Army

From Discworld & Pratchett Wiki

Ankh-Morpork and its neighbours all have at least a residual standing army. Ankh-Morpork even boasts a Navy.

A consistent theme is that Army regiments are privately raised and funded by members of the nobility. In fact, as a determined thorn in the side of the system discovers in a time of need, any Gentleman of the rank of Knight or above is actually obliged to raise as many fighting men as his purse can sustain, in a time of national emergency.

In times of real civic emergency, Ankh-Morpork may also conscript a Citizens' Militia to assist in maintaining the rule of law and order. This tradition lives on in the form of the City Watch Special Constabulary.

As well as this, there is an old tradition of the city Guilds raising military units of their own to supplement the regular Army in time of need. The Assassins' Guild no doubt provides the equivalent of "Special Forces" where needed, and there is, in fact, a proud history of the Fools' Guild sending out entire battalions of Clowns to fight, as best they could, for the City. However, there is no record of this Guild having been asked to contribute fighting Clowns during the recent outbreak of football with Klatch over the elusive island of Leshp. Management of this expedition was left to gifted but self-taught amateur Fools. Before writing off the ability of Clowns to fight effectively, the existence of the martial art of Sloshi must be noted. This was recently revived by the gifted clown Mavolio Bent in a time of need.

Named army units on the Disc include:-