The U.S. Military's European Decline

Towards the end of the Cold War in 1987, the United States had 80 military bases across Europe and today, that has fallen to 37. After Russia's annexation of Crimea and its activities in Eastern Ukraine, however, the U.S. is once again expanding its military footprint to counter the resurgent threat. The latest deployment occurred on Sunday when six U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jets landed at RAF Lakenheath in the UK. That facility is one of five American military bases in the UK, down from a total of nine in 1987.

Given the scale of the threat posed by the USSR in the late 1980s, Germany had the most American bases by far, 45, according to research published by The Heritage Project. Today, 15 facilities remain, four of which were opened since 1987. What's especially notable about the research is how the U.S. is expanding its bases geographically. Since 1987, new bases have also been opened in Italy, Turkey, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece, Norway and Romania. However, it's overall presence is a shadow of what it used to be in the last years of the Cold War.