who or what was the world's greatest military in history?

Question

who? what? when? how?

Answer 1

I don´t think this can be done in a catch-all way, so I´m going to break it down between the forces.

1. Land based forces i.e. armies. For sheer courage, skill, training and effectiveness it would hard to match the ancient Spartans. Their relative supremacy as a fighting force amongst the City-State system of 3rd/4th/5th century b.c. Greece lasted for several hundred years, probably reaching it´s zenith at the battle of Thermopylae, in 480 b.c.. The estimates of numbers vary wildly, but the most likely is that 300 Spartans, supported by around 700 Thespians ( no sniggering in the cheap seats ) held off over 25,000 Persians, Medes and other assorted mercenary groups.

2. Sea ( Naval ) forces - no doubt here that we Brits hold the honours in this league. Britain was the first major sea-power of the modern world, probably not since the Phoenicians ( 1500 - 500 b.c. ) had there been as effective a control of shipping. This power rose and possibly reached it´s peak at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, when Admiral Lord Nelson, also probably the world´s greatest naval commander, led his fleet the crushing victory over the French and Spanish combined fleet. British naval power continued to dominate the worlds seas well into the 20th century, certainly until the first half of world war II, when the United States started it´s run at the title.

3. Air Forces-This is not so easy, but it would be hard to beat the relatively tiny Royal Air Force of Britain, fighting the Battle of Britain against the numerically superior German Luftwaffe. The Soviet Air Force put up an heroic struggle ( frequently overlooked ) on the Eastern Front, and using sheer force of numbers ( estimates a hard to verify ) wore down the German forces by attrition.

So there you have it, Greeks on the ground, and Brits in the water and the air.

Answer 2

Without a doubt - the United States.

Why? The United States has all of the essential elements that any nation needs to become a military power - 1. Population, 2. Geography (command of both Pacific and Atlantic Oceans), 3. Natural Resources, 4. economic dominance, 5. Cultural assimilation, 6. technology, 7. Can adopt and assimilate other cultures, 8. Systems of Government.

The Empires of Rome, Athens, Carthage, Phonecians, China, Japan, Soviet Union had elements of national power - but they lack the total elements that any power needs to become a truly global military and economic power.

The United States is also unique because it has a pre-dominance on outer-space. At the moment, no other nation can compare to the technological advancement to both fund and send a space mission every 6 months as the United States has been able to achieve.

From 1989, the United States has become a global hegemon. The only military power that is able to field a military force anywhere in the world, supported by sufficent support and naval and air elements.

Answer 3

The greatest military force in history of the world was the United States Armed Forces at the end of World War II. The men and woman serving the United States were the most physically fit, best educated and highly motivated force ever assembled. Combined with the huge manufacturing and wartime production of the U.S. economy and the huge technology advantage given by U.S. scientists and you have a military that no force has ever equal led before or since.

Answer 4

Israel has the greatest Military in the world. They are a tiny, tiny Democracy, our allies, over in the Middle East where all their neighbors want them destroyed.
The US Military uses many techniques from the Israeli Military. They are simply incredible.

I served in the US. Army by the way. The United States Military is also the greatest Military in the world. But because of the size of the Israeli Country and what they are facing they deserve the credit I think.

Sarah Jane

Answer 5

The Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, and their successors. Take a look at the sheer land mass they conquered - little western empires such as napoleon's can't come close to comparing. They conquered an area from the pacific ocean all the way to central europe in a ridiculously short period of time.

Answer 6

The U.S.A. is the world's only superpower, with the ability to kill all life on Earth if it wanted to.

And the United States has only lost one war (so far) in its history. The U.S. military was defeated politically in Vietnam, not militarily, so it is debatable if the military lost (the country lost the war, but not the Army).

So the U.S. military is the most powerful military in the world's history.

Answer 7

you question makes no sence since you cannot compare militaries across ages without you giving very specific parameters or comparing specific ages. 100 soldiers from todays albania could porbably have destroyed the roman empire AND the mongols together... Napoleon could have destroyed the mongols simple because he had the se of gun powder.. but napoleon in charge of a medival army would have been completely overun by genghis kahn.
so.. rephrase your question in a way that is answerable and you will get a meanigful answer.

Answer 8

I would have to go with the Romans. Through a combination of discipline, training, tactics and technology they conquered a huge territory. And they held onto it for a long period of time. They also built roads and bridges in their wake to improve the movement of supplies and troops. If they found an opponent that was tough to beat, they developed new techniques to allow the Roman soldiers to use their strengths.

Answer 9

Y'know, I'm going to say it's a tossup between the U.S. military (going from a bunch of rag-tag volunteers to a huge military power) and the Roman army (ancient history's butt-kickers; they "pwnd" almost all the known world).

The Roman army was kicking butt and taking names well before the U.S. It helped expand the empire from Rome to almost half of Europe and parts of North Africa as well as the Middle East.

The U.S. army came from a bunch of volunteer revolutionaries who wanted to let Britain know that their army and their empire had worn out its welcome. It won the war for independence, kicked British butt again in 1812, "pwnd" the Confederates, etc.

Answer 10

Ghengis Khan's marauders on the steppes of Asia in their massive fleet of cavalry-archers.