Is the Iron Stirrup Conducive to Democracy?

If a society has external threats and needs to mobilize troops, is that a factor conducive to democracy? Yes, but it depends upon the state of military technology. So you get this format of having warfare being waged by smaller armies of people who have enough money to maintain an equip a war horse. That clearly does not lead to democracy because that's not something that involves broad mobilization. But then in later centuries, when you have broader mobilization of the populace, I think it's quite convincingthat there should be universal suffrage.