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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