[quote=@Vahir]
Here's a statistic for population comparison: The Roman Empire, generally regarded as placing a great deal of importance of on the military, had, at its height, at most 0.5% of its population serving in the military. You guys are talking about military in the double digits, for mechant states.

Just sayin'.
[/quote]

Yep. Generally speaking 2% of a population is able to mobilize in times of war for feudal societies, while still being able to maintain food production at home.