Indeed the only way to really compare the actual power of the different armies would be a direct confrontation between them. But there are less drastic methods for measuring the military capabilities of countries, such as power ratings.
The website Global Firepower index presented a list of nations by military power. The authors use the so-called 'Global Firepower Index' ('overall rate of firepower'), which is made considering different data hosts from different countries.
The list takes into account geographic and industry factors and penalizes landlocked countries that lack fleet, but does not measure the nuclear capacity. Overall it is a more quantitative than qualitative list.
- United States of America
- Russia
- China
- India
- United Kingdom
- France
- South Korea
- Germany
- Japan
- Turkey
- Israel
- Indonesia
- Australia
- Canada
- Taiwan
- Italy
- Pakistan
- Egypt
- Poland
- Thailand
- Vietnam
- Brazil
- Iran
- Sweden
- Ukraine
- Singapore
- Algeria
- Saudi Arabia
- Czech Republic
- Switzerland
- Mexico
- South Africa
- Norway
- Austria
- Malaysia
- North Korea
- Netherlands
- Spain
- Denmark
- Philippines
- Nigeria
- Syria
- Chile
- Myanmar
- Belarus
- Ethiopia
- Argentina
- Finland
- Morocco
- United Arab Emirates
For many people represents history mainly war, expansion, new territories, whether in the context of enlargement of territory, wealth or in the name of God...