Standing armies and navies of the world
The standing armies and navies of
Europe, even on what is called the "peace footing, " are on a prodigious scale.
France--Army, 600,000 men; 170 field batteries; guards, 30,000 men; navy, 425 vessels and 30,000 sailors.
Austria--Army, 600,000 men, of which 525,000 are infantry, 75,000 cavalry, 60,000 artillery, and 10,000 engineers and staff.
Prussia--Army 525,000 men.
England--Army, 225,000 men, including the colonial troops; navy, 600 vessels, of which over 300 are sailing vessels, 250 steamers, and 40 ships of the line, carrying about 18,000 guns and 70,000 men.
Russia--Army 1,000,000, including the reserve, besides 225,000 irregular troops; navy, 200 vessels, and 60,000 sailors and gunners.
Turkey--Army (regular,) 180,000 men; reserve, 148,000; irregular troops, 61,000; various contingents, 110,000.
Total, 319,000.-- Navy, 70 vessels, and 30,000 sailors and gunners.
Belgium--Army (on a war footing,) 65,000 infantry and 14,000 cavalry.
Switzerland--Army, 125,000 men.
German Confederation--Army, 525,000 men, besides 50,000 cavalry, including the contingent of
Austria and
Prussia.
United States--Army, 13,000 men; militia, 2,862,614 men; navy, 10 ships of the line, 10 frigates, 21 sloops of war, 3 brigs, 1 schooner, 30 screw steamers and tenders, 9 side-wheel steamers, 3 store vessels, 6 store and receiving ships, (in all, 94 vessels,) a naval asylum, a naval academy, and 8 navy-yards.
As regards the comparative cost of standing armies and navies of various countries, a Belgian paper asserts that the maintenance of these armies in times of
peace costs the countries of
Europe annually $385,000,000. and the fleets about $90,000,000. The expense of the two greatest navies in the world, during the last seven years, is stated, (on English official authority,) to be, for
England $265,000,000, and for
France $90,000,000. We have before us two calculations of the cost of only the great wars of
England, and we find by the lowest calculation that the war occasioned by the revolution of 1688, "to establish William and to humble
France," cost $155,000,000. The war of the
Spanish succession, "to deprive Philip of the crown of
Spain and to humble the Bourbons, " cost $220,000,000. The Spanish war of 1739, "a quarrel.
about Campeachy and the crown of
Hungary, commonly called the
Logwood War," $235,000,000. The seven years war, in 1776, about
Nova Scotia, $535,000,000. The American war, resulting in the independence of the
United States, cost $755,000,000. The war of the
French Revolution, "to impress anti-monarchial principles in
France and the rest of
Europe," cost $2,360,000,000. The war against
Bonaparte, "to restrain the ambition of
Napoleon," cost $2,930,000,000.--
Scientific American. 
