apricops:

st-just:

Listening to the new Criminal Records and very enamored with the apparent iron-clad Law of History that goes

1. There is a giant war
2. The war ends - hurrah!
3. The number of soldiers is now incredibly surplus to peacetime requirements
4. A bunch of armed men without much in the way of prospects are just kinda hanging around
5. Violent and organized crime spikes massively for somewhere between a few years and a generation

if you’ve ever wondered “how come in historical fiction and fantasy alike the countryside is always plagued by bandits,” this is why.