Which country has the most powerful military after or not counting the United States?

Question

Who's number 2? overall? Or who is number one if you don't think the USA is which it probably is

Answer 1

china by numbers russia by have nukes.

Answer 2

The most powerful besides the US would be Russia. I don't care if China does have the largest amount of people, Israel has proven that a smaller military force can ruin a bigger forces day, well heck history has proven that as well. Russia still has the weapon systems, infrastructure, and the willingness to use it when it matters. Their weapons development programs are now back into the picture with their economy recovering and they are after all the ones we have a nuclear detente with. China's military production is just now getting to the point they don't have to lean on Russian technology. Training and experience are a different matter.

Answer 3

'Depends on how you rate powerful.

Overall, the United States still sets at the top of the heap given its capability to wage on all theatres, all environs -- land, air, and sea and the speed and dispatch with which it can deploy...and there is the monetary strength, which far exceeds that of other countries.

However, consider this -- if one has ever beheld the training that the Chinese army recruit undergoes in basic training, one would have to wonder just what is the meaning of "most powerful" -- because theirs 'is' rigorous indeed: those guys are fit and nimble: for example, they are trained to climb and scale buildings and edifices as would any spider or insect and with as equal facility and sure-handedness! Their training entails broader areas of engagement and natural makeup as well, for which the idea of improvising is all but innate in them.

Their diets from birth are completely different from Westerners' diets and thus are their cardio-vascular systems well-conditioned at the outset, providing incredible durability.

Their numbers are yet large as are those of the Russians'.

Man-for-man, pound-for-pound both countries are fit from not having lived lives of comparative ease to that of, say, the United States -- or Britain.

If you should speak of the technological aspect, well, Britain would certainly be up there, but so would Russia: consider their low techologies like the Russian AK-47, still the preferred military assault weapon; and again their high technologies such as that of aerospace technologies.

A good source to get this information with which you can better categorize things for yourself is the World Fact Book, published by the CIA, or from one of the think thanks or intelligentsias such as the Center for Defense Information.

Then you can narrow things down for yourself, aside from all the vainglory and hyperbole got up by the John Wayne types of spins.

Answer 4

Depends on how you measure it.

IF you want nukes... well Russia has the most nukes.

By sheer numbers it would be China.

Thing is, neither Russia or China has the LOGISTICS needed to do much of anything with their military. They can beat on you if you come into their country... but they don't have the ability to deploy force (at least non-nuclear force) to come into YOUR country and beat on you. This makes them a lot less powerful in the real world than they look on paper.

Barring a direct nuclear attack by an ICBM, there is nothing either one of them could do to Australia, Panama, Cuba, Bolivia, Congo, etc. They can mess with the countries next door, they can even drop a few bombs on nations nearby, but they can't REALLY mess with anyone who is very far away.

The UK however CAN mess with you, no matter where you are on the planet... they proved that in the Falklands War. Argentina didn't think the UK could send forces that far from London, much less sustain them... but they were wrong.

Now the UK can't deploy enough force to take out a big nation like China or India (at least not anymore) but they could certianly deploy enough in the way of troops to take and hold most of the smaller nations of the planet, and they could even make a respectable dent in some of the larger ones.

So I would have to say the UK is the 2nd most powerful military on the planet.

Answer 5

Still after all the years of decline Russia has the most powerfull military after the US It will be interesting to see how the cold war might be heating upagain now that Putkin has a whole bunch of petro dollars to rebuild and redeploy his millitary

Answer 6

Russia

Answer 7

Britian has downgraded their navy so much that there is talk Norway has a bigger Navy. I would say it's India. China has a hive problem. Once the hive gets too far from the center, it breaks off into another hive. If the Chinese military was to walk to Moscow, they would be speaking Russian by the time they got there. India's military doesn't have that problem. India also has "blue water" capability, while the Chinese are still basically a coastal navy. India is a lot closer to all the goodies such and oil and trade routes. Trying to embago India would cost the people more placing the embago than India would loose in trade from the easy blockade running.

Answer 8

The British most likely.

Answer 9

Turkey. 2nd largest in NATO (after the USA). Has large amounts of quick, rapid deployment forces, 21 submarines, a lot of American military hand me downs. It's the 9th largest army in the world too.

Answer 10

Russia has the most nuclear weapons, so obviously they rule. Numbers in soldiers do not matter if there isn't superior firepower.

Answer 11

Russia soley based on their nukes and technical knowledge. Their conevntional force is horrible though. Conventionally I would say Israel.