Okay good people, just saw the Battle of Kvatch being played out and was hoping that the Kvatch soldiers would survive (which they didnt ) this time when I began to wonder how many soldiers there would have been without game restrictions (we cant have 10 000 men fighting each other with Oblivion graphics at the same time, not with todays technology atleast).

So, in the game there were 3 Imperial Legion Soldiers, one of them an archer, 6 Kvatch guards/soldiers who we saw fighting in the battle and ofcourse the Champion of Cyrodiil who may or may not have been assisted by Martin Septim (however I doubt that he helped in the battle, atleast not as a frontline soldier, perhaps he was helping as a healer).

Those numbers MAY help you get the numbers straight.

Now, I would like to know these things:

* How many soldiers/guards were there in Kvatch BEFORE the attack? And I mean real here, not just "5" or "10".
* How many survived getting out of the city? And I mean real here.
* How many soldiers/guards went into the Oblivion gate to close it? And I mean real here...
* How many soldiers/guards cleared the square outside the church? Real here.
* How many soldiers/guards were cut off from Savlian in the church? Real.
* How many soldiers/guards cleared the square outside the castle? Real.
* How many Imperial Legion Soldiers arrived to assist in Kvatch? Real...
* How many soldiers/guards survived the battle? False... Nah, real
AND
How many Daedras did they meet during all of those different stages? I would also want to know how many Daedras were in the castle when Mr. CoC decided to clear that place out...

I know those numbers are hard to know a true answer to, actually there is none yet, but speculation is always interesting isnt it?
So, speculate good people!

I would guess around 2 000 - 5 000 soldiers/guards were in the city BEFORE the attack but any other numbers are just to much for me! And not even those numbers can I be sure about...

Thanks in advance!

My guess I am afraid is probably upto 50 went into the gate, while 100 or so mostly town guards and civillians held the line.
I am more or less inclined to believe cyrodil towns at the time are not strongholds filled to the brim with troops, but thats just me and based on towns with castles I grew up around.

No, no. It was more like 300 holding the line and one going in the gate. 300 Children of Reman... they fell, holding the line... save one man, a barely whiskered boyar named: Savlian. Savlian. Thy name is stalwart and true. Savlian! Our lives were saved by you! The fellow that went in had too many faces to remember, so no one bothered asking their name, either. sob can't decide on a face, they don't deserve a proper name.

In fact, a standing "city guard" is already quite a lot when a lot of cities historically have been defended by militias: The inhabitants of a certain city quarter had to see for it that the corresponding stretch of wall was defended.

I'm intrigued that we've started thinking about the "real" Tamriel now. Intrigued and impressed.

Though I don't know how you'd find a point of reference for something like this. The unmodded town has like 20 buildings in it. I guess maybe try to fit it into some real city and figure out how many defenders it had.

If someone does find a satisfying answer, how about the First Battle of Kvatch during the Camoran Usurper's campaign? That would have made your little pansy "Daedra Invasion" look like happyslaps.

Well... Perhaps Tamriel exists somewhere out there in space? Who knows... Perhaps there do exist gods in that part of the space... Perhaps their sun IS a big hole in the sky... Who knows?
Not very likely though.

20 buildings is ofcourse scaled down pretty heavily... There lives perhaps 100 000 people (estimate, propably more lives there) in the Imperial City... So Kvatch should have somewhere from 10 000 - 20 000 people if you ask me.
Now if that is anywhere near the real numbers then the army should be perhaps... 1 000 - 2 000 men?

The whole town was destroyed, more than half the population killed... So... Perhaps 2 000 people managed to get out of Kvatch and perhaps 200 soldiers managed to get out? Then some were trapped in the Castle... Propably a few hundreds of civilians and like 50 soldiers... They propably got overrun pretty soon though, the gates was (as I understand it) never closed by the Kvatch soldiers but by the Daedra which implies that they got into the courtyard pretty fast.

The 200 soldiers who got out... Yes... Hm... I guess Savlian sent pretty many in there... 80 men? 120 men left. Then how many were in the church? Hm... Martin lead perhaps 100 civilians in there together with 20 soldiers, or something.

All of those numbers are pure estimates ofcourse... Just guessing.


And the battle against the Camoran Usurper was ofcourse much bigger.
1) It wasnt a sneak attack, it relied more upon numbers than suprise.
2) Kvatch had time to fortify itself.

