User blog comment:It's Good to be the Queen/The Thrill is Gone/@comment-98.237.96.242-20130107182315/@comment-5674726-20130109000748

''As for Gwen, I'm quite sure that Camelot couldn't withstand new and old threats for long. After numerous battles and wars with Cenred/Morgana/Morgause, and after Uther had lost almost half of his army on the search for Morgana, it was a miracle how Camelot was able to replace all the lost soldiers in such a short time to even outnumber Annis' army in season four. Now after Camlann, the army is reduced again, Arthur is dead, Gwen, a former serving girl (which other kingdoms know) sitting on the throne. There is no way that she is respected by everyone and every other kingdom, let alone magic-users/sorcerers. Arthur didn't unite the lands of Albion, so Camelot is (was) totally vulnerable and an easy target for others. There weren't even allies when the battle at Camlann started.''

Camelot has taken huge losses since the beginning of the series, between military losses in various battles and civilian losses.

As you say, before Arthur became King, Uther lost roughly half his army searching for Morgana. Shortly after her return, they lost more soldiers when they were stuck fighting Cenred's army and the skeleton army. Then there were the losses as a result of the military invasion by the immortal army, plus civilian casualties. The Dorocha took out whole villages, Morgana's second conquest was hardly a bloodless one, and I'd say that it's a safe bet that starvation cost quite a few lives if her order to burn the crops was obeyed. Even if she had a spell to restore them that she could use if the citizens fell in line, nobody on Arthur's side was in a position to reverse the damage by magical means. If Arthur was able to trade for supplies to tide the kingdom over, the treasury took a heavy hit.

Camelot had three years of peace to rebuild but I doubt that they were able to restore the kingdom to its level of strength at the beginning of the series. In Season Five, the army suffered heavy casualties in battle.

At this point, how many able bodied young men can Camelot have left to boost the army's ranks? More Saxons can arrive on Albion's shores to swell the ranks of the survivors of Camlann but Camelot's army won't be as easily repopulated.

In terms of alliances, we know from Arthur that the alliance of the Five Kingdoms fell apart since Uther's day. He hoped to rebuild it with Sarrum's help but that didn't work out. Given that their leader was killed in Camelot, I can't imagine that Sarrum's followers are warmly disposed towards Camelot or Guinevere, particularly if any of his people were aware that she encouraged him to assassinate Arthur and promised to reward him if he did. Arthur had an alliance with Odin but Odin was basically forced to agree to it, so he's unlikely to consider himself honour bound to stand by it now that Arthur is no longer around. King Lot is no friend to the Pendragons.

On the plus side, there's Nemeth and Annis' kingdom, which can presumably be counted as allies but, given that neither stepped in when Camelot was under threat by Morgana and the Saxons, I'd say that it's highly unlikely that they'd risk their armies and kingdoms to defend Camelot if it's attacked. I'd be reasonably confident that both would be prepared to grant Guinevere refuge if the Saxons, Odin, Sarrum's people, other ambitious Albion monarchs or a combination decide to take advantage of Camelot's weakness to attack but I doubt that they'd commit their armies to defend another kingdom.