USA: Donald Trump wants a military parade in Washington.

Why not in the US like in so many other countries? President Trump has ordered the Pentagon to plan a massive parade of the US armed forces in Washington to demonstrate the country’s military strength. Well, does anybody on Earth have any doubt about it?

The French parade on the Champs Elysées that has inspired President Trump (Picture source: Army Recognition)

Donald Trump wants an impressive military parade in 2018, similar to the French one that takes place each year on 14th July, on the splendid “Champs Elysées” Avenue. Impressed by the 2017 edition to which he was invited by President Macron, Trump wants one too, but much larger, on Pennsylvania Avenue. According to his own words, it would give all Americans the opportunity of showing their appreciation.

Since the last major military parade marking the US victory in the Gulf War in 1991, the US has not organized spectacular events of this kind. Rolling tanks and marching troops down Pennsylvania Avenue is not typically done on the US Independence Day holiday. Such demonstrations are usual in authoritarian states such as Russia, China and North Korea (a massive parade has just taken place in Pyongyang on 8th February). Many other countries in the world, though not authoritarian, also organize military parades.

The 9 May parade that takes place every year on the Red Square in Moscow to celebrate the victory on the Nazi regime provides an interesting opportunity to observe new materiel, beside older ones. In 2015, Moscow hosted its biggest ever military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War 2, with around 16,000 soldiers, 200 armoured vehicles and 150 aircraft taking part. This year, the celebration of the Soviet victory at Stalingrad on 2nd February 1943 also involved authentic and duplicate tanks and trucks of World War 2 (like on the last 9-May parade on the Red Square).

China is another “specialist” in large military parades. It started in 1949 with Mao Zedong’s communist party over Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist regime. Like his predecessors, President Xi Jinping enjoys such parades very much since he came to power in 2012. At the celebrations to mark the 90th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) last July, President Xi inspected 12,000 troops along with tanks and missile launchers. More than 100 fighter jets flew overhead and almost 600 types of heavy weaponry were put on display.

Needless to say how far the Kim dynasty of North Korea loves huge military parades in Pyongyang, particularly since its forced march toward a threatening nuclear capacity so heavily condemned by the UN... with no result at all. In 2017, the "Great Leader" Kim Jong-un used the occasion to reveal the existence of new long-range and submarine-launched missiles. Last year’s parade marked the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, who founded the North Korea’s dictatorship after World War 2. This year, the parade to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Korean People’s Army took place the day before the opening of the Winter Olympics in South Korea. Foreign journalists were not invited, and the parade was not broadcasted live for the first time.

Elsewhere in the world, military parades take place, the most impressive ones in countries where demonstrating military might represents a “must” for both internal and external reasons, like in Iran, Pakistan, India, Venezuela and so many others.

So, to make it short, the next particularly interesting grand military parade to take place this year should be the US one in Washington. So wants President Trump.