China’s reserve air force in training.
Being the biggest army in world doesn’t mean the best army in the world. Factors such as leadership, command and communications, morale, logistics, quality of weaponry, quality of training, and the distinction between professional and conscripted soldiers have to be taken into account. These factors mean a lot.
Take the first Gulf War, for instance. On paper the Iraqi Army looked formidable. It had several hundred thousand soldiers in its ranks, as well as a few thousand tanks and armoured personnel carriers. But it was totally crap when it came to the crunch of battle. Up against the USA and UK it was a bloodbath of almost biblical proportions. The poor buggers were generally hopeless and had no interest in fighting. The land war was over in about 100 hours.
For the sake of convenience, we’re looking at the number of active army soldiers ready to fight, as well as adding personnel from the navy, air force, special operations, and marines.
The biggest army in the world belongs to China. As of early 2014, China has approximately 2,285,000 soldiers on active duty. If this army was a nation it would be ranked 141st in size, making it more populous than than Qatar, Slovenia or Iceland.
Short answer: China has the biggest army in the world and, no, they don’t all look alike. In contrast the USA has the most powerful army in the world and will fight anyone as long as there is oil involved. Even your mum.
