Sauron's battle strategy

[Selmo]

Originally Posted by Mansun

Lets say Sauron had adopted a Hannibal-like battle strategy & sent plundering orcs & Trolls directly to Rivendell, Loth Lorien, Orthanc & to the Grey Havens rather than to Minas Tirith.

Sauron did attack Lorien, the Elves of Mirkwood, the men of Dale and the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain, with some success. Galadriel's elves were contained, Tharanduril's elves were slowly being driven northward with great losses, Dale was over-run and the Dwarves were forced to retreat underground.
All this occured at the same time as the attack on Gondor.

Sending armies against The Havens and Rivendell without subduing Gondor and Rohan was imposible. The lands between the Gap of Rohan and the North of Eriador were empty. Sauron's forces would need continuous, very large and very vulnerable supply chains to survive.

Sauron didn't attack Minas Tirith earlier because he was relying on troops from the East that took time to gather. Had he struck at other targets before he had his full strength available, Gondor could have harried his forces as they moved North, reducing their chances of success.

Had Sauron adopted Hannibal's tactics he may have achieved the same results as Hannibal. By not taking Rome when he had the chance, Hannibal, in the end, failed, despite his sucesses in other parts of the Empire.
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[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Selmo

Sauron didn't attack Minas Tirith earlier because he was relying on troops from the East that took time to gather. Had he struck at other targets before he had his full strength available, Gondor could have harried his forces as they moved North, reducing their chances of success.

And let's not forget that what Sauron did was already attacking earlier than planned. All that because of the events with Saruman and the provocation of Aragorn via Palantír. I think that's pretty clear from the end of the Two Towers and the beginning of RotK.

[The Might]

But as I said...did it really matter to him what he attacked first?
No.
Because he was 100% that nobody would even think about destroying the Ring, but would rather try use it against him. So from his point of view no matter what his enemies tried, he would still have defeated them eventually.

[Farael]

Originally Posted by The Might

But as I said...did it really matter to him what he attacked first?
No.
Because he was 100% that nobody would even think about destroying the Ring, but would rather try use it against him. So from his point of view no matter what his enemies tried, he would still have defeated them eventually.

Actually, it did matter. I can't remember the exact quote, but we know he was still able to feel fear. He feared that, if given enough time, Isildur's heir would be able to learn how to wield the Ring appropiately, and summon a host large enough to make things very hard for Sauron. Not to mention that if someone such as Saruman would have gotten the Ring, things would've looked rather bleak for Sauron.

Therefore, it did matter who he attacked first. He believed Aragorn to have The Ring. First of all, I'm sure he feared that the heir of Isildur might be able to overthrow him, like Isildur did in the past. Second, he knew that while Aragorn had it, it was the "lesser evil" of the other possibilities. If Saruman or Gandalf had laid their hands on it, he would've been in trouble.

That's why Aragorn's looking into the Palantir is such a crucial moment in the books. IF he had not done so, Sauron might've kept his forces in reserve for a longer time and Frodo would have been found. Furthermore, if Aragorn had not tried attacking the Black Gate, the hosts that were camped across the plains before Mt. Doom would've never moved and once again, Frodo would have been caught.

[Imperica]

Originally Posted by Farael

He feared that, if given enough time, Isildur's heir would be able to learn how to wield the Ring appropiately, and summon a host large enough to make things very hard for Sauron.

Therefore, it did matter who he attacked first. He believed Aragorn to have The Ring. First of all, I'm sure he feared that the heir of Isildur might be able to overthrow him, like Isildur did in the past. Second, he knew that while Aragorn had it, it was the "lesser evil" of the other possibilities.

When did Sauron believe that Aragorn had The Ring? If this was so then the Nazgul wouldn't of been searching for Baggins, the Shire, and Hobbits... And I highly doubt that Sauron thought that a mere Man such as Aragorn, despite his lineage, would be able to appropriately wield The Ring and even if this was so The Ring would of betrayed him, as it did Isildur.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

From the time Aragorn revealed himself to him in the Palantir, at the Hornburg. This was an explicit part of the strategy: reread "The Last Debate." According to Gandalf, in the rash assault on the Morannon Sauron would see "the arrogance of the new Ringlord."

[Farael]

Originally Posted by Imperica

When did Sauron believe that Aragorn had The Ring? If this was so then the Nazgul wouldn't of been searching for Baggins, the Shire, and Hobbits... And I highly doubt that Sauron thought that a mere Man such as Aragorn, despite his lineage, would be able to appropriately wield The Ring and even if this was so The Ring would of betrayed him, as it did Isildur.

Like WCH (sorry, I won't even pretend to spell that one correctly otherwise) said, it was an explicit part of their strategy in the later parts of RoTK. Furthermore, I never said that Sauron thought Aragorn had it all along, but couldn't Aragorn have gotten it from Baggins? Not only Gollums are willing to kill, maim or steal for a chance at owning the Ring.

And Aragorn was not a "mere man" by any means or meassure we can think of, as it was proven repeatedly in the books, and even more so when one reads about his exploits before the time of LoTR. So why wouldn't Sauron fear him? Aragorn may not have needed to control the full weight of the Ring, he had plenty of natural skill. If that was to be enhaced by Sauron's ring then who knows what might've happened?

But of course, this is all mere speculation as we know that Aragorn would have never used it. A knowledge Sauron did not have, as it is said often in the books that Sauron is very shrewd, but he assumes other people share his values and that no-one would willingly reject the Ring.

[Tar-Meneldur]

Just a What if?

Now, what if a coordinated attack from both Isengard and Mordor took place, instead of a singular attack from one of each at different times, would the outcome change in favor of Sauron? I know that Gondor did not give aid to Rohan, but Rohan did give aid to Gondor, which chould have proven a fatal blow to Gondor had Rohan been held down.

An attack of such size from two side would have tossed both sides into making them look back and forth due to the fact that if one fell the other surly would fall. The worry of such a thing would make the other lose valuable mental focus of the battle at hand. Now still I think Théoden would have moved his forces to Helms Deep, but Gandalf would have been having to deal with Minas Tirith because he knew the value it had to all humans.

The elves were a matter of their own, if there was an attack on Lórien from Dol Guldur it would have proven fatal to Sauron because his main focus would have be to the South, not the North. To control the lower Anduin would have helped Sauron gain a major point that would have forced any human forces to cross it, which would have heaped the number of humans dead, and would have been to risky to do with Isengard still in power as a back up.

From the lower land Sauron would move up and take Erebor therefore taking all the Anduin, which would have kept him safe from attack anywhere West of him the only way to attack him now would have been to attack from the North via the Grey Mountains. Yet that would be risky due to the fact that any forces would have to head up so far North were the cold would put a damper on the fight left in them.

Please tell me that I made so sense out of this. Also tell me what you think of the “What if?” case.