Objectively speaking, United Kingdom could be said to be the world's largest power a hundred years ago, the prestigious "British Empire", but now that time has passed, United Kingdom's so-called "imperial glory" has begun to dissipate as early as after World War II more than 70 years ago. Although today's United Kingdom can still maintain a "shelf" by virtue of its status as one of the "P5" and its "ally" relationship with the United States, in fact United Kingdom it can only be regarded as a regional power at best. But what is speechless is that many United Kingdom still do not recognize the reality and are still immersed in the so-called "imperial dream", which is actually quite sad.
Recently, Roland Walker, General of the United Kingdom Army and Chief of Staff of the Army, · openly made wild remarks and directly "named" China, Russia, Iran and other countries, saying that United Kingdom "take three years to prepare for war", mainly to deal with China, Russia, Iran and other countries. The United Kingdom general said that history proves that no matter what the outcome of the Russian-Ukrainian war is, Russia will slowly recover and retaliate. As far as the situation in the Asia-Pacific region is concerned, he said that China is likely to "provide Taiwan with military options before 2027-28". He also referred to Iran's nuclear weapons.
In short, this United Kingdom general's remarks summed up that the British army is likely to be prepared to "deal with" China, Russia and Iran, and for this reason, he openly stated that he hopes to "double the combat effectiveness of the British army within three years and triple the current level by 2030."
I have to say that the author's first reaction when he saw the so-called "three years of preparation" of the United Kingdom Army general was not indignation or nervousness, but very funny. The reason is that with United Kingdom's current military strength, if it does not move nuclear, it is likely that it will really be unable to match its "P5" status, and even inferior to many regional powers, let alone comparable to Russia, a world military power. Take, for example, the United Kingdom United Kingdom Army, which is now very small, with a total of just over 70,000 men, the smallest army in United Kingdom since the mid-19th century (although the United Kingdom Army once had more than 320 brigadier generals and above, equivalent to 1 general in every 300 British troops). Moreover, the United Kingdom Army is not very mechanized, with a total of more than 70,000 British troops with less than 150 tanks.
United Kingdom Challenger main battle tank
Full map of the United Kingdom Army armoured forces
For comparison, the Belarus Army, with a total number of only 40,000 troops, has more than 1,000 more advanced T-72 tanks and T-80 tanks. And Russia's 58th Army, which is now participating in the special operation in Ukraine, has more than 70,000 people and more than 600 tanks. It can be seen that the total size of the United Kingdom Army today is comparable to the size of a large group army of the Russia Army. Moreover, this is still the total number of United Kingdom Army, if you want to count the number of troops that the United Kingdom Army can deploy mobilely, then I am afraid it will be even less.
And the situation of the United Kingdom Navy is not much better, the United Kingdom Navy nominally has two aircraft carriers, but in fact, the United Kingdom Navy cannot afford to deploy two aircraft carriers at the same time, it can only use one Queen Elizabeth to "support the scene", and the destroyers of the United Kingdom Navy are even more than six, which is basically the same as a destroyer detachment of our Navy.
It can be seen that today's United Kingdom military strength has long been unable to stir up the global situation, not to mention that the so-called idea of "tripling the combat effectiveness of the British army" of the United Kingdom general is now unrealistic, even if the British army can really "triple increase", can it really restore the so-called "imperial glory"? I believe we all have an answer in our hearts. However, it is worth being vigilant that according to the public statement of the then Secretary of Defense of the United Kingdom, Shapps, in 2023, the United Kingdom aircraft carrier will be deployed in 2025, that is, next year United Kingdom Japan United States, Japan Yokosuka.
It is not difficult to see that many people in United Kingdom are still unaware of the current situation of United Kingdom, and think that United Kingdom is the empire on which the sun never sets, and it is simply self-aware that countries thousands of miles away are regarded as threats. The author believes that if United Kingdom itself cannot or is unwilling to sober up, then we might as well "help" United Kingdom "sober up"! What do you think?