At present, the East African standing army maintained a force of around 700,000, second only to the Far East Empire and the Soviet Union. The Far East Empire had over a million, while the Soviet Union might have been close to a million.
It was difficult to accurately assess the Far East Empire's exact troop numbers; they might even have exceeded two million.
Yet although the Far East Empire's standing army appeared to have the largest numbers, there was a great deal of padding in those figures.
For one thing, there were numerous warlords and countless military factions, making any proper count difficult. No one could guarantee whether these military bosses would inflate or underreport their troop numbers.
For another, the Far East Empire's troops were poor in quality. In terms of weapons, rations, logistics, training, and everything else, they might not even have measured up to other countries' reservists, while the Far East Empire's reserves were practically mere decorations.
To the Far East Empire's warlords, anyone capable of holding a gun already counted as a "qualified" recruit. No training or reserves were needed; they could simply go into the countryside and drag off able-bodied men. Such men snatched up at the last minute were nothing but cannon fodder thrown in to fill the line on the battlefield.
Never mind those "able-bodied men"—even when comparing most of the Far East Empire's current main forces with the actual combat strength of other countries' reservists, it was hard to say who was stronger and who was weaker.
Take countries like Germany and France. Many of their reservists had participated in war themselves; they had merely been demobilized after the First World War. In peacetime, they still had opportunities to undergo organized training and maintain their fighting strength.
Therefore, such military powers could