How would Sauron fare?

[Gwaihir the Windlord]

It is actually probably true that if they had all united against Morgoth in Beleriand, then he would have been vanquished at the Nirnaeth. The problem was that they didn't, and more importantly, that some of the Easterlings among them were treacherous.

Even then [without perfect unity] they would have prevailed... were it not for the treachery of Men.

The attempt to defeat Morgoth was doomed to fail, in part, because of disunion among his enemies. Perhaps the greater host that the Elves would have been able to muster if they had united would have prevailed against the Easterlings; and if all the Easterlings had fought for the West then Morgoth would have been overthrown by the Noldor.

Well, purely militarily, I think you're probably right -- the forces Sauron wielded were not as great as those of Morgoth in the First Age. My above post however is still valid in what it says, if anyoen would care to read it for a study into the relationship between Sauron and Melkor as partners [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img].