Great Houses soldiers

[Coolbeard the Exile]

It seems to me the great houses have very very few soldiers themselves and this seems weird to me. For example King's landing other than the city watch only have 300 knights, squires and men at arms. This is crazy to me especially sins this is the capital of the king. Also in the Vale when the lords declarant besiege the Eyrie the Arryn captial seem to have a couple hundred soldiers whilst the 6 lords declarant manage to gather 20,000 soldiers. And at winterfell when Robb gatherd his host not even 1000 of the 12,000 soldiers marching from winterfell were actual Stark soldiers. Adding the 600 soldiers at the battle outside winterfell House stark can raise around 1500 - 2000 soldiers on their own. This is ridicoulus. So can this be explained? why are the greater houses so weak?

[Trigger Warning]

Well their vassals are their soldiers but beyond that. 

The direct fiefs that pay homage to the king are the Crownlands, they can muster thousands of men. The King's Household/retinue is what makes up knights and squires within the Red Keep, there's no reason for it to be huge. 

Likewise the Eyrie has its garrison and Arryn Household in the castle, not every soldier that can be raised from their direct holdings will be garrisoned, that would be ridiculous. 

And finally 2,000 soldiers from their personal lands isn't particularly bad, that represents a very large chunk of land. That makes them on par with their more powerful vassals before you even count that as overlords of the North the reality is that every single lord and fief owes them homage and military service. 

Robb snaps his fingers and raises 20,000 men. Does it matter that they're not men from lands governed directly from Winterfell they're still his vassals and men

[Coolbeard the Exile]

Well if you are king or lord and half the realm is in rebelion you would have all your troops ready for battle wouldnt you so the king would want more than 300 knights when King Renly is coming to get him with 20 000 knights. Also i understand that the vassals troops are their troops but im talking about the greater houses personal lands and the troops they can raise personally.

[Trigger Warning]

"Rosby to deliver a fresh levy of spearmen recruited from Lord Gyles‟s estates and resume his command of the City Watch. “How does my nephew fare?”

“I‟d sooner she remain. If she wants to feel safe, tell her to bring down her garrison from Stokeworth. As many men as she has.”

They tried to raise some men from the Crownlands, perhaps some of the other lords were being less than dutiful to their overlord, perhaps some were campaigning in the Riverlands or sending token forces, the King's authority is waning at this point, half the realm is i rebellion as you said. Furthermore Dragonstone and its vassals are considered part of the Crownlands and they were already in open rebellion. 

Also you said that House Stark personally raised 1,500 - 2,000 men, I don't consider that small nor ridiculous for one lord to raise from his personal holdings. Being the Overlord doesn't necessarily mean you own the largest amount of land tied directly to your seat. 

Oldtown can raise vastly more than Highgarden it doesn't make Hightower more powerful than House Tyrell. 

We don't know how many personal levies and retainers the Eyrie can raise because we have not seen those forces marshalled but it will definitely be much larger than the garrison and household present when the Lords Declarant emerged, Littlefinger never intended to confront them militarily, why would he try and raise an army, not that he'd necessarily have enough pull to do it anyway. 

[Coolbeard the Exile]

If House Stark are only able to raise 1500 soldiers by themselves that seems very wrong especially since most other minor houses seem to have around 2000 soldiers. How in gods green earth would the Starks manage to remain kings of winter for thousands of years with such few soldiers.

I am very certain that the troops within the Eyrie when the lords declarant marched on it were all it had.

[Trigger Warning]

They'd likely have allies, other vassals, fighting similar sized petty kings. Perhaps they used to be able to raise more personal soldiers but they handed lands out to retainers, family members and other vassals and the personal lands sworn to Winterfell have diminished over the millenia. They own the North, they don't need Winterfell to personally govern a huge chunk of it to maintain that power, vassalage and fiefdom is simply feudalism. 

Also just for the sake of discussion if House Stark as petty Kings of Winter can raise 2,000 men and subjugate and vassalise a neighbouring petty king that can raise 1,500 men, their potential yield of soldiers for new campaigns and conquests or wars of defence has almost doubled. The Stark conquest of the North was probably a pretty slow process. Not to mention winters that last years would essentially end the campaigning season until spring. 

Furthermore Robb likely could have raised more than 2,000 men, do we have a quote on how many were personally levied from lands sworn directly to Winterfell when he marched South? I'm just taking your word for this at the moment. 

Also why do you think that about the Eyrie? Does is state that Littlefinger was raising soldiers to defend it? I can't remember anything like that. But in any case like I said, firstly if he demands the direct lords sworn to the Eyrie come to defend him and basically instigate a civil war they'd likely ignore him for the same reason the lords declarant are opposing him. 

Furthermore the Eyrie holds dominion over the entire Vale, if Littlefinger had any intention of solving the issue of the Lords Declarant with swords why wouldn't he summon all his retainers stating that Lord Robert needs them to defend him. 

He didn't because he had every intention of solving the issue of the Lord declarant the way he ended up solving it and that didn't require the soldiers of lands sworn directly to the the Eyrie being packed up in the Gates of the Moon.