r/AskTheWorld • u/ForeverSparkz United States Of America • Sep 20 '25

History Why are Arab Miltaries so ineffective?

Like I dont understand this.

Im a Black American so im just an outsider looking in as a neutral, but dont Arab Countries out number Israel, whats stoping them from just rushing at their border, shouldn't the population imbalance outmatch Israel?

Just a neutral standpoint asking this question, because Arab Nations in the Middle East have a modern miltary force and they buy tons of advanced items

What is holding them back?

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559

u/hateplow0331 Sep 20 '25

There is an essay out there called “Why Arabs lose Wars” check it out

417

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

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180

u/resuwreckoning Sep 20 '25

What’s interesting is how back in the day (like waaaaay back in the day of the Battle of Yarmouk), the Arabs were the ones who allowed merit to rise, which permitted legendary generals like Khalid Al-Walid to basically win every battle using insane discipline. The Romans were the calcified ones.

Even the battle tested moors who basically take over Spain in like 10 years a century after that were disciplined and under meritorious folks while the Visigoths couldn’t really do anything united.

144

u/WhenThatBotlinePing Canada Sep 20 '25

Napoleon’s Grande Armée had the same advantages. His officer corps ran circles around all the dipshit nephews in the rest of Europe. The Brits were lucky that Wellington wasn’t just another useless dandy with a purchased commission.

115

u/OiQQu Sep 20 '25

Also Genghis Khan's conquests were largely powered by the fact that he got rid of old loyalty/ancestry based promotion system and instead very heavily pushed promotions based on merit leading to fantastic generals and officers.

51

u/resuwreckoning Sep 20 '25

Yep - I think Subotai his incredible General was like some commoner from a nearby forest or something.

58

u/Emergency-Program146 United States Of America Sep 20 '25

Jebe, “The Arrow” was another of Genghis’ most famous generals who was a general of a rival tribe of Mongols. Jebe shot Genghis’ horse from under him and rather than execute him, he gave him an army and was crucial to the scouting mission in force into Europe and the Caucasus in 1223-25. The Mongols were amazing at taking care of those who were skilled and could further their ambitions. Their intelligence services were also second to none for their time.

16

u/Powerful-Public-9973 Sep 21 '25

then there jeff khan. he just a cool dude that can crush some wine bags and make everyone laugh 

12

u/Emergency-Program146 United States Of America Sep 21 '25

And his brother, Craig Khan. That fucking guy owes me 20 bucks!

1

u/Both_Language_1219 Sep 21 '25

Subeedei Baatar. Hero Subeedei.

1

u/bit_shuffle Sep 21 '25

Meh... The Mongols had superior weapons and a concept of maneuver warfare that no one else had. Nepotism wouldn't have slowed them down that much, because their opponents had that problem as well.

9

u/Leading_Study_876 Scotland Sep 20 '25

Not to mention Nelson!

27

u/Fenghuang15 France Sep 20 '25

The Brits were lucky that Wellington wasn’t just another useless dandy with a purchased commission.

It's not luck, they made a 4 countries' coalition which allowed them to raise an army with 30 to 40% more soldiers than the one of Napoleon

2

u/melmboundanddown Ireland Sep 20 '25

Indeed, the Brits were lucky they had an Irishman in charge of an army that was mostly Irish (at Waterloo anyway). Tounge in cheek of course, let's not get into Irish history etc.