We've still not got numbers yet for the total crowd size at today's Army anniversary parade - but it's already the subject of heated debate.

Steven Cheung, the White House's Director of Communications, posted online that "over 250,000 patriots" were at the parade.

I grew up in Washington DC and have attended many an event at the National Mall. His assessment seems, at least to me, to be exaggerated.

On social media, Trump is already being criticised by many of his detractors for what many deem to be a smaller-than-anticipated crowd at the parade.

Some TikTok stars have already begun taking credit for driving people away from the parade, with some claiming they reserved large amounts of tickets with no intention of showing up.

The crowd size is likely to be the source of some debate in the coming days. Trump often mentions the "enormous" crowds he gets at rallies, for example, and many in Washington will vividly remember the fierce debate over the crowd size at his first inauguration in 2017 - which was the subject of ferocious questioning by the media and intense sparring with then-White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

03:14 BST

The US army is widely considered to be the most powerful military in the world.

Formed in 1775, it traces its origins to the American Revolution when it was formed by the Continental Congress to fight British forces under the leadership of George Washington.

In the 19th century, it fought a number of wars, including the War of 1812, the Seminole Wars and the Mexican-American war, which led to the expansion of US territory.

The American Civil War (1861-1865) was a defining period in the country’s history - it saw the Union Army fight the Confederate forces led by former US officers and the end of slavery.

In the 20th century, the army played a major role in World War One and World War Two, where it fought alongside allies it still counts today such as Britain and France as well as the then-Soviet Union.

During the Cold War, US troops fought communist forces in Korea and Vietnam, where the use of drafted personnel became a polarising issue in domestic politics.

After the Cold War, the US launched its “war on terror” following the 11 September 2001 attacks, which led to the invasion of Afghanistan in the same year and the combined US and allied invasion of Iraq in 2003.

How does US military spending compare to the rest of the world? published at 03:08 British Summer Time

In raw cost terms, the US towers over all other nations in what it spends on the military, with the US defence budget in 2025 hitting an estimated $895bn (£661bn ), according to the Global Firepower index.

It nearest rivals are China and Russia , which are set to spend around $267 billion and $126 billion respectively this year on their own militaries. In fact, according to Global Firepower’s data, the US spends more over the next year than the next 10 highest spending nations combined.

But the US economy is large, so if you look at spending as a proportion of annual income , World Bank data shows that the US is nowhere near the top spender as a share of its GDP.

Of comparable nations, the 3.7% of GDP spent by the US is modest compared to the 5.9% spent by Russia but far higher than the reported 1.7% China’s defence budget represents.

But among Nato allied nations, the US is near the top the chart - with only Poland and Estonia spending a larger share of their annual income on the military last year.

We also spoke to a verteran who last week told the BBC he believes the parade is "unwarranted".