As the saying goes, when a cannon goes off, there are ten thousand taels of gold. From ancient times to the present, raising an army has been a very money-burning thing. If a country has built a strong army by desperately throwing money at it, the money has been spent in the local area. But if it costs a lot of money, the troops will still be unbearable, and the military budget will be wasted.
There are five countries in the world whose armies consume sky-high military expenditures every year, but they do not achieve the combat effectiveness they should have. In fact, these five strong and middle-cadre units, known to the outside world as the "division of tigers and wolves," are in fact unable to support a large-scale, all-round modern war. Which country are these five money-burning troops whose real level is far inferior to their strength on paper? Where are their defects? Let's have a good talk today.
The number one among the world's military powers, which must have surprised many people, is the French army. As one of the "P5" powers, France naturally has strong financial resources. Compared with its high military spending, the combat effectiveness of the French army can only be said to be barely able to cope with things, and it cannot compete with the world's top armies.
In the face of the troops of second- and third-rate countries, the French army can be hanged and beaten, and it is not a problem to beat the "federal fat chicken" German army, which is not decent. But the "five constants" are all high-end games, Ferrari and wheelchair drag racing, and winning can't prove anything. The true level of the French army depends on the chances of victory against the United States, Russia and other military powers.
Unfortunately, the combat effectiveness of the French army is completely incomparable with that of the United States and Russia, and sometimes it is even worse than that of the British army, which is in decline. During the Syrian civil war, the United States, Russia, Britain, and France all sent troops, and the French army performed the most strained, and the army artillery regiment was almost killed by the local guerrillas.
The reasons for the embarrassing situation of the French army lie mainly in two aspects. First, there is the problem of morale within the troops, and second, the government's strategic confusion has led to "a nest of bears."
France is one of the few major countries in Europe that has not joined NATO, and the country's military construction affairs are all independently responsible for its own affairs. This is a valuable political asset left over from the de Gaulle era, but it has gradually been dismantled by later politicians.
As "Gaullism" became more and more declining in the political arena, the pro-US faction gained a great right to speak, and France's national defense construction gradually changed from being aggressive and enterprising in striving to research cutting-edge weapons to "lying flat" in clinging to the United States. Under the influence of this mentality, the French army was not only slow to iterate on heavy weapons, but also had problems with military discipline.
In France, fewer and fewer people were willing to serve in the army, and the French army could only absorb a large number of foreign mercenaries to fill the force. However, these African-American and middle-Eastern soldiers who joined the army either for military pay or for transfer qualifications have no subjective initiative in combat, and are happy to "be a monk for a day and hit the clock for a day".
If it's just veterans everywhere, it's actually okay, the key is that many French mercenaries have no experience in fighting on the front line, and the overall quality of the troops is naturally not visible. Because the autonomy of national defense is getting worse and worse, and the French military leadership has no incentive to restrain them, which leads to the fact that the mercenaries are not able to fight, and the discipline and obedience of the soldiers are also outrageous.
A unit with more and more bastards and incomparably lax military discipline will inevitably have a very low morale and will not be able to inspire any decent combat effectiveness. The morale problem at the surface was caused by a major disarray in the French government's national defense strategy.
They have always had a pro-US tradition, and since the beginning of the new century, this policy inertia has gradually spread to the field of national defense. However, at the same time, the French are unwilling to be just the "little brothers" of the United States, which leads to hesitation and vacillation in military affairs.
When the Russian-Ukrainian conflict first broke out, Macron originally wanted to mediate, but Biden knocked him down, and he had to reluctantly follow the United States to aid Ukraine. When it comes to the country's border defense, France is also changing its orders overnight, flattering NATO today, and putting on a big "five permanent" shelf tomorrow. The capricious national defense policy has led to great confusion among the grassroots units and has seriously weakened their combat effectiveness.
On the surface, it is the "five constant" iron army, but in fact it is already in danger, and the French army can be said to be the most overrated army in combat effectiveness on the European continent. And in Asia, the South Korean army, which is far less powerful than it boasts, is the South Korean army.
The rapid take-off of the ROK military's overall strength came after the Korean War. In order to fight the Soviet Union, the United States stationed troops in South Korea after the war and established a military base. It can be said that the Korean army was raised by Lao Mei little by little, and its actual level is far inferior to its strength on paper, which is also due to this reason.
On the surface, the ROK navy, army, and air force have a total of more than 600,000 troops, and most of them are equipped with US weapons, making them an important military force in East Asia. But on closer examination, the command of the South Korean military has always been held by the United States, and the only thing that the government can mobilize with full power is the Self-Defense Forces, which account for a small proportion.
Even the regular troops of the ROK army, in which the United States holds most of the command, are not more effective than Erer. The resources of the old US military bases are highly inclined to their own US forces, and the ROK military can only select the rest of the US troops stationed in South Korea, regardless of instructors or weapons and equipment. In this way, the real combat effectiveness of the ROK army will naturally be greatly reduced.
