Throughout history and in all continents when armies have marched across continents, a crowd roughly 50 to 150 percent their size followed. These civilians reshaped local economies as they provided militaries with a range of commercial services that included repairing weapons, provisioning food, mending clothing, and sex work. Laleh Khalili is a politics professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. See more publications by this figure here [amazon_link asins='0804778337,1849040575,B01FIZQUXW,0521106389,B00NBKSKTO,B01FGLGDGM,1842779079,041545560X,B00D5FMLH2' template='ProductCarousel' store='faculti-21' marketplace='UK' link_id='1cf34d9e-cd59-11e7-b40a-9b400510b2c3']