Trump's ‘Dictator-style military parade?’ Other leaders who show off tanks and missiles

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On June 14, President Donald Trump will watch from a viewing stand as army tanks, artillery and soldiers parade down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C.

The parade and the festival on the National Mall will mark the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary to celebrate "the greatest military in the world," Trump has said. The Trump administration insists it is a coincidence that the parade falls on Trump's 79th birthday.

Democrats have accused Trump of using the military for his own political purposes. Sen. Adam Schiff called it a "dictator-style military parade," drawing comparisons to other world leaders like Russia's Vladimir Putin, North Korea's Kim Jong Un, and China's Xi Jinping.

America has held military parades in the past, too. Here is a look back at some U.S. military parades and others around the world.

Trump's getting his military parade. Here's what they look like from France to Russia

America's military parades for George H.W. Bush, Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy

In the U.S., military parades were usually reserved for the end of conflicts, though that tradition fell out of favor amid tensions in the war in Vietnam.

The last time the U.S. hosted a military parade was in 1991 under former President George H.W. Bush to commemorate the end of the Gulf War. Even then, the parade drew complaints about cost and disruption. Also, Bush's birthday was four days later, when he turned 67.

The inaugurations of former presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy, which happened during the Cold War, featured boosted military displays.

France's Bastille Day inspired Trump in 2017

Trump attended the annual Bastille Day celebrations in France in 2017, which apparently prompted his quest for a military parade in the first place. The annual holiday commemorates a critical moment in the French Revolution, and Paris hosts a military parade along the Champs-Élysées.

Trump said in the following months he wanted to outdo the parade, and "It was one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen ... It was military might."

But some of his staff were less enthusiastic, and Gen. Paul Selva told Trump in a meeting following his Bastille Day visit that military parades were "what dictators do," according to reporting in the New York Times and the New Yorker.

Experts previously told Paste BN the French parade is a part of broader Bastille Day celebrations, and thus showcasing military strength is not central to the festivities.

Russia, North Korea, Iran, China limit rights in their countries

Other countries that regularly put on military parades often do so to send political messages, Paste BN previously reported. Those include Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Amnesty International says those countries restrict rights, especially freedom of expression.

Among those countries, only North Korea is classified as a dictatorship by the CIA. The CIA calls a dictatorship "a form of government in which a ruler or small clique wield absolute power (not restricted by a constitution or laws)."

Russia hosts an annual choreographed parade with troops and trucks carrying weapons to commemorate the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany. Jinping attended in May.

Iran hosts an annual military parade.

North Korea hosted Russian and Chinese officials at a parade in 2023 that showed off the country's nuclear-capable missiles at a parade commemorating 70 years since the end of the Korean War, Reuters reported. The country frequently features such weapons at parades, according to Reuters, and South Korea has also hosted a military parade in an act of deterrence to North Korea.

Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman, Tom Vanden Brook, Kathryn Palmer, David Jackson, Kim Hjelmgaard, Paste BN; Reuters

Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the Paste BN Network. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.