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Well, you've got a point. Logically, the North's army should number less than a thousand, and Dorne should have at least 20,000 or so. But the showrunners apparently ignored most of the losses suffered by the North over the course of the show, so your explanation that nobody else was strong enough may be correct in terms of show-logic.
I think much of Dorne's army was sunk when Euron attacked and captured Yara? I put some time into research.
My understanding of the (relative) strength of the other constituent regions are (per the ASOIAF and GoT Wikis):
Dorne:
Military Strength: Books: 50,000. Show: 20,000
No engagements during the War of the Five Kings.
Heavy losses in a Naval engagement. Their expeditionary force was presumably obliterated. In the show they could raise the fewest number of troops, but are relatively independent because even a troop of Girl Scouts can defend mountain passes.
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The Vale: Military Strength: Books: 45,000+, Show: 20,000+ includes 1000s of armored mounted knights.
No significant engagements during the War of the Five Kings. Modest losses taking Moat Cailin. Negligible losses during the Battle of the Bastards.
The Vale didn't send a whole lot of troops North to fight the Night King. I read somewhere only 500? Nor would they. Their primary field army is composed of armored knights. They were not seen during the Dothraki cavalry charge during the battle agains the Night King. Some Vale ground troops, or Foot Knights, or just dismounted knights, fought under Lady Brienne's command.
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The Riverlands: Military Strength: Books: 45,000. Show: 20,000+
Moderate losses during the initial battles of Robb Stark's invasion. Moderate losses during the Red Wedding. No further engagements during the War of the Five Kings outside the Siege of Riverrun that resulted in no Tully losses, and only moderate losses by the Freys due to disease.
The Riverlands have had 4-5 years to recover from the Red Wedding and saw little fighting under the leadership of House Frey. There is no reason to assume they couldn't field 20,000 troops.
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The Stormlands: Military Strength: Books: 30,000. Show: 30,000+
Following the Battle of the Blackwater, the Stormlands saw little action apart from those that went North with Stannis. Afterwards, Stormlands lords may have been unenthusiastic allies of the Lannisters, but we see no evidence of their having taken part in any further major battles in the show.
They can probably raise 20,000+ troops.
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The Reach: Military Strength: Books: 50,000-70,000. Show: 50,000+
The Reach had mixed fortunes. Those who swore to Stannis suffered high casualties at Blackwater. The rest suffered little during the remainder of the War of Five Kings. While Tyrell forces suffered heavy losses during the Sack of Highgarden, it is unknown what other forces from the Reach remained loyal to House Tyrell or defected to the Tarly's or did nothing. Tarly and allied forces suffered devastating loses against Dany's forces following the Sack of Highgarden.
So one has to assume the Reach can still field 50%-60% of their Pre-War total. Which is still a formidable number.
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The Iron Islands: Military Strength: Books: 20,000. Show: 20,000 (at best)
The Iron Born have suffered heavy losses through out the course of the series. All lands taken during the War of the Five Kings were lost with heavy casualties. The civil war that followed led to more losses.
One can only assume that they can only field a fraction of the forces they once had. They are most certainly unable to field enough troops to withstand an invasion from the Six Kingdoms.
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The Westerlands: Military Strength: Books: 50,000 at best. Show: 60,000+
Aside from the North, the Westerlands have suffered the most casualties in the show. The Lannisters lost half their army in one battle during the first season to Robb. The other 30,000 troops continued to be bled in battle against the Robb's army as it retreated into the Westerlands.
More troops were lost at Blackwater, and every season saw more and more losses including losses taking Highgarden and the rout at the hands of Dany's dragons and Dothraki.
The Lannister garrison at Casterly Rock and King's Landing were both annihilated. There is no reason to think they can raise even 5,000 troops at this point.
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The North: Military Strength: Books: 45,000. Show: 20,000-30,000
The North suffered catastrophic losses at the Red Wedding (10,000+), and during the Battles of Winterfell (7000+?), the Battle of the Bastards (5,000+) and during the war against the Lannisters.
They can probably only field a few thousand troops for the next decade.