Most important FAKE Battles in history!

Battle: The Battle for Western OsgiliathMovie: Lord of the Rings, The Return of the KingInvolved Parties: The Men of Gondor led by Faramir and a legion from Mordor lead by the Gothmog and supported by the Witch-King of Angmar and his subservient Ringwraiths.Date: March 12, Third Age 3019http://www.youtube.com...http://www.youtube.com...The PreludeThe twin fortresses of Osgiliath (East and West) were the most significant choke-point in all of Middle-earth. For evidence, I offer a map of Middle-earth. http://www.debate.org.... Tolkienites would immediately be able to indicate why this is true, but for those who are less familiar with the geographical structure of Middle-earth I took the pleasure of editing the map to clearly show its strategic significance. http://www.debate.org.... The key to the map is as follows: the blue line is the Anduin River, also known as the Great River. This separated the Western lands from the East. There were only 4 locations in which an army could pass without boats. Those locations are the three circled in white (North to South: Old Ford, Cair Andros, Pelargir) and the one circled in yellow (Osgiliath). It is important to note that aside from Old Ford, every passing was blocked by a fortress of Gondor. Old Ford was inaccessible by the forces of Mordor because it was deep within Mirkwood, home of King Thranduil's Silvan Elves. Circled in black are the only 5 vital locations in Sauron's control (North to South: Dol Guldur, Isengard, Morannon - The Black Gate, Minas Morgul - Fortress of the Ringwraiths, and Umbar). Umbar itself wasn't necessarily a stronghold but rather a haven for the Corsairs that were capable of raiding Gondor by sea. As you may have noticed, only Isengard and Umbar are in position to attack the Western Armies without crossing the Anduin River. However, prior to the Battle of Osgiliath the Ents of Fangorn destroyed Isengard and during the days surrounding Osgiliath, Aragorn and his Dunedain Rangers - with the aid of the Oathbreakers - destroyed Umbar. This left three fortresses in control of Mordor itself: Dol Guldur, Morannon, and Minas Morgul. Dol Guldur however was unable to serve its purpose as a forward base because during the Battle of Pelennor Fields (the proper name for the Siege of Minas Tirith), King Thranduil and Galadriel were laying Siege to the mighty fortress. This leaves two strategic locations for Mordor, Morannon and Minas Morgul. Note that these fortresses serve as the entrances to Mordor itself. Clearly enough, there were three locations that Mordor could choose to cross the Anduin River - Cair Andros to the North or Morannon was a heavily guarded city that had not had its defences ravished by centuries of wars. In order to arrive there they would have to pass through Ithilien where Faramir and his rangers were located slaughtering orcs as they went on their way to Minas Morgul to join the main army, Pelargir to the South which was not only a lengthy distance away effectively giving Gondor time to react to any assaults, but was also guarded by the Knights of Dol Almroth, the most feared heavy calvary in all of Gondor, or finally through Osgiliath, right out the gates of Minas Morgul.Quite evidently Osgiliath was the most strategic location for Sauron to assault, as such he laid siege for several centuries during the Third Age. Boromir, a captain of Gondor, successfully defended Western and Eastern Osgiliath for much of the Third Age until being called away by Denethor the Steward of Gondor to attend Elrond's Council on the One Ring. In fact, Sauron first assaulted Osgiliath in Third Age 2475, over 540 years prior to the final battle of Osgiliath. Note that Third Age 2475 marked the end of the peace in Middle-earth and the first sighting of uruk-hai. In Boromir's final defense of Eastern Osgiliath Sauron led a full-scale assault and claimed Eastern Osgiliath as his own (June 20, T.A. 3018). This marked the official start of the War of the Ring as the first appearance of the Ringwraiths. In order to prevent Sauron from marching into Gondor, Boromir ordered the bridges connecting Eastern and Western Osgiliath to be destroyed - and with it Sauron's only viable passage into Gondor.The BattleThe final battle of Osgiliath occurred March 12, T.A. 3019. Denethor ordered Faramir to reinforce the city rather than raid Ithilien due to the strategic significance of the Causeway Forts (Osgiliath was the name of the city itself and the forts were the defenses on either side of the bridges). Much to Faramir's dismay, the Orc General Gothmog had spent months preparing rafts and boats for his armies to cross the river with. The Men of the West were outnumbered 15,000 orcs to 1,500 men but still held their own. They had killed a third of the Orcs when the Ringwraiths arrived on their winged felbeasts, striking fear into the hearts of the Gondorian soldiers. With their arrival the tides of battle had turned and Western Osgiliath was promptly overrun. Faramir and the final few soldiers retreated to Minas Tirith. During the battle, however, Faramir was significantly wounded and therefore unable to serve as a captain of Gondor for the remainder of the war.The SignificanceWith the fall of Osgiliath Sauron was able to reconstruct the bridges of old and lead his main army across the Anduin River. Remember that Isengard had fallen and Dol Guldur was being besieged, eliminating other land-based options. Umbar was also in the process of being destroyed preventing Southern Gondor from being raided by Sea. Now, one may ask why Mordor couldn't simply construct more boats and cross elsewhere. The answer is simple, Oliphaunts (Mumakil) could not be transported via boat due to their weight, and neither could trolls due to their aggressive nature. They would kill anything else on-board. Therefore a land-route was of utmost significance and the reconstructed bridges were the most vital location in the war for both Gondor and Mordor. With this victory Sauron was finally able to assault Gondor, as he had been trying to do for over 500 years. Before Imabench pulls any "Well, Minas Tirith was a huge battle broski" crap, note that for FIVE HUNDRED YEARS Sauron was unable to put up a significant presence in the war our large-scale assault due to not having access of a crossing of the Anduin River. No matter how you look at it, no crossing = no war. The Battle of Pelennor Fields would have NEVER HAPPENED had Mordor not won. One could also argue that the Battle of Pelennor Fields was vital to a Gondorian victory in the War due to the massive amounts of soldiers killed from Mordor. WRONG.1) The army present at Pelennor Fields was only a minute fraction of Sauron's army. A much larger amount of soldiers was stationed to intercept Rohan but failed, and many more were in Minas Morgul waiting to move out. Sure, the Witch King of Angmar and Gothmog died in this battle, but so did Theoden, and Denethor killed himself, so the loss in Generals was equivalent - especially when considering that Eowyn and Faramir were injured to an extent that they could not rejoin the war. So as we can see, Sauron had more men that would have appeared at Morannon had Frodo not destroyed the ring first.