Which would propably make the soldiers get as many as... 10 000? Most of them civilians who got armed I would guess. The Camoran Usurper would have 100 000 of his guys... And they would become more all the time.

For comparison, from a book about the history of Daggerfall:

The last census, in the year 3E 401, lists the population at over 110,000. It is always difficult to find an exact number, but the capitol city of Daggerfall certainly outnumbers her rivals, Sentinel and Wayrest.

110000 is considered a large city. Considering that Daggerfall is either is a port city or has a port close to it and that it sits on a very important trade route (though the rise of Wayrest has dampened this somewhat), it shouldn't be considered an extremely reliable representative of common city size, but from it one could assume that Sentinel and Wayrest couldn't be much smaller, especially taking into account possible bias by the author of the book when it comes to estimating the two other cities. The failure to mention the population of Wayrest in a similar book complicates presumpions a bit, but I'd say Sentinel and Wayrest would be somewhere around 80000-90000.

Though this helps little in determining the actual size of cities in Cyrodiil, we can presume that the Imperial City would be larger, either a lot or at least somewhat. While the First Pocket Guide to the Empire isn't particularly reliable and it's impossible to say how much has survived, it can be presumed that at least the very core of Nibenese and Colovian civilizations survived, though it's difficult to see, since both civilizations took on aspects of each other over time of living as a single country, as well as influences from Tsaesci and, apparently, Bretons. I believe it was mentioned in the Infernal City that the Colovians maintained the character of the Empire's military arm, since (though I'm not exactly sure what is meant by it) in TIL's lore notes it says

Colovians eastern Cyrodiil are primarily military.

It may mean that most Colovians in the east are military officers or soldiers, which may suggest that Nibenese soldiers are not numerous/not trusted enough to garrison the east. What I'm getting through this is that if that aspect of Colovian culture survived, then it may be that they also still maintain some of their reluctance to rely on magick or 'industry' (which I presume would mean manufactories, or whatever the english word for pre-industrial complex for the creation of goods by use of artisans and division of labour. I quote from the PGE, 1st Edition:

Their primitive ferocity was disinclined to magic or the need for industry, preferring bloody engagement and plunder instead.

These are ancient Colovians of which it speaks, of course, so in contemporary Tamriel the Colovians have Mages Guilds in their cities and what not, but if the Nibenese still retain their mercantile traditions that appeared during the times of the Alessian Order...

The doctrines eventually codified nearly every aspect of Eastern culture. Restrictions against certain kinds of meat-eating, coupled with the sentiments of the blossoming animal cults, soon made agriculture and husbandry nearly impossible. Thus, many of the Eastern Cyrodiils were forced to become merchants, which, over time, allowed the Nibenay Valley to become the wealthiest city-state in the region.

...then agriculture in the Nibenay might be weak; though it might have recovered, the jungles of the Nibenay would've hindered that and the Nibenese might've come to rely on imports. Colovia might have taken up the role of Cyrodiil's breadbasket, which would mean that Colovia - of which Kvatch is a part - would have a population not concentrated in cities but more spread out; while I'm not families with the previous lore version of Colovia's landscape, I presume parts of it would be well-suited for agriculture and the region probably lends itself well to animal husbandry. Couple that with Colovians forming the bulk of the Imperial Legion - which is, after all, very large, since it has to cover all of Tamriel - and the possibility that Colovia is still not as populous as the East, as was the case during Alessian times...

The Colovian Estates began to overshadow the richer, more populous East then, which eventually lead to the War of Righteousness that ended Alessian rule.

...and you can begin presuming the size of Kvatch. Let's say that the Imperial City is three times as large (population-wise) as Daggerfall, placing it at roughly 330000 inhabbitants. Let's say Leyawiin, which also sits on a very important trade line - it seems very likely a lot of trade goes in and out of the Niben - is also a large city and place it at 80000, similar sized to my presumption of Wayrest and Sentinel, which seems rather likely to me. Anvil might be an important port, but it seems unlikely it is the final destination of many traders, especially since the Guide to Anvil from Oblivion suggests that the docks aren't in top condition (it's rather problematic to go by it, though, since I'm not completely sure whether the game version of Cyrodiil is official or if the Infernal City reverted back to the old version completely; even if it did, though, let's say that the cities remain similar to what's portrayed in the games except sized appropriately); it could, however, be an important base for the Imperial Navy, so let's say that Anvil is sized at around 55000 inhabbitants. Skingrad sits right on the road to the Imperial city, so whatever comes out of Kvatch or Anvil - the greater part of Colovia - has to go through it, so I'd presume it might be similarly sized to Anvil, at 50000 or so inhabbitants.

