Active U.S. Military Troops over Time

The size of the U.S. military is a story of the history of the United States.
Sources: 1, 2
Loading Chart
+16
Level 65
Jul 20, 2018
I REALLY WONDER what could have caused that huge spike in the early 1940s
+30
Level 86
Jul 23, 2018
Clerical error.
+3
Level 40
Jul 25, 2018
World War 2, conscription. Duh.
+36
Level 59
Jul 27, 2018
r/whoooosh
+6
Level 82
Jul 27, 2018
The bumps that are visible on this line are the American Civil War, the Spanish American War (very small bump), World War 1, World War 2, Korea, and Vietnam.
+3
Level 58
May 7, 2021
I also think I see a Mexican-American War bump as well.
+2
Level 50
May 29, 2022
Also a very small war of 1812 bump.
+1
Level 78
Jul 27, 2018
Interesting how the War on Terror doesn't seem to have impacted the number of active troops at all.
+1
Level 82
Jul 27, 2018
There is a small increase from 2000 to 2003 but it's barely noticeable.
+1
Level 52
Jul 28, 2018
There are 2 really tiny bumps for the war of 1812 and the Mexican American war.
+4
Level 82
Jul 29, 2018
*really* tiny.
+1
Level 69
May 3, 2020
Only a few hundred thousand troops.
+1
Level 74
Aug 4, 2018
They may seem small, but the size of the military more than tripled during the War of 1812, nearly tripled during the Mexican-American War, and more than quintupled during the "minor" Spanish-American War.
+1
Level 51
May 14, 2020
And one for the Spanish American War.
+1
Level 50
May 29, 2022
If this graph was a percentage of population instead of total number then they would be half the size of the WW2 bump
+1
Level 51
May 13, 2020
One in 11 people were in the army in 1945?
+1
Level 57
Dec 23, 2020
Women discounts half the population, which brings it down to 70 million. I don't know how much has changed, but right now the percent of the population ages 18-24 is only 12%. Thats 8.4 million male Americans age 18-24. Factor in people older and the number is reasonable
+1
Level 23
Mar 25, 2021
Nobody wanted to serve the US in 1803 when there was 4,000 armymen