Armies of the Modern Age: From Meiji Japan to the Post-Soviet Order

Founded in 1871 and modelled first on French and then on German practice, this army beat China in 1894 to 1895 and Russia in 1904 to 1905, the latter the first major modern victory of an Asian power over a European one. It ended with Japan's surrender in 1945.

Established on 1 April 1895 alongside the older presidency armies of the East India Company, it served in both World Wars before partition in 1947 split it into the armies of India and Pakistan.

Formed in 1901 as the Commonwealth Military Forces by merging the colonial forces at federation, it first made its name at Gallipoli in 1915 and later fought at Kokoda and Long Tan.

Created on 1 July 1912 under the Defence Act, it combined a small professional Permanent Force with part-time citizen soldiers. It fought at Delville Wood in 1916 and in North Africa and Italy in the Second World War before being renamed in 1957.

Established in January 1918 by decree of the Council of People's Commissars, it supplied the largest ground force in the Allied victory in the European theatre of the Second World War, and was renamed the Soviet Army in February 1946.

Grown from a group of 120 SS men picked by Sepp Dietrich on 17 March 1933, this armed wing of the SS fought on every major front. The Nuremberg tribunal declared it a criminal organization and its record remains a central subject of Second World War scholarship.

Canada raised a separate Canadian Expeditionary Force in the First World War rather than mobilize its militia, and only in November 1940 was the militia retitled the Canadian Army. By the Second World War its First Canadian Army exceeded 450,000 personnel.

Sent to Libya in February 1941 under Erwin Rommel to support Italian forces, it advanced toward Egypt and took Tobruk in June 1942 before the Second Battle of El Alamein turned the campaign. It surrendered in Tunisia in May 1943.

The unified forces of the Soviet state from 1917 to 1991 included the Red Army, the Air Forces and the Navy. Red Army Day, 23 February 1918, marks the first mass draft in Petrograd and Moscow.

Founded on 22 December 1944 with just 34 people under Vo Nguyen Giap, it defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and captured Saigon on 30 April 1975. It stands as the clearest example in this path of a guerrilla force becoming a national army.

Established on 26 May 1948 by merging the Haganah, Irgun and Lehi into one national military, it rests on conscription and a large reserve that can rapidly expand the standing force.

Established on 12 November 1955 as West Germany rearmed within NATO, it was built around Innere Fuhrung to contrast with the obedience of earlier German armies. Conscription was suspended in 2011.

On 7 May 1992 Boris Yeltsin signed the decree establishing these forces, which subsumed much of the Soviet Armed Forces. They hold the world's largest nuclear stockpile, bringing this path from one imperial army to the post-Soviet order.