How much Militaristic Influence does the United States have around the globe?

The United States has been a superpower for a very long time with notably 750 bases located all around the globe. Just recently, President Biden sent the last of the American troops stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan back home. For the families of the men and women this is wonderful news that they are returning home, but what about other American soldiers around the world?

How many people really are stationed overseas that are a part of the U.S. Military?

In Afghanistan alone an estimated number of, “more than 800,000 US soldiers served in the war, according to the Pentagon,” (Aljazeera). That is a lot of troops, especially when some of these people have served multiple times and that’s only one country.

In other nations around the world there are more American bases than the average person would think. In Japan there are 120 bases and an estimated number of 53,713 soldiers. As there is no conflict between the Japanese and the American armies, there are also a lot of people stationed there. The country’s biggest military base, Camp Humphreys, is located in South Korea.  

As much as we would like to think the United States is focused on solving problems within their own borders, “in 2020 [alone], the US spent $778 billion - the largest military spender in the world and more than the next 10 countries combined - according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI),” (Aljazeera). 

Even in Latin America there are still as many as about 53 bases. Cuba is even home to the oldest military base built in 1903. Guantanamo Bay holds about 731 troops. But with this data, it changes very frequently.

Looking into Europe, Germany has even the second highest number of troops in the world as the highest number of U.S. soldiers are stationed there. From the years 2006-2020 the number has dropped from 72,400 to 33,900. Even still, it is still leading with the largest number of United States soldiers. 

The main reason as to why these bases are spread out so much is actually because of the United States’ method to hold back Communism in the 1950s with containment. After World War II, America was able to take position as the peacekeeper, thus building the bases all the way from Germany to Japan. While acting as a self proclaimed, “global leader,” it ensures that every stretch of the globe has some form of U.S. influence. 

According to Vox, “Containing Soviet communism led the US to set up posts all over the globe to ensure a geopolitical foothold in places that were vulnerable to Soviet influence — which basically meant everywhere,” (Vox). It doesn’t really matter at this point that Germany, Korea, Japan and other nations are American allies while also being stable democracies that never turned to communism.

If another nation had as much influence as the United States it would be hard to give all of it up, so why give it away if you could just keep them functional. Every year the American people pay taxes in order to keep these bases running. 

With such a huge militaristic influence across the globe, no one will mess with the United States, and they will keep in control as the main global power for the future to come.