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Ancient Romans spent as much as 80% of their state budget on the military. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_the_Roman_army https://en.wikipedia.org/w
by deepdriver 4y ago
Ancient Romans spent as much as 80% of their state budget on the military.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_the_Roman_army https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_the_Roman_army
The military was the “the largest item of state expenditure” during much of China’s Tang Dynasty.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-chinese-history/article/reach-of-the-military-tang/ECFE9C64AE6E73EC4319B165A606F88C https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-chinese-h...
Compared to this, 4% of the US GDP or 12% of annual US federal spending seems like a bargain, especially if you’re Germany.
- adgjlsfhk1 4y agocomparing percent of federal spending is an odd way of doing things since the scope of government has noticably broadened.
- deepdriver 4y agoYes and no. The total economic pie was much smaller in antiquity, limiting the potential maximum scope of government. Even so, entitlement spending still took up its share of ancient budgets: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cura_Annonae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cura_Annonae
- mr_toad 4y agoThey extracted a return on that investment, at least in the early days of the empire. A lot of land, gold, and slaves were returned to Rome by their military.