| NOTE: I'll be updating the site throughout the month (11/1 - 11/30) and reworking the GFP ranking formula.
If history has shown the observer one thing, it is that war follows man like a shadow. According to one source, documented history has only recorded roughly 300 years of known peace on our planet - leaving thousands of years open to conflicts of varying degrees. Interestingly enough, that mostly unknown fact enlightens us to recognize that there has been some source of conflict - be it religious, ethnic, territorial or otherwise - between two or more parties on our planet consistently for thousands of years. GlobalFirepower.com (GFP) provides a unique analytical display of information on countries covering the world with information based on various public sources. Countries covered include the major global players prominent in today's international landscape along with other smaller nations making the news - this spectrum helping to produce a broad comparison of military might throughout the globe.
The user should note that nuclear capability, individual unit experience, equipment quality and training are not taken into account. This listing is purely a numbers game to spark debate and including such game changers as nuclear weapons would clearly defeat the purpose of this site. In any case, most every nation going to war would refrain from using nuclear warfare unless it meant the very existence of said nation was at stake. Individual unit experience is hard to gauge with a number. Likewise, equipment quality may change drastically from decade to decade with some of these changes going unreported at times. As such, the comparisons here are meant to be considered for a "straight-up" war solely based on a nation's capabilities on land, sea and through the air - be it a war of offense or defense in nature.
Keep in mind that some factors can have a reverse effect in some cases. Take for example waterways. Having kilometers of waterway available to a nation means that commerce and transportation of supplies, manpower and combat materials is made easier. On the other hand - should these waterways fall under an occupier's control - that waterway total now works in favor of the occupier and directly against the defending country. Roadways can have a similar advantage/disadvantage in much the same way territory in any conflict is won/lost (hence the inclusion of Square Land Area as well).
So enjoy the numbers - it's hardly a super-accurate scientific measurement of military strengths but entertaining to consider at the very least. I'll be revising the GFP formula this week (10/27 - 10/31) to update the year-old ranking and looking at new factors to influence a given nation's strength.
What happened to the aircraft, navy and tank totals pages?
Those became sorely outdated (2002/2003) and thus pretty much inaccurate. Without any new resource to verify totals, I decided to drop those sections for the time being until I find some updated numbers for you. |
