast population, but I never thought of them as a military superpower. They have over 4 million people in the military, which puts them in line with the previous countries and have a budget of 35 billion. India worries a lot about China, just like everyone else.
But India could potentially attempt to generate greater military power by using its much more limited financial capacity more wisely. India has to consider reducing the size of its army so that it can build a smaller but more capable force. Oh man. The French. What is it about the French that makes them so irritating to so many people? Well, whatever it is, most people aren't going to say how irritated they are to their faces because France's military is the 5th strongest in the world.
They have around only , people in the military, but one has to remember they have a much smaller country than all the others on the list so far, and their budget is still a very healthy 35 billion dollars. The French spend a lot of time working on eliminating the more extreme aspects of the Islamic State, both at home and abroad. According to the site warisboring. The French government will permanently dedicate 7, soldiers to homeland security to counter the threat of terrorist attacks.
The United Kingdom always has a pretty strong military that's almost always aligned with the United States. This is kind of a double-edged sword because, on the one hand, no one ever messes with the U. On the other hand, every time the United States gets involved with anything, the U.
The whole thing, meaning how tight the United Kingdom is with the United States, is kind of ironic, considering the whole Revolutionary War thing way back in the day.
It's almost like that time when you and your best friend went out and drank way too much and got in a huge fight and didn't talk to each other for 6 months, then decided that the whole thing was silly and just forgot about it all and went out and got drunk again.
You knew Japan was going to be here somewhere. Even though they don't have a big reputation as a military superpower, they're arguably known to be the most technologically advanced country in the world. And what's cooler to think about when it comes to technology than building a bunch of really awesome weapons?
They have around only , people active in their military but have a large budget of around 44 billion. When you think about it, who would possibly mess with Japan? You could go rolling across the border with your tanks, and then, all of a sudden, a whole bunch of flying robots could show up to attack you. You have no idea what these people are capable of. You know how sometimes bullies mess with people that they think are smaller or weaker than they are but not if they think that the person could get back at them.
Japan is like that. Sure, you could push them into a puddle and make them cry, but you know then, they're going to plot to get back at you. Turkey is one of those countries that you might not expect to be on this list, but I'm telling you, don't sleep on Turkey.
Well, at least when it comes to the military. When it comes to having turkey at Thanksgiving, go ahead and take a nap. You deserve it. This is the beginning of a pretty big drop when it comes to military budgets, as Turkey has a budget of around only 8 billion, although they do have around , military personnel.
One thing that makes some people nervous about Turkey is they're kind of tight with Russia, even buying missiles from them. Ahh, the Germans. Ever since they tried to pretty much take over the entire world back in the day, most people weren't all that much in favor of them having a strong military. Of course, today's Germany has an entirely different vibe than it used to.
They have around , soldiers and have a pretty massive budget of around 39 billion dollars, so they are no one to take lightly. Some of the British men who commanded the Gurkhas showed tremendous bravery as well.
As the Gurkhas charged the Germans with their kukri knives under fire from machine gun posts, Jones shot down the emplacements with a Bren gun. Jones was wounded in the neck but still joined the hand-to-hand fighting afterward, where he sustained additional injuries to his eye and thighs. He only accepted treatment after the battle was won.
His effort was rewarded with a Distinguished Service Order decoration. In , year-old retired Gurkha Bishnu Shrestha was riding a train in India when 40 robbers stopped the train and began stealing passengers' belongings. Still carrying his kukri knife, the Gurkha took on the robbers, themselves armed with knives, swords, and pistols.
Shrestha managed to kill three robbers and injure eight others, which persuaded the other robbers to flee. The retired soldier also saved another passenger from rape. During the Borneo confrontation in , Captain Rambahadur Limbu made three trips into enemy territory. On the first trip, facing heavy gunfire, two of Limbu's men were shot—one killed and another severely wounded.
Before the enemy could advance, Limbu pushed them back with grenades. He then crawled yards across the battlefield back into Gurkha territory to alert his comrades of what had happened. Limbu then went back to the wounded soldier, still under fire, and carried the man back across the same yards to safety. With the battle still raging, Limbu returned to the field a third time to retrieve his dead comrade.
Limbu's heroics earned him a Victoria Cross. Of all the Gurkhas that have been awarded the Victoria Cross and there were many , Limbu is the only one still surviving. Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. Getty Images. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Jonathan Schifman Jonathan works in New York and still often stops to marvel at the skyscrapers, where he finds inspiration for his writing.
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