I'm really sorry to remove this question, but it violates the rule about "throughout history" type questions. You could ask this question in /r/history or /r/askhistory, but, alternatively, I'd recommend posting again with a specific time period in mind. That'll help keep it from being removed.

You could specifically ask about this for the Cold War period, for example. If you could look at the period immediately after some other major conflict. Those would both be okay as their own questions. It's otherwise a reasonable question so I encourage you to repost it asking about a specific time period if you're able to do so.