I started to become addicted to wars and world history when I was 10 years old. So I started and wanted to read all the wars and conflicts and history and geography of course to better understand the backgrounds from different sources to avoid bias and come up with better imagination. And it would be the dumbest idea to ignore the various statistics reported unless you have better knowledge to start your estimates than those groups and organizations which actually consist of experts, researchers, agents, etc. Obviously, they are not accurate but they are a good basis to start estimating their numbers and capabilities.
The nukes will be the real equalizers when it comes to total war and nobody will want to start a nuclear war unless it is out of desperation or when some of these superpowers are already depleted.