Why didn't Robb get reinforcements?

[Coolbeard the Exile]

In the war of the five kings Robb Stark goes south with an army of 19,500 soldiers.

This is not the full strength of the north as the army was quite swiftly assembled to save Eddard.

But what im wondering is why didn't more soldiers reinforce Robb Stark from the North? It seems like the 4 thousand soldiers of House Frey were absolutley CRUCIAL but Robb should have alot more northerners coming down from the neck.

During Aegon's conquest the Stark army was 30,000 strong.

What is the deal?

[Protagoras]

If not for the Ironborn and Ramsay, he probably would have.

It´s also possible that Robb got reinforcements off-screen.

[Free Northman Reborn]

The Ironborn held Moat Cailin, and threatened many parts of the North. Consider that if Victarrion took the entire Iron Fleet to the Neck, he had between 5000 and 10,000 Ironborn warriors at Moat Cailin. This was in close proximity, and therefore a grave threat, to the two largest population centers in the North - White Harbor, and Barrowton. Also the two regions that deliberately held as many men back as possible from Robb's army. In the case of the Manderlys, because they were tasked with defending White Harbor and the White Knife for Robb, and in the case of the Dustins, because Lady Dustin apparently wanted to keep her strength with herself.

Considering that Winterfell had fallen, this left the remaining Northern lords without leadership, and obviously their first priority was to strengthen their own defenses as much as possible.

Add to that the internal war between the Boltons and the Manderlys in the Hornwood lands, and the largest wildling army in history massing at the Wall, and you can understand why many lords would have wanted to defend their own lands rather than send more men down South.

Not to mention that it was harvest time, which is the worst possible time to send men off to war.

If Robb returned North and united his lords, he could have raised another host given enough time - probably as large as the original one. But it would have required him to leave the Riverlands and campaign in the North for an extensive period of time, ejecting the Ironborn first before being able to focus on the Riverlands again.

 

[Adam Yozza]

He could have raised a lot more men before marching, you're right. But when he first marched he was pressed for time and had to get down south quickly, so he left before gathering his full strength. Given that most of his Lords marched with him, it raises the question of who exactly would gather those reinforcements. All of the commanders were already in the South.

Add to that the fact that Dustin deliberately held back most of her men, Manderly was building ships and holding the White Knife with most of his, the Ironborn captured Deepwood Motte and Moat Cailin (The latter with somewhere between 5-10k men), it was harvest time and Wildling raids would have been increasing as Mance's army drew ever closer to the Wall then you have a situation where Robb was pretty much stuck with what he had.

[Free Northman Reborn]

5 minutes ago, Adam Yozza said:

He could have raised a lot more men before marching, you're right. But when he first marched he was pressed for time and had to get down south quickly, so he left before gathering his full strength. Given that most of his Lords marched with him, it raises the question of who exactly would gather those reinforcements. All of the commanders were already in the South.

Add to that the fact that Dustin deliberately held back most of her men, Manderly was building ships and holding the White Knife with most of his, the Ironborn captured Deepwood Motte and Moat Cailin (The latter with somewhere between 5-10k men), it was harvest time and Wildling raids would have been increasing as Mance's army drew ever closer to the Wall then you have a situation where Robb was pretty much stuck with what he had.

Well said.

Which ties to another point of mine, which is the huge deficit in quality military leadership among the castellans and captains of guards in Westeros in general. Imagine if Benjen Stark, for example, was never wasted by being sent packing to the Wall, but instead served in Ser Rodrik's place.

If he or Jon Snow held Winterfell, the North would have had a unifiying leader even while Robb was in the South.

[Coolbeard the Exile]

Thx for answers guys makes sense

[Jon Fossoway]

I don't think he could have gotten that many reinforcements anyways. Not enough to make a difference in the war, at least. If he was crowned King in the North and then marched south from Winterfell, he probably could have gotten much more people to start with.

[Canon Claude]

If it had been winter he would also have benefited from even more men joining him to give their families fewer mouths to feed, just like when Cregan Stark went south during the Dance of the Dragons. Though the quality of those men would be questionable.