Poland

While the Polish military dates back to the 18th century, the name ‘Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland’ came into existence after the Soviet block had dissolved to form several states during the ’90s. Since then, Poland has only participated in the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq.

However, the number of personnel employed at any time after that was meager, to the point that there were only around 150K people in the army in 2022. Nonetheless, after the invasion of Ukraine, the country did plan to double its forces, thereby also increasing its budget for defense.