Kvatch, on the other hand, isn't on the main road, rather next to it, and while the road still runs through the County of Kvatch, it seems likely that less merchants stop there than in Skingrad, which must be passed if you're heading from either Anvil or Valenwood and don't want to go to Elsweyr (at least if you agree with the Political Map of Tamriel/Topographical Map of Tamriel by ArthmodeusD; they are both unofficial, but presumably a road from Valenwood to Cyrodiil would exist and would go to Skingrad and Kvatch is portrayed off to the side of the main road in the game as well), therefore Kvatch is less important and not as attractive for people to settle in. So I would say Kvatch is, although still a city, the administrational center of the County of Kvatch as well as the seat of power of the kings of Kvatch previously, smaller than its counterparts in Cyrodiil and place it at around 35000 inhabbitants. In the case of a siege the number would increase, but the Daedric siege isn't an ordinary one - there was no warning, no chance to see the enemy comming and the attacking army didn't march through or impact the countryside further from the city in any way, therefore the rural inhabbitants of Colovia wouldn't have had a chance - nor a reason - to flee to the city for protection.

I would say that the standing city guard represents only a part of the military capability of Kvatch. Even if the Legion presence in Cyrodiil is weak due to the lack of need, there are still some Legionnaires in the province and where else would they stay but in Kvatch when stationed in the County. Though a whole Legion might not be stationed in the city (the Legion likely would have some bases around the whole County, supply depots at least since even if Cyrodiil isn't directly threatened, many Legions are mustered there or march through it so there would be some infrastructure to support the raised/passing troops unlike portrayed in the games), if we presume that the standard Cyrodiilic Legion is sized 5200, like a Roman Imperial Legion without auxilaries, then I'd say at least half a Legion would be stationed in the city. 2100 soldiers. Add to these troops the local guard, which wouldn't be intended to engage an enemy army in the field but rather maintain order - like it does in the game - and say this guard is 2000 men strong. Retired Colovian soldiers would also likely return to their homeland and settle either in the countryside or in cities; since many Colovians serve in the Legion, you could presume that maybe 300 of these veterans could be in the city, since the majority of them would probably be settled outside cities and be made landowners; though older than the common soldier/guard, they would still be capable of fighting and may possess (some part of) their old armaments, especially if they're expected to fight in times of crisis - and the Empire certainly had some of those, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to presume a backup source of experienced soldiers.

So I would estimate the garrison of Kvatch at 4100 soldiers, 2000 of which are guards, not too experienced when it comes to actual battles most likely. Plus 300 veterans. More fighters would probably be employed in case of war, since Colovians are supposed to be a warlike people and owning a weapon and knowing how to use it would be considered honourable and could even be expected of male advlts, especially those of noble birth, since many Colovian nobles are supposed to be Legion officers. In this case, however, the military potential of the Colovian population doesn't seem to be important, since the siege was very sudden and it might be that those who own weapons wouldn't have been able to reach them in time to use them, or did not survive long enough to matter.

I would say that three fourths of the entire population were killed during the siege (which must've been very quick but probably more taxing on the soldiers/guards than the citizens) and the battle that followed afterwards (which was probably when most of the population died); since no one expected anyone to be able to attack any city in Cyrodiil so suddenly, let alone Kvatch which is quite far inland and problematic to target first for a conventional invasion, not even the Legionnaires were prepared for something like this to happen. It seems likely all of the Legion soldiers died pretty quickly, since they would've responded the quickest and faced the Daedra first and since the Daedra would've probably attacked the Legion barracks as soon as possible, what with Legionnaires being seen as the biggest threat. Many guards probably died as well, I'd say around 200 of them were left in the castle pocket (soon killed by the Daedra), 30 would've made their way to the church with around 900 civilians, aided by around 40 of the veterans who might've managed to survive the sudden invasion since their homes weren't such an obvious target as the Legion barracks or the castle were. The rest of the civilians, plus some 450 guards, would've made their way out. Many of the citizens would've probably scattered, fleeing for Anvil, Skingrad or one of the villages nearby. 2000-3000 would've stayed in the camp, many of them probably injured.

