top most powerful armies in the world

In all of our searching and all of our reading, we have never found a country with a more hilarious military system than Sweden. Not even Norway, and they are giving knighthoods to penguins! Two stories will perfectly illustrate our point. Firstly, a couple of years ago a young Swedish guy came across a military uniform that was for sale. Rather liking the snappy style of the most powerful army in the world as he thought he bought it. It wasn t until he got home that he realised that the sergeant grading was still on the uniform. That meant that if he wanted to, he could go into a military compound in the uniform, and he would probably pass by completely unnoticed. And so he did! With the uniform on and a stiff upper lip (already, so we re guessing about the stiff upper lip), this guy attending a live fire exercise for three whole days before officials realised that no one had any idea who he was. And as if that story was not amazing enough, it was revealed a couple of years ago that the Swedish research department for the armed forces, not happy with the global firepower that they already had, was seriously considering training moose to carry soldiers into battle. You could see their point: it would be hard to argue that Sweden wasn t one of the strongest armies in the world if they could charge at you through deep snow on a moose.

When children learn about the Second World War, they are often reminded, several times, that Switzerland remained neutral all the way through the war. This is a commonly known fact. What is not so commonly known, however, is that there was another European country that demanded that its army, despite many thinking that it was the most powerful army in the world, should not get involved. That country is the Netherlands. The Netherlands was neutral all the way through the First World War, avoiding the carnage that Belgium, another neutral country, had to suffer through, but in the Second World War, all of that changed. Mainly because Hitler decided to invade in 1940. The Netherlands were simply not prepared for war on that sort of scale, or any sort of scale for that matter. The Germans global firepower was too much for them, and the Netherlands was defeated in May 1940. Despite that terrible experience that the entire country had to go through, the Netherlands emerged from the Second World War even more determined to be neutral again. They didn t want to get involved with the strongest armies in the world, they just wanted to be left alone. That all changed in 1948, when they signed the Treaty of Brussels and helped to create NATO in 1949. since then, the Netherlands have had men and women sent all over the world.

Unusually for such a well developed country as Mexico, their armed forces are not combined into one large group, but instead are two distinct and completely independent groups. This can often make it difficult when you are thinking about whether or not Mexico has the most powerful army in the world, because technically it doesn t. It just has two very strong armed forces, but they do not work together, and have no real desire to. On the one hand, you have the Mexican Army, which confusing includes the Mexican Air Force (don t ask us why, we have no idea). On the other hand, you have the Mexican Navy. There is absolutely no common personnel that these two groups share, and the only thing they have in common, apart from their names and the country that they serve, is that the President is technically in charge of both of them. Though we d like to see the President try. Unlike most of the strongest military in the world, the Mexican armed forces are not that interested in waging wars, stocking up on global firepower, and bullying their neighbours. They don t even have any tanks. Instead, a third of their time, effort, and money is centred on and invested in defences against natural disasters. Under the code of the Mexican armed forces,

There are very few countries that have stayed at war for as long as North Korea. The war originally broke out between two main groups in Korea, one based you guessed it in the North, and supporting the Communist Party that reigned supreme in the USSR and many other countries, and another group based in the South, that supported the old ways. The war last for around three years in the 1950s, and it only carried on for so long because the strongest military in the world at the time the USSR and China together supported the Communist rebels in the North. When it became clear that not even the most powerful army in the world could win the battles, an armistice was signed . . . but a peace treaty was never written, and that means that technically, North Korea and South Korea are still at war! Although North Korea does not have much to boast about with regards to its military, it does hold one world greatest record: North Korea has the biggest number of submarines. They have almost eighty! It may seem a little strange that they have invested so heavily in just one kind of global firepower, but you have to remember that South Korea only has one border: with them. The rest of it is surrounded by the ocean, so if you wanted to spy on them, then submarines would be your best bet.

The government of Singapore was so impressed with the military capabilities of Israel that when, in 1960, the British removed their military stations from Singapore effectively leaving it completely defenceless they decided to call in some Israeli advisors from the strongest military in the world, and get their help. The Israeli advisors argued that in order to become the most powerful army in the world or at least in the area where Singapore was they needed to bring in conscription. Singapore agreed, but instead made several changes to the way that it was organised in Israel. In fact, there are two main differences. Firstly, National Service is gendered: only male citizens are required to take part in National Service, whereas women are not. Secondly, there is almost no excuse whatsoever for not taking part. By the time that a boy reaches sixteen years and six months old, he must report to the government to organise his National Service. Believe it or not, there are currently sixteen people in jail in Singapore for refusing to do their National Service; there is a three year prison attached to refusing. All sixteen of them are Jehovah s Witnesses. But at the end of the day, you cannot train one of the strongest armies in the world without being a little bit brutal, and Singapore has had to be incredibly strict in the way that it deals with people that refuse to comply with its rules.

