What were the ten countries with the best military right after World War 2?

Answer 1

Answer

Immediately following the war, the number of nations with great militaries was small. The traditional powers with strong militaries, such as Germany, Italy and Japan, essentially had no military strength.

The USA had the overall strongest military for many years after WWII. While experiencing various ups and downs, the USA continues to this day to have the strongest military, more than sixty years after the end of the war.

Certainly the USA had the greatest fleet in 1945, being larger than all the rest of the worlds fleets combined. The amphibious assault force of the navy, the Marine Corp, was also the finest of its kind. The USA air force (not a separate branch at the time) was the worlds largest with outstanding quality in pilots, equipment and logistics. The bomber wing was as large as all the rest of the world's force combined. Technologically the USA had the overall finest force too, with world leadership in nuclear technology and electronics.The American industrial and resource base was also the largest on the planet, and could quite easily support a large and active military.

The weakest part of the USA force was the army. The army performed spottily in WWII and lacked top notch equipment. American tanks and small arms were below the standards of the Germans and Russians. While logistics were strong, American combat effectiveness was far below that of those two nations at their top form. American artillery, was of good quality but was vastly outnumbered by the Soviet forces.

The Soviets had the second strongest military. Their army was far and away the finest on the planet with outstanding quality and vast numbers of tanks and artillery. Their tactical air force was strong. Their navy was mainly a coastal force. They possessed a huge industrial base to support these forces and had the Natural Resources for a long war.

Britain was bankrupted by the war and had been propped up by USA finances for years. I guess you can give them third place on this list but their effectiveness was again just an extention of the USA and would collapse to second rate status without American support. Their industrial base was, on paper, strong, but lacked resources other than via their colonies...those becoming increasily insecure as time passed.

Beyond this you would find the French - a medium quality army armed entirely with USA weapons. No real fighting force beyong their national borders. No navy. Weak economy.

China had a credible military but it was split between the Reds and the Nationalists. Following the victory by the Reds, the Chinese army became a force to reckon with, as the USA discovered in Korea 1950. The Chinese air and naval arms were negligible. The Chinese industrial and resource base was limited during the 1940's.

Canada likely would be next since they had put together a significant combined armed force for WWII, even being able to support an entire beach on D Day by themselves. They had the resources and industry to support this military independently. I'd place them sixth, although you could argue them up to fourth or fifth.

Beyond this there were no military powers beyond those capable of securing their own national borders - Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, Australia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Argentina. None of these nations had the industrial or resource base to support a large military, certainly not one capable of launching any operations larger than a raid, beyond their borders.

As you can see, among the significant powers, the only two credible camps were the communist with Russia and China in the lead and the American with the USA, Britain and France in the lead. It was thus natural for the world to split along those lines and form a 'cold war' for many decades.