History Fridge / MonstrousRegiment

* There's a reason that there is usually ten people in the background supporting every soldier on the front line. Anything else and the country doesn't produce enough food to feed both soldiers and the population, it doesn't produce enough clothes, weapons and items to equip them and so on. Borogravia has fallen to desperate measure of recruiting almost all of their male population that comes of age (leading, amongst other things, to almost third of their high command being women in disguise). Now, a similar thing happened during World War I, leading to women doing what were previously thought of as man's jobs. After the war ended, it lead to woman's suffragette, because having done the obligations of men, women had wanted equal rights like men had. Unfortunately, it can't happen in Borogravia. Nuggan had declared woman being able to write or woman doing man's work to be an Abomination. And then declared babies, cats and crop rotation also Abominations unto Nuggan. Its a recipe for mass starvation: not enough workforce to produce food, producing even less food because of lack of crop rotation and then even the food that is being produced is eaten by mice and rats because of lack of cats.

* Blink and you'll miss it, but hallucinating Maladict was beaned in the head with Klatchian coffee, the best tool in Discworld if you want to sober somebody and have them see the world as it is. [KlatchianCoffee It's a trope name]].

* Borogravia has been turned into closest thing to a hellhole in Discworld, thanks to Nuggan and there is no future for anyone in the country. Young men and boys can hope to go to army and either get killed or return too wounded to be useful (with exceptions of rare armorers and smiths, which is historically accurate). Old women act like spies for religious zealots and are in the first row to watch the whippings. Old men are usually too wounded to do much but are still in power and worried that old women will turn their inquisitorial eyes on them. But the worst lot get girls and young women. Girls are not allowed to even learn how to read and if they are considered too willful or naughty, they are sent to OrphanageOfFear where they are beaten, starved, worked to the bone and worse. Young women get married and widowed at young age. As widows, they are in double bind: do man's work so you and your family don't starve and you'll get reported by old women and whipped and beaten. Or don't do man's work and starve to death, because women are not allowed to own property (except sewing kit and laundry and such things needed for "female work"). Polly's plot starts when she realizes that if her father dies and with her brother gone, she'll be kicked out of her inn and home and those given to the closest male relative.

** Another and connected reason is they have banned images of any living being but the Dutchess. How do you expect your doctors and veterinarians to get trained properly if they can't see pictures in the medical and veterinary books?!

* There's a reason that there is usually ten people in the background supporting every soldier on the front line. Anything else and the country doesn't produce enough food to feed both soldiers and the population, it doesn't produce enough clothes, weapons and items to equip them and so on. Borogravia has fallen to desperate measure of recruiting almost all of their male population that comes of age (leading, amongst other things, to almost third of their high command being women in disguise). Now, a similar thing happened during World War I, leading to women doing what were previously thought of as man's jobs. After the war ended, it lead to woman's suffragette, because having done the obligations of men, women had wanted equal rights like men had. Unfortunately, it can't happen in Borogravia. Nuggan had declared woman being able to write or do man's work to be an Abomination. And then declared babies, cats and crop rotation also Abominations unto Nuggan. Its a recipe for mass starvation: not enough workforce to produce food, producing even less food because of lack of crop rotation and then even the food that is being produced is eaten by mice and rats because of lack of cats.

** Another and connected reason is they have banned images of any living being but the Dutchess. How do you expect your doctors and veterinarians to get trained properly if they can't see pictures in the medical and veterinary books?! Also, there's a reason that there is usually ten people in the background supporting every soldier on the front line. Anything else and the country doesn't produce enough food to feed both soldiers and the population, it doesn't produce enough clothes, weapons and items to equip them and so on. Borogravia has fallen to desperate measure of recruiting almost all of their male population that comes of age (leading, amongst other things, to almost third of their high command being women in disguise). And then declared babies and crop rotation Abominations unto Nuggan.

* One of many, many reasons Borogravia is losing the war is because they have declared Igors abomination unto Nuggan. Igors are best surgeons around, and we see how valuable one can be because Igor saves multiple lives in one hour when the team meets wounded and dying retreating party. Army knows their value so they are tacitly ignoring that religious rule and are tolerating the presence of Igors (while secretly happy when they meet one). But there is a huge difference between tolerating someone and openly endorsing and employing them, like Zlobenia and Ankh-Morpork are doing. Of course, that makes Zlobenians look even more evil and depraved to Borogravians: they are evil empire, they employ Igors!

