The Largest Armies in History

The first wars on record took place in Mesopotamia close to five thousand years ago. Since then, army size, as well as human population worldwide, has grown exponentially. According to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, today nearly 28 million armed forces personnel stand at the ready globally. By comparison, about 70 million soldiers fought in World War II, 42 million of them from the United States, the Soviet Union, Germany, and Japan – whose armies and related services were four of the largest ever rallied to the battlefield. 

Some of history’s largest fighting forces were assembled by six Chinese dynasties, ranging from the 575,000 troops in the ninth-century Tang Dynasty to the 1,300,000 million fielded by the Ming Dynasty in the 1500s. (Troop numbers in the People’s Republic of China peaked in 1980 with nearly 4.9 million soldiers, the eighth-largest fighting force ever assembled.)

The Korean Peninsula is the hottest military zone on the planet based on the number of boots on the ground. South Korea has formed the seventh largest army in history, estimated at 5.2 million soldiers in 2000, in order to keep its northern adversary in check. These figures, when combined with North Korea’s 9,495,000 troops, make it plain to see how large an army this region commands. (In contrast, these are nations without a military.)

24/7 Wall St. reviewed a list of military superpowers from Business Insider to determine the largest armies in history. Armies were ranked based on the total number of troops serving a country or empire at the point when the army was at its largest. (These are the countries with the largest militaries today.)

Here are the largest armies in history

19. Tang Dynasty

Tang Pottery Horse & Rider2 (CC BY-SA 4.0) by Gary Todd

• Troops: 575,000
• Circa: 800

18. Jin Dynasty

• Troops: 600,000
• Circa: 1200

17. Sui Dynasty

• Troops: 650,000
• Circa: 600

16. Song Dynasty

• Troops: 810,000
• Circa: 1000

15. Mongol Empire

• Troops: 900,000
• Circa: 1300

14. Mughal Empire

Fatehpur Sikri, Ornamental Poo... (CC BY 2.0) by Arian Zwegers

• Troops: 900,000
• Circa: 1700

13. Qing Dynasty

• Troops: 1,100,000
• Circa: 1850

12. Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty Tombs (CC BY 2.0) by Jorge Lu00c3u00a1scar

• Troops: 1,300,000
• Circa: 1500

11. Russian Empire

• Troops: 1,500,000
• Circa: 1910

10. United States (Union)

• Troops: 2,100,000
• Circa: 1865

9. French Empire

• Troops: 2,500,000
• Circa: 1800

8. People’s Republic of China

• Troops: 4,850,000
• Circa: 1980

7. South Korea

• Troops: 5,190,000
• Circa: 2000

6. German Empire

• Troops: 5,300,000
• Circa: 1918

5. Japanese Empire

• Troops: 6,983,000
• Circa: Aug. 1945

4. North Korea

• Troops: 9,495,000
• Circa: 2014

3. Soviet Union

• Troops: 11,000,000
• Circa: June 1943

2. German Reich

• Troops: 12,070,000
• Circa: June 1944

1. United States

• Troops: 12,209,000
• Circa: Aug. 1945