The USA and then nothing for a long time? This is the world order when it comes purely to investment in national armed forces. As the chart below shows, the USA invested many times more than any other nation in its armed forces back in the 1950s. Little has changed in the balance of power in the decades that have followed, with only the other places being more crowded. For many years, Germany invested the second most in its armed forces, followed by France, Japan and the UK, before – starting in the 2000s – China began to overtake and is now in second place behind the USA, ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia. However, the world looked different in the 1910s and 1920s, when other nations repeatedly invested the most money in their armed forces – but it’s best to see for yourself.
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