Of the 450 guards, Savlian would've probably sent in 100 to try close the gate. Take into account some casualties while holding the line, some 300 were probaly left alive by the time the Hero(ine) of Kvatch closed the gates and would clear the square. 50 die while clearing it, the guards from the church would probably also sally to help break through, 10 casualties on their side, 260 guards left. Plus some 30 or so veterans, not in full combat gear most likely, having had only a bit of time to grab whatever and run for the church. 80 Legionnaires would probably make up the reinforcements that arrived after the siege of the church was lifted. Of those, some 50 die, since presumably they would head into battle with the Hero(ine) of Kvatch himself/herself and, while the toughest of the soldiers present, would be in the thickest fighting. Of the other 290 troops, 60 would've probably died while clearing the castle and the rest of the city, 20 veterans and 40 guards. That leaves a total of 260 troops left after the whole battle of Kvatch by my estimation.

This whole rather big thing is probably not horribly accurate and someone more knowledgeable with lore might have more accurate things to say, particularly when it comes to my estimation of the sizes of Cyrodiil's cities. Regardless, that's my take on it.

Ah! Wonderful post made by Person from Anticlere! Just wonderful!

According to Hirtel (I think that is his name, the guy who flees from Kvatch when you arrive) there was a "Huge creature, something out of a nightmare, they swarmed around it, killing!" I guess what he was talking about was the Siege Crawler. When the Hero of Kvatch arrives there that thing is gone without a trace. This implies that the Daedra only left a small group to stop anyone from leaving and eventually killing off the survivors.

I guess that the Daedric "army" (more like horde) would consist of:
The Siege Crawler.
1 500 Dremoras.
500 Xivilai.
200 Daedroth.
1 000 Scamps.
1 000 Clannfears.

An "army" consisting of a total of 5 200 Daedra and the Siege Crawler.

I guess the Dremoras and Xivilai used the Daedroth, Scamps and Clannfears as sort of attack dogs who ran into houses, slaughtering everyone, putting it on fire and then moved on in the same style while the Xivilai and Dremoras protected the Siege Crawler and attacked all organised pockets of defence.
The Siege Crawler would propably clear up a bloody path to the Legion garrison and the castle and burn the city up. When its work was done it left together with the bulk of the army leaving perhaps 200 Dremoras, 50 Xivilai, 20 Daedroth, 200 Scamps and 200 Clannfears? 670 Daedra VS 450 Kvatch guards and Imperial Soldiers helped by the Hero of Kvatch... I guess that is possible...

They didnt really expect anything difficult after the battle itself... The castle got cleared out pretty quick and the Oblivion Gate outside the walls would protect them from any attacks. The church couldnt hold out forever either so they would just wait it out. Mehrunes/Camorans plan was done. Martin Septim was dead or soon to be dead and the whole thing was a great sucess... Until Mr. HoK came in and ruined it all...

Just estimating here! Can be absoloute garbage!

There is also mention of Mythic Dawn members being present during the battle, since I believe one of the cultists in the Paradise tells you he died either during or right after the battle while clearing out houses, or something along those lines; it's been a long time since I played so I could be wrong. They were probably acting as guides to the Daedra who wouldn't have known their way around Kvatch. Since none are to be found during the later breaking of the siege, that means that the Daedra are stuck in an unfamiliar environment, which would make it easier for the Kvatch guards to pick them off after the church was relieved and combat moved into the streets.

Historically, we can distinguish two modes of development: A rather centralized government, which results with a booming, expanding capital, whereas other cities don't thrive that much (think of medieval France) or a decentralized government with several powerful lords which may bow to a single authority, but that authority might not be of a fixed location or its authority is weak (think of Holy Roman Empire). In the latter case, you will have several mid-size towns none of which is likely to reach the size of the capital in the first scenario, but which are far larger than the bulk of the towns in the first scenario.

A third scenario might be powerful city-states, which tend to leech population off the surrounding areas which hope for freedom and/or hitting it big in the city.



It should be noted that a size of 80000, which you assume for Leyawiin, would already match London of the 1300s, and as such a national capital. Personally, I'd put the other cities smaller while adding some to Imperial City.

Note, though, that aside from the economic importance of a town, there is another factor that is critical to how large a city can be: How many people can be fed? The Imperial City, despite its island location, can feed an immense amount of inhabitants, quite simply because the law will require for the fertile areas to ship enough food - possibly to the point of regardless of whether enough for themselves will remain. Other cities will have to get by with what can be produced locally - minus what they have to ship to Imperial City.




