In recent years, the international situation has been turbulent, starting with the Russia-Ukraine war in Eastern Europe, then Israel's ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip, renewed clashes in northern Myanmar, and continued provocation by the United States and Japan in the Far East.
In addition, the economic downturn around the world and the political and social turmoil in various countries show a situation in which war is about to come in full swing.
Nowadays, discussions about the "Third World War" have begun to rise on the world Internet, and one of the topics "If the Third World War breaks out and the number of Chinese troops rises to 100 million, will the world pattern change?"
There is no doubt that the strength of the army has been and will be the key factor in determining the victory or defeat on the battlefield, but it is definitely not the only one.
In future wars, whether or not the mainland can use these 100 million troops scientifically, rationally, and flexibly will be the decisive factor in the victory of the war.
What China will never lack is soldiers
At present, the mainland has about 2 million military personnel, including 910,000 in the army, 300,000 in the navy, 400,000 in the air force, and 140,000 in the rocket force (formerly the Second Artillery Corps).
Although the mainland ranks first in the world in terms of military numbers, the number of soldiers on the mainland accounts for only 1.18% of the total population, which is far lower than the proportion of the United States and Russia in the total population.
The strength of these 2 million troops alone is still the result of the mainland's 11 military cuts, and you must know that the mainland's military strength reached as much as 6.27 million at its peak.
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the total number of PLA troops on the mainland was about 5.5 million, and there was no formal air force and navy at that time.
In view of the basic peace in the country, which required a large amount of manpower to be invested in nation-building, the first disarmament was carried out, and the total number of PLA personnel was reduced to 4 million.
The second disarmament was carried out in the form of a decisive victory in the large-scale domestic anti-bandit operation, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea had shifted to the stage of positional defensive operations, and a relatively stable situation had emerged, so the number of troops mobilized to resist US aggression and aid Korea was reduced from 6.27 million to 4 million before the war.
Since then, nine disarmaments have been carried out, and the number of troops on the mainland has been decreasing, except for the sixties and seventies of the last century, when the number of troops increased to 6.1 million in response to the military threat of the Soviet Union and neighboring countries.
Until September 3, 2015, the number of mainland troops was reduced to 2 million, which became an all-time low.
In the early days of the founding of New China, the population of the mainland was more than 500 million, but now the population of the mainland is as high as 1.4 billion, of which about 300 million are middle-aged and young people who meet the requirements for military service.
At present, the mainland armed forces are composed of five major theaters, with six major branches of the armed forces, including the army, navy, air force, rocket force, strategic support force, and joint logistics support force.
In addition to the 2 million active duty soldiers, there are 510,000 reservists, and 624,000 paramilitaries.
In 2022, the mainland has more than 5,000 tanks, about 35,000 armored vehicles, and about 1,200 fighter jets.
What about the data of other major countries in the world today?
The military strength of the other great powers of the world
If a major war breaks out in the future, the world power or military power will certainly have its presence, and the entry or withdrawal of a certain country or a certain regional country from the two belligerents will have a direct effect on the final outcome of the war.
Today, the world's top military powers are the United States, Russia, India, Japan, Western Europe and other countries or regions.
The world's only supermilitary power - the United States
The status of the United States as the world's only supermilitary power is almost universally recognized, and its overall military capability and advanced military equipment are enough to defeat any country in the world.
At present, the United States has six major branches of the military, including the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, with a total of about 1.43 million active-duty soldiers, accounting for 0.5 percent of the US population.
The U.S. military has 6,612 tanks, 45,193 armored vehicles, 1,957 fighter planes, and about 1,386 nuclear weapons, accounting for 30 percent of the world's nuclear arsenal.
In 2012, the United States spent $711 billion on its military, half of the military spending of all other countries in the world combined.
And these are only 3% of the country's GDP, which in wartime is far more than all other countries combined today.
Since World War I, the United States has directly or indirectly participated in almost all major wars or conflicts in the world.
The former successor to the military superpower - Russia
Russia, as the largest member state of the former Soviet Union, inherited most of the Soviet Union's military weapons and became the only existence that can rival the United States at the military level.
It also has five major branches of the military, the army, navy, aviation and space forces, airborne forces, and strategic rocket forces.
There are 1.15 million active military personnel in Russia, accounting for 0.8% of the Russian population.
The armed forces have 12,420 tanks, 30,122 armored vehicles, 722 fighter planes, and 1,458 nuclear weapons, accounting for 33 percent of the world's nuclear arsenal and a little higher than the United States.
In 2017, Russia's military spending was $49.1 billion, ranking third in the world, but its ultra-long-range nuclear strike capability is unparalleled, and Russia's nuclear weapons range can even cover the entire territory of the United States.
Although Russia's advanced economy is in poor form, its terrifying war mobilization and production capacity is also invincible in the world, coupled with its territory spanning more than 17 million square kilometers of the Eurasian continent and extremely rich strategic resources, it has a powerful strategic counteroffensive capability.
India, a magical country on the rise
India, the largest country in South Asia, now has a population of about 1.3 billion.
With 1.32 million active military personnel, or 0.11 percent of India's population, it remains the fourth largest armed force in the world.
In 2022, India has 4,614 tanks, 12,000 armored vehicles, 564 fighter jets, and about 130 nuclear weapons.
In recent years, India has continuously strengthened its military construction, with a national defense budget of $49.6 billion, a basically complete military industrial system and military system, and its important strategic position also makes it occupy an important position in international relations
A potential military power that cannot be ignored - Japan
Although Japan accepted peaceful reform after its defeat in World War II and only retained its self-defense forces, there were clear restrictions on its military budget and weapons, and in principle, it was not allowed to possess offensive weapons such as missiles and aircraft carriers.