From fighting Somali pirates, to stopping riots in Africa, to raiding terrorist groups' nests, the South Korean military has not independently completed a mission assigned by the United Nations Security Council. Every time, the troops of the United States, Russia, and other major powers rushed to the front, and the ROK army at most fought to engage in logistics. The Korean drama "Descendants of the Sun", which blew the Korean army into the sky, actually has many stories about stealing the deeds of our peacekeeping troops.
The world's strongest and most powerful armies, the French army in Europe and the South Korean army in Asia, can be described as a pair of "sleeping dragons and phoenixes". However, there are also differences between the two, and the South Korean army is not as "lonely" as the French army. In southern Asia, there were two armies that accompanied the South Korean army as "paper tigers", that is, the Thai army and the Indian army.
The Thai army has always boasted of being a strong army in Southeast Asia, and it is complacent about the American warships and artillery purchased at high prices. But history has told us countless times that if a country wants to improve its military strength, it is not enough to just throw money at it, and the strategic awareness of the head of state must also keep up. Otherwise, it will be an army in the era of cold weapons in the cloak of "advanced".
Unfortunately, the king of Thailand, the supreme leader of Thailand, is a mediocre talent who is obsessed with the "legend of Zhen Huan" in the harem, and he does not know how to use advanced armaments after purchasing them. Thailand is the only military in Southeast Asia that has an aircraft carrier, but the Thai army does not even park a single fighter plane on it, and it does not even fire a few heavy torpedoes.
What's even more excessive is that in order to make money, the Thai army actually opened the aircraft carrier to tourists, and even the inner cabin has become a tourist attraction. Military fans are happy, but the Thai aircraft carrier has no secrets at all, and if it really starts a war, the enemy will fight one by one. And the little ticket money earned by the Thai army at a huge cost is not even enough for the fuel and maintenance costs of the aircraft carrier.
In addition to the aircraft carrier's lack of business, the internal organizational structure of the Thai military is also very fascinating. Thailand has a total of 300,000 standing troops, and as a result, there are as many as 2,000 military commanders at the level of generals. As for the grassroots commanders at the battalion and company levels, there are even more numerous.
The Thai government spends nearly $8 billion a year on military spending, and more than half of it goes into the pockets of this group of officers, large and small. The reason why the Thai army has many officials and is highly corrupt is determined by the monarchy.
Within the Thai army, all powerful families will send representatives to serve as commanders, and the higher the rank, the harder the background. This group of people has little military talent, but they have a great ability to make money, and the king of Thailand does not dare to touch the "basic plate" of maintaining his own rule, so he turns a blind eye. Such an army that is corrupt to the bones naturally has no actual combat effectiveness.
And all kinds of problems of the Thai army are also found in a South Asian army, which is the Indian army that is full of bragging, and the actual war is scum. India's caste system has not been substantially abolished, and those who can sit in high positions in the Indian army are all military speakers of the elite forces.
This group of Indian army generals did not understand the battle, but they had two magic weapons, one was to engage in nepotism, and the other was to replace the development of an independent military industrial system with "buy, buy, buy." The Indian army often uses intermarriage and other methods to transfer benefits behind their backs, and the large amount of military expenditure allocated by the government is divided into their own private pockets.
At the same time, the Indian army's "Wanguo" weapons and equipment are also famous. Due to the lack of the ability to produce military products independently, the Indian army, from bombers to machine guns, has core secrets in the hands of the producing countries. If you really want to fight, it is tantamount to giving people a handle.
The armies of France, South Korea, Thailand, and India all boast of their strength, but in fact they are vulnerable and are nothing more than "paper tigers." There is another army that is as famous as them, and its real combat effectiveness is not unusual, and that is the famous "thorn in the Middle East", the Iranian Defense Forces.
The Iranian Defense Forces have always been looked down upon, and many military fans feel that it is an "anti-American fighter". But in fact, the Iraqi army really confronted the US army, and it has always suffered losses. The opponent is extremely strong, and it seems that the Iraqi army itself is not weak, but when you look closely, its record is ugly.
Not to mention the fact that in the previous Middle East wars in the last century, the Iranian army suffered more defeats and fewer victories, and the reason why the Iranian Defense Force, which has a strength of nearly one million and a military expenditure of 80 billion yuan, has not performed satisfactorily is mainly affected by two aspects.
First, due to the sanctions imposed by the United States for many years, it is difficult for Iran's military industry to communicate with the outside world normally, which has led to the fact that the Iranian army's technological iteration has always been slow; second, the pro-US forces in Iran have always been secretly making trouble, and the disunity of all forces has further weakened the combat effectiveness of the army.
In this world, there are "tiger and wolf divisions" that have won all battles, and there are also "paper tiger" armies that are strong and capable in the middle, and the troops of France, South Korea, Thailand, India, and Iraq are typical examples. Do you agree that these five troops are not worthy of the name? Do you think there are other countries whose armies are also overestimated? Everyone is welcome to exchange and discuss in the comment area.