The British Army Is Shrinking: Smallest in 400 Years

[Pete]

The British Army Is Shrinking: Smallest in 400 Years

https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/03/...-in-400-years/

"Despite having an “empire” on which the sun never set, the British Army wasn’t exactly large in numbers. Yet, prior to the First World War, Great Britain had the only true “professional” army in Europe in that it was a small volunteer force made up of about 400,000 soldiers. Of those about 247,000 served in the Regular Army while another 145,000 served in the Territorial Force....."

And

"...Today, the British Army is already the smallest it has been in 400 years and as the BBC reported this month, it is about to get even smaller. An upcoming defense review, set to be published in April, could call for cutting up to 10,000 soldiers from the regular Army’s notional strength of 82,000 as a way to help fund the modernization efforts...."

72,000?

Total? Not many ground pounders with those numbers.

[JJ_BPK]

Originally Posted by Pete

The British Army Is Shrinking: Smallest in 400 Years

Maybe at some point a couple of years ago they thought that the Vast and Ferocious EU Army would protect them, but now that they have BritX ??

Comparing populations, UK @ 66M vs Canada @ 38M vs Australia @ 25.5M
Comparing military, UK @ 72K vs Canada @ 104K vs Australia @ 85K

Not good....

[Longstreet]

UK @ 72K vs Canada @ 104K vs Australia @ 85K

Those numbers above seemed a bit high for Canada, but after checking they are actually low as Canada has a strength of 112,500. I am certain this is both Reg Force and Reservists. I am not certain for the other countries, but agree the British army numbers seems very low...

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Longstreet

Those numbers above seemed a bit high for Canada, but after checking they are actually low as Canada has a strength of 112,500.....

I do believe that number is total Military.

Looking around it's hard to pin down but this quote comes up in a few places - even Wiki - "...As of 2020, the Canadian Army has 23,000 regular soldiers, 19,000 reserve soldiers (including 5,300 members of the Canadian Rangers), for a total of 42,000 soldiers. The Army is also supported by 3,000 civilian employees from the civil service...."

Around 11,900 in the Navy - Air Force around 14,500 & 2,600 reserves.

[Flagg]

The UK appears to have been hit worse GDP wise than any other major nation.

A 2020 full-year GDP decline of circa 10%.

This translates into:

far lower tax take for the UK this year

far higher frictional costs due to Covid-19 response

far higher pressure on existing defence having to support Covid-19 response out of existing defence budget

Compounding the above is the ongoing "output gap" difference between post covid-19 and no covid-19.

Recovering that gap in output is going to be a huge problem for the UK, resulting in some tough choices.

And what makes it even worse is the cash cow called The City(London's Wall Street) is in the middle of getting kneecapped by the EU to steal that cash cow.

Choices that will include delays or even complete deferments of UK requirements to maintain the semblance of a former superpower.

By 2025 and no later than 2030 I would expect to hear very serious rumblings about UK credibility as a permanent member with veto power on the UN security council.

UK credibility is going to be strongly questioned.

India would be the logical protagonist.

With the Pakistani bunny boiler clown car not far behind that will never get in, but using their superpower of turning everything they touch to sh!t to great effect.


The UK is the canary to the US coalmine.

And our shared adversaries are watching with gleeful anticipation at the comeuppance of the UK.