However, despite the revival of the United States and Japanese militarism, Japan's military strength and weaponry should not be underestimated.
In 2022, Japan has 1,004 tanks, 5,500 armored vehicles, 217 fighter jets and 155 ships.
Moreover, Japan's military budget is as high as $47.4 billion, ranking among the top 10 military spendings in the world all year round.
In recent years, Japan has gradually revised its pacifist constitution and followed the United States in participating in extraterritorial international affairs, thus accumulating a certain amount of experience in modern warfare.
Moreover, Japan has always sought the strength of a political power, and its wolf ambitions, combined with the world's third-largest economic strength, will certainly be the most unstable factor in future wars.
In addition, the military powers that cannot be ignored include the European Union composed of France, Germany, Italy and other Western European countries, Brazil, a large South American country, and the two small overlords of the "East Asian monster room" - North Korea and South Korea are all forces that cannot be underestimated.
The Third World War Camp Scenario
Let's take a guess about the belligerents of World War III.
According to the previous two world wars, to a large extent, the world will be divided into four camps, led by the United States, including Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, the Philippines and other twenty or thirty countries composed of the "Western" camp;
The "Eastern" camp, led by China and Russia, and composed of more than a dozen countries including North Korea, Pakistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the former Soviet republics;
Led by Western Europe or India, including France, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Asia, South America, and African countries, fifty or sixty countries are in the "riding the wall" camp;
Finally, there is the "neutral" camp composed of about fifty or sixty countries, including Ruidan, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates, and South Africa.
The trigger for the war may be a certain conflict, and after the outbreak of the war, the United States, Japan, Australia, and other countries in the Western camp in Asia may quickly organize forces to intervene militarily on the mainland.
The United States may be able to send six aircraft carrier battle groups to the western Pacific Ocean to launch the first round of missile attacks on the mainland from the southeast, south, and north near Midway Island and Hawaii Island, but most of them will be intercepted by our troops, and the third world war will officially begin in full swing.
After that, the mainland and Russia quickly formed an alliance to carry out the first round of carpet fixed-point bombing counterattacks against military bases in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia and other places where the missiles were launched, and issued a national war mobilization order, and 100 million young and middle-aged people of school-age responded to the call.
The 100 million people were divided into three waves, the first wave of about 20 million direct combatants, the second wave of about 30 million reservists, the third wave of 45 million strategic support personnel, and the fourth wave of about 3 million special personnel.
In the early days of the war, both sides exercised great restraint and did not use nuclear and satellite weapons.
All sides tacitly controlled the battlefield on the eastern Pacific coast and in central Europe and the Balkans, and both sides went back and forth, each with casualties, but did not touch the core of the homeland.
In the middle of the war, it was difficult to decide the winner in a short period of time with twin-engine conventional weapons, and both sides made nuclear threats and controlled yield explosions in the eastern Pacific.
At this time, the northern coast of the mainland and the Korean Peninsula were affected, and the Japanese island of Kyushu was greatly impacted, volcanic eruptions, sea levels rose, and Japan's land territory was reduced by 90%.
At this point, wars will begin to break out in the vicinity of neutral countries or other countries.
At the same time, the mainland's Dongfeng Express was received in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and Alaska, the west coast of the United States was destroyed, the southern border was in turmoil, the Russian Kirov nuclear submarine also appeared frequently on the east coast of the Atlantic, and the International Space Station of the United States and military satellites of the Western world crashed or lost contact.
Finally, the war entered into limited and nuclear blackmail, and the conventional war continued, at which point the great economic power of China and the United States began to show its superiority, and China and the United States became the absolute main force of the warring parties.
It is difficult for both sides to completely defeat each other with conventional weapons, and nuclear weapons have the ability to annihilate the other side, and they also have the ability to counterattack with secondary nuclear weapons, so the two sides have not directly used nuclear weapons on the other side's homeland.
On the other hand, although the mainland has paid tens of thousands of casualties, the return of the treasure island and the completion of Japan's loss of war capability have greatly encouraged the military and civilians.
Since then, anti-war sentiment has emerged in the Western camp, and the EU has taken the lead in France and Germany, saying that it will choose complete neutrality and will not allow any belligerents to engage in any form of communication.
In the Eastern Bloc, there is also a short-term shortage of food, food, and medicine, and except for Russia, North Korea, Pakistan and other foreign countries, the rest of the Eastern Bloc countries have also withdrawn or have no troops to fight.
By this time, China's powerful industrial capacity and well-established military system were beginning to demonstrate their capabilities, whether it was national morale or armament guarantees, as well as the frontal and behind-enemy activities of 100 million military personnel, which caused headaches for the Western camp led by the United States.
At this time, China, the United States, Russia, and Europe began to make secret contacts, and after three months of talks, all sides agreed to an armistice, and the United States agreed to withdraw from the eastern Pacific with Hawaii as the boundary.
China has pledged not to liquidate the war with Western belligerents such as Australia, the Philippines, and Malaysia, and to guarantee their political independence.
The European Union and NATO have decided to reduce their sphere of influence to the pre-2000 level, and to guarantee with Russia that the countries of Eastern and Central Europe will always be politically neutral and that no parties will interfere in political elections in the region.
With the signing of the peace declaration by the four parties and the end of World War III, the United States basically lost its global hegemony and entered a new world order dominated by relatively multi-level domination.
We Chinese love peace, but we are absolutely not afraid of war.
National reunification is the long-cherished wish of the Chinese people, and it will be realized in the near future; if external forces interfere, we will not hesitate to send 300 million or even 1 billion troops to participate in the war, not to mention 100 million combatants.