* One of many, many reasons Borogravia is losing the war is because they have declared Igors abomination unto Nuggan. Igors are best surgeons around, and we see how valuable one can be because Igor saves multiple lives in one hour when the team meets wounded and dying retreating party. Of course, army knows their value so they are tacitly ignoring that religious rule and are tolerating the presence of Igors (while secretly happy when they meet one). But there is a huge difference between tolerating someone and openly endorsing and employing them, like Zlobenia and Ankh-Morpork are doing. Of course, that makes Zlobenians look even more evil and depraved to Borogravians: they are evil empire, they employ Igors!

* Nuggan was nothing more than a side joke in ''Literature/TheLastHero'', a god whose followers Offler pities because he banned '''both''' chocolate ''and'' garlic. (One or the other might be harsh but acceptable, but ''both''?) But in ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'' we find out he is a dead god, and all the the things he "abominates" are nothing but the echoes of a dead god. It may be that the events of ''The Last Hero'' '''led''' to that state of affairs; Offler pitied his followers then, and it got ''even worse'' afterwards.

** Aside from the above, the major events of the novel happen over the course of about a week's time. It's entirely possible that menstrual periods never become an issue for any of the squad, because any would-be SweetPollyOliver who ''was'' having hers at the time simply postponed her enlistment for a few days, not realizing Jackrum's would be the ''last'' recruiting party.

* Statistically, 1/4 of the cast should be on their period sometime during the course of the book, and it's a big female cast. At first it seems like this is a NoPeriodsPeriod, but then you realize that this is a second usage for the oft-mentioned ''socks''.
* Going further with the "1/4 of the cast should be on their period" entry, there's a much more serious justification for no periods. As Vimes points out, the country is on the verge of starvation. Months of malnutrition and starvation will cause menstruation -- and the whole menstrual cycle -- to '''stop'''. Polly even states that there's almost no young men left to recruit. Between famine and the constant warring, Borogravia is killing off its people, both born and unborn. With one small detail, Pratchett is showing us how desperate Borogravia's situation is and the ravages it's inflicting on its citizens.

* Going further with the "1/4 of the cast should be on their period" entry, there's a much more serious justification for no periods. As Vimes points out, the country is on the verge of starvation, with food so scarce that "scubbo" is considered a gourmet meal by the army's officers. Months of malnutrition and starvation will cause menstruation -- and the whole menstrual cycle -- to '''stop'''. Polly even states that there's almost no young men left to recruit. Between famine and the constant warring, Borogravia is killing off its people, both born and unborn. With one small detail, Pratchett is showing us how desperate Borogravia's situation is and the ravages it's inflicting on its citizens.

** Why is Jackrum so big? Yeah, the whole 'jolly fat man' thing is handy for ObfuscatingStupidity, but it's also a convenient way to hide her chest. In fact, it's a pretty natural development that Jackrum got so fat: as she confesses to Polly, she was "never really a wall painting", showing her a portrait of herself and her beau before they went off to war. In fact, much like Lancre, Borogravia is ''just'' the sort of place to breed BrawnHilda types; in a tough, harsh climate dependent on farming, a [[StoutStrength big and beefy woman who can easily handle livestock]] is much more useful, and much like in Lancre, Borogravian men undoubtedly [[BigBeautifulWoman regard fat women as beautiful]], since they clearly must be very good at cooking.

* Lt. Blouse actually making the washerwoman disguise a success despite all the other woman trying it and failing, counts considering the Disc runs on narrative causality. If you want to exploit a trope as a strategy on the Disc, you play it straight.

** Perception comes into it too: Blouse is acts like what a man thinks a woman would act like, not what women actually are like, and the guards he's passing are men!

* The first time Polly lies to Maladict about herself, it's mentioned she feels her heart speeding up "as it always did when the lies came." In ''Literature/{{Thud}}!'', we learn that vampires can hear hearts beating and use that to judge how people are feeling. No wonder Maladict was onto her right away.