I wouldn't assume so quickly that Kvatch is not that important just because it sits off the thoroughfare. There must be a point why a city developed there to begin with - possibly resources of some kind. This would mean that while not being a waypoint for trade coming THROUGH it might well be an important end point for trade routes.

I'm sure others went in before the Champion, considering the charred corpses and town guards you encounter.

Yup, you are correct. You are referring to http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Eldemil. He mentioned to be the person that opened the Great Gate at Kvatch, and after the battle he also hunted down survivors, before he was finally slain by three townsfolk who were hiding in a cellar.

This, and the fact that there were Mythic Dawn agents in every Cyrodiil cities of course, implied that the daedra horde didn't attack Kvatch on their own. The horde most probably received intelligence and immense assistance from the Mythic Dawn agents so that they could systematically attack Kvatch in the swiftest possible way.

Well, the mythic dawn would have been helping open the gates.

Yup, and without their help, the daedra horde will most likely just commit random attack without any sort of planning or perhaps any idea about the opponents to expect. Surprise attack at it might be, the horde will have greater chance of being defeated.

well without their help, the daedra would not have had gates. They need a mortal to help prepare the Sigil stone.

Gentlemen, have we arrived at a logical sum of combatants?

Well... Around 4 000 Men and Mer protecting Kvatch is likely, although lots of them died at the start of the battle when the Siege Crawler made short work of them.
I guess the Daedra were outnumbering them... Anywhere from 5 000 Daedra to perhaps 12 000 Daedra would be reasonable.

I wonder how many Dremoras there exists... And do there in some way become more of them? Like the Daedra Lord makes them or something...

As far as I know (and my lores a bit rusty), once a Daedra becomes dead, it's soul, or "essence" is re-incarnated at a certain location, a home base if you will, and as for creating new Daedra, I'm honestly un-sure. All in all, this threads very interesting

That is a very impressive post. However, i must disagree with the second half of it. Daggerfall is the bigest city of the Illiac bay and the capitol of high rock, and I will equate it to Paris (2 million people) and so the ratio is times 20. If we equate The imperial city to the largest city in the world, Shanghai (14 million), It has a population of 700,000 people. Lets rank the cities of Cyrodil in order by population (in my opinion):

Imperial city,
Cheydinhall,
Anvil,
Kvatch,
Skingrad,
Chorrol,
Leyawin,
Bruma,
Bravil.

So lets say that Kvatch would be simialer to the 4th largest city in that country (china.) that puts it with Tainjin (12 million) at 550,000 people.

Combining reserve and active militaries, 1/10th of America is in the military. so in Kvatch it is now 55,000 people in the military. 34% of the population of hiroshima died in the bombing, and so if we equate the seige to the bombing (sudden, unexpected, and severe) we now have about 19,000 kvatchian soldiers left. about half are stuck in the church, and so we now have 9,500 soldiers defenfing the line. 1,500 go into the gate.

Assuming that all the soldiers in the gate died, then 8000 people are left defending the line. given such an amazing oppurtunity for a quick ruch, but still needing to maintain a defenssive positian, a half of the army clears the square on the way to the church.

They meet up with the other half of the army, who has taken 1000 casualties. the line is moved to the church, and so we now have 16,500 soldiers. if 200 imperial legion soldiers show up, we have 18,500.

same decician as before, half raid the courtyard and the castle. this part most of the soldiers die, leaving 3000 soldiers left. this meets back up with the first half of the army, and so 12,250 soldiers survived the battle of Kvatch.

Is really 1/10 of the US in the army? [censored]...
I would say it would be much less than that in the Kvatch army. 1 or 2% of the Kvatch population should be in the army. Not 10%! Perhaps as some sort of militia, but militia is usually made when a danger arises and you dont have time to train them.
That would make it more like 5 500 men. 5 500 men which if we took the casualties in the same scale as you would mean:
1 900 survives and gets into the church or manages to get out of Kvatch. Those who got into the castle are not counted here.
Some got into the church, I would not say as much as half. Perhaps 1/4 of them gets there.
475 soldiers in the church and 1 525 got out. Like one hundred of them goes into the gate. That leaves like 1 425 men left. I would say that they made a big full attack against the square with all they got. No time to leave defenders or anything.

