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Pabrinex t1_j2doizj wrote

Reply to comment by ltethe in [OC] Around 30% of countries spend more than 2% of GDP on their military by IndeterminateYogurt

Really? Which ones?

Most countries would have had tax bases of only 10-20% of GDP back then so even if say, 70% of the national budget went on defence that'd be implausible.

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Archmagnance1 t1_j2dt126 wrote

I assume they mean during the big conflicts because armies would be levied and trained specifically for conflicts instead of having standing armies. It's not absurd to think that during the napoleanic wars, the prussian expansion wars, and german unification wars that countries would be spending that much of their GDP. In peacetime though, i highly doubt it. Even during the naval revolution from 1860(ish) on through WW1 i doubt it reached 30% GDP, even the Royal Navy.

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Rhydsdh t1_j2fqfir wrote

It's because back then defence was the primary function of the state. The welfare state had not been invented yet, and governments had far fewer responsibilities than they do today.

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