There will always be slightly strange people within the military. For some reason, the idea of getting your hands on global firepower than could destroy another country seems to attract some strange people. However, Norway is one of those countries that has not ended up with someone slightly odd high up in the command of a most powerful army in the world oh no. They invited him in. Or you could say they invited penguin. Because Sir Nils Olav, the Colonel in Chief of the Norwegian Royal Guard, is a penguin. A King Penguin, in fact, which is how it all started off. Back when Edinburgh Zoo was first opened in 1913, the country of Norway presented the zoo with its very first ever King Penguin by the Norwegian Royal Guard. Almost fifty years later, in 1961, when the Norwegian Royal Guard came back to visit, a member called Nils suggested that they adopt one of the penguins to be their mascot. King Olav V of Norway loved the idea, and the penguin was named Nils Olav in the two men s honour. The current penguin called Nils Olav is actually the third of that name, and was knighted in front of adoring crowds in 2008. The honour had the direct approval of the current king of Norway, Harald V, who gave a statement to be read out during the ceremony. It said that Nils Olav, the penguin, was

The army of Malaysia is a funny one; holding two completely contradictory ideals at the same time. Officially, the foreign policy is Malaysia makes it obvious that they hope never to have to need to use their army, making it the most powerful army in the world that will probably never be used! Many people think this is crazy, but hear them out. Just like other countries around the world, Malaysia has chosen to be considered neutral . That means that officially, Malaysia does not have any particular ties with any other country, and cannot get dragged into a war that they don t care about. It also means that they attempt to get on peacefully with all countries. All countries in the world, regardless of location, political system, and some would argue, human rights records. However, whilst holding all of these admirable ideals, Malaysia has also never recognised Israel, arguably the strongest military in the world, as a country. Which some would consider a little rude. Instead, Malaysia is a strong believer in the State of Palestine. Whether or not you agree with them, it is hard to ignore the fact that despite their amazing global firepower potential, Malaysia is a strong peacekeeping presence in many other countries, including Lebanon, as well as other United Nations peacekeeping missions. It may not make you one of the strongest armies in the world, but it certainly helps.

South Africa is still known all around the world today for something that it is incredibly ashamed of: apartheid. Since Nelson Mandela took a stand against injustice and discrimination, the country has been attempting to recover, and in many ways, it has. Before apartheid was over thrown, the army was called the South African Defence Force, and it was primarily a tool to use against those that the government did not like. If you rebelled against the government, tried to avoid the ridiculous laws and rules, or heaven forbid, not be white, then you were in for trouble. Who is going to argue with the strongest military in the world? Some of the most disturbing images and videos of the time when South Africa was under apartheid are of members of the South African Defence Force hurting innocent people. But when Nelson Mandela was finally able to begin again, in 1994, all of that changed. The military was re created in 1994 as a protector of the people, not as its controller. The new constitution in effect totally changed the way that South Africans saw one of the strongest armies of the world, because now it was there to help them, not to harm them.

When we say colonial power , which countries do you think of? Most people will immediately think of the British Empire, and others will imagine Spaniards crossing over the ocean, using their global firepower to take land and gold from the Incas. Others will imagine the strongest armies of the world converging in Africa, arguing over who gets which portion. Still others cannot imagine a more powerful army in the world than that of Ancient Rome, the army that ruled almost all of the known world during its time. But almost nobody mentions Portugal. Almost everyone has forgotten that for countries such as Angola, Guinea, and Mozambique, the Portuguese army was the strongest military in the world for many years, and it kept them as colonies right into the 1970s. From 1961 until 1974, wars raged in these countries as the locals demanded their right to self rule, and the Portuguese hung desperately onto their empire power. But in many ways, it is remarkable that they were able to keep going for so long. Portugal is hardly a big country, and they were trying to ensure that their army was successful in not one, not two, but three different and separate wars. You can be the strongest military in the world, but sometimes the odds are just against you. Now, of course, those three countries are completely independent and allowed to run themselves, but even within the last thirty years, the story of one of the last colonial wars has already been forgotten.