Then fight their way through losing perhaps one hundred men in the fighting. 1 325 could join up with the church defenders, around 50 of those have died. 1 750 are now at the church.
They make their way to the gate with another hundred men dead, 1 650 men left.
200 Imperial Guards comes to assist the Hero of Kvatch. Perhaps half of them goes to assist Savlian, the other half together with perhaps 10 Kvatch Soldiers makes their way through the Undercroft, fights their way through the ruined city and to the Guard Tower, losing around 60-80 men in the process (they propably just ran through the enemies mostly, guarding the flanks from any attacks and beating their way through to the Guard Tower from where they could propably lock it again and would be safe.

They reach the gatehouse, 1 750 soldiers were with Savlian when Berich and the Hero of Kvatch left for the undercroft, thanks to a constant bombardment from the Daedra they are now only 1 550 men left there. Then they make the great charge against the Castle Courtyard, being fired on from above and around them, and getting charged by from Daedra in all directions they lose around 300 men there. 1 200 men left. They then fight their way into the Castle, losing another hundred.
The Hero of Kvatch takes care of the rest from there.

Just my numbers. They give almost the same result, if you add a zero to almost all the numbers.

Try 1%.

200 Imperial guardsmen from a road patrol? That seems far-fetched. Try more like 5-20 if we're inflating things.

I get the distinct feeling that the majority of the Daedric forces stationed in Kvatch were at best a distraction contingent and at worst left behind to ensure no one survived/the city was completely looted and leveled. Given that no Daedra was stationed on the walls protecting the actual city I'd say that the Daedric Forces left over by the time of the counter-attack were around 150-200. That's just enough to be able to continue looking for survivors and hold sections of the city, especially the castle, against any weak reprisals. But against an organized force, it would fold quite easily. Now, since it was supposed to be an epic battle against all odds, then I'd put the Kvatch participants at 90-150.

A few men out on patrol saw the smoke from the gold road, they rode away to warn the Camp Commander (there are propably a few legion camps spread out around Cyrodiil, perhaps 500 men in each) and then came back with 200 men. They did after all not know what was going on.

I don't think you can compare High Rock with France and Cyrodiil with China; even if you care to argument the comparison, your numbers are simply too big for any medieval-inspired setting.

Starting from 110 000 for Daggerfall and going after the estimate that IC would be three times as big, then equating IC with Paris - with the urban areas! - and the other Cyrodiil cities with the other cities in France, you get:

Paris (11 mil) == IC (~ 350 000)
Lyon (1.6 mil) == Leyawiin (~ 50 000)
Marseille (1.5 mil) == Anvil (~ 45 000)
Toulouse (975 000) == Skingrad (~ 30 000)
Nice (940 000) == Kvatch (~ 27 000)

- where I do believe Kvatch would be smaller than Skingrad rather than larger. These are remarkably close to Person of Anticlare's guesses, so hats down.

However, I don't believe the 350 000 for IC. It's just too much. I'd rather base the numbers on medieval London (80 000) and say:

IC: ~ 100 000
Kvatch: ~ 10 000

Now, with 10 000 total population, and following Anticlare's logic, there would be some 1000 Legion soldiers and say, 1000 guards, with perhaps as many as 1000 weapon-wielding civilians capable of putting up a fight. Since we don't count the Legion as population (do we?), that makes 1/10 of the population guards and another 1/10 able to carry a weapon. Don't know if that holds water or not, but they are nice numbers, so let's fly with them for now.

I agree with 1/4 of population surviving. That's 2000 civilians and 500 guards + soldiers.

I can imagine no more than 500 civilians and up to a 100 guards + soldiers in the chapel. Say, another 500 civilians and 200 guards + soldiers in the castle. That leaves 700 guards + soldiers to fight in the streets, and some 6000 civilians to die in their homes.

Brutal.

Wait if we are talking about how many people are in the army we must note if there was any manadatory draft in peoples lives.( which is not noted I think but I haven't read up on my lore in a while) They should of served some time in the military for some time but I don't think all men that had a little military service could do much . Not counting the dang siege machine took out a great number of people most likely. I wish for a bethesda employee to describe the population of a normal city .....this could get the numbers right.

What makes you think they know?

Jokes aside, http://www.imperial-library.info/content/daggerfall-history-daggerfall and that's what most of the estimates in this thread are based on.