The weight of military spending was much higher in the 1970s and 1980s than it is today. However, there was no major conflict in the post-Vietnam War era

Military spending accounted for a much higher percentage of GDP in the 1970s and 1980s than it does today: in the United States, 8% of GDP in 1970 instead of 3.3% of GDP in 2023; in France, 3.5% of GDP in 1970 instead of 2.1% of GDP in 2023; in the United Kingdom, 5.2% of GDP in 1970 instead of 2.3% of GDP in 2023; worldwide, 5.0% of GDP in 1970 instead of 2.6% of GDP in 2023. But there was no major conflict in the post-Vietnam War era , probably because of the deterrent effect of military spending. Today, Western countries are going to increase their military spending because of the threat from Russia and China. The example of the 1970-1980s shows that this is not a harbinger of future conflict. We also need to ask how this spending will be financed: what other public spending item has benefited from the decline in military spending from the end of the 1980s until recently? What budgetary trade-offs will have to be made?