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Subject: Most Powerful Military of All Time in Terms of Global Percentage
Aeb4ever    1/13/2006 1:20:45 AM
What was the most powerful military of all time in terms of global share of military power? For example, the USA is currently ranked at having about 53% of total naval power. I am referring in terms of all branches vs the world. My votes would be either the Mongols at height, Romans at height, English at height, USA after WWII, or USA after Cold War. Can’t make a guess at each countries percentage though. Fell free to add your own list or make a guess at the percentages of mine.
 
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The Lizard King    RE:Spirit of 76 -- gf   1/16/2006 11:26:16 AM
"the example of loss of the brit empire was also indicated as being WW2 - and that demonstrates a complete paucity of knowledge about modern history. br britain lost nothing due to ww2 via conflict." Again GF, if World War 2 never occurred, what whould the UK have looked like in 1947? if a = b, b = c, then a = c.
 
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paul1970    RE:Most Powerful Military of All Time in Terms of Global Percentage - Paul   1/16/2006 11:28:09 AM
you could easily reverse it and say that tech advantage makes it far easier to have the power when you have the better tech... ie USA now....
 
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The Lizard King    RE:Spirit of 76 -- gf   1/16/2006 11:28:36 AM
The subjects of the British Empire & History are too emotional and sentimental for you to argue objectively.
 
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The Lizard King    RE:Most Powerful Military of All Time in Terms of Global Percentage - Paul   1/16/2006 11:31:29 AM
"you could easily reverse it and say that tech advantage makes it far easier to have the power when you have the better tech... ie USA now.... " I disagree. In the World today, the playing field is a lot more level. Anyways, America is not an Empire. The US could have made a land grab after WW 2 but chose not to.
 
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Alexis    Most Powerful Military of All Time ... Probably the Romans   1/16/2006 11:54:10 AM
"What was the most powerful military of all time in terms of global share of military power? For example, the USA is currently ranked at having about 53% of total naval power. I am referring in terms of all branches vs the world." I don't think the question can be answered as a whole : - First of all, being powerful on land and being powerful on the sea are two different, not that much related things. - Second, military power in the nuclear age has not the same bearing than it had before unstoppable mass retaliation became a possibility. Not forgetting of course that any ranking is partly hypothetical since not all contemporary powers did battle against each other, which prevents the relative value of their forces to be seriously evaluated. That being said, I would say : 1) That the US has at present the most powerful military domination OF THE SEA of all times The Royal Navy at the height of its power had better than the combined power of the two following competitors combined. The present day US Navy has far more of a margin over even Russian, French, British and Japanese naval powers combined. 2) That the OVERALL military domination of the US at present, just as that of any other power since nuclear weapons were invented, is much overrated. Just remember that a number of nations cannot be conquered by military power now, which again is a severe cap on any military domination. 3) As a consequence, the most powerful military of all time has to be looked for BEFORE the nuclear age. I would say the Romans have to win the prize. They have for several centuries dominated the whole region of the world that could be accessed to (Eastern Asia was too far away in this era given the contemporary technologies). Their domination was based on having an unquestioned domination in the most critical military field of their time, that is heavy infantery. One could propose the Chinese of course, but I don't think they enjoyed comparable military domination of their neighbours. As for Macedonians of Alexander the Great's times, their domination was too brief to be just as convincing as the Roman's.
 
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paul1970    RE:Most Powerful Military of All Time in Terms of Global Percentage - Paul   1/16/2006 12:01:40 PM
"you could easily reverse it and say that tech advantage makes it far easier to have the power when you have the better tech... ie USA now.... " I disagree. In the World today, the playing field is a lot more level. according to some on this board, America is 30+ years ahead of others in aircraft tech.... Anyways, America is not an Empire. The US could have made a land grab after WW 2 but chose not to. then neither was Britain when it chose not to stay in places it took in battle or by force... :-) America is an empire in all but name... it decides if it stays or goes from somewhere. has America been forced to leave anywhere since Vietnam?
 
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Alexis    RE:Empire Building - to Paul   1/16/2006 12:01:44 PM
"and as for not holding land in mainland Europe... they chose not to stay and hold the land of those they defeated. probably because it was not worth it and would cause more problems in the long run than giving it over to somebody else to look after." About this specific point in your post, Paul, there were additional reasons why British "chose" not to hold land in mainland Europe. To understand these reasons, I suggest you Google the names Formigny (1450) and Castillon (1453) along with that of Jean Bureau, master of French artillery of that time. In a nutshell, the British choice not to hold land in mainland Europe MIGHT have something to do with them being ousted from said mainland Europe :-) ...
 
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The Lizard King    RE:Most Powerful Military of All Time in Terms of Global Percentage - Paul   1/16/2006 12:11:18 PM
"then neither was Britain when it chose not to stay in places it took in battle or by force... :-)" IMV, it appears that after the American Revolutionary War, when Colonies wanted their independence, they got it. Only when a British Territory contained a sizable British population (Northern Ireland & Falklands) did Britain respond militarily.
 
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The Lizard King    RE:Empire Building - to Alexis   1/16/2006 12:12:25 PM
What about Joan of Arc?
 
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InterArmaEnimSilent    Gengis Khan: End of Story   1/16/2006 12:15:04 PM
No Army ever threatened so many than the Army of Gengis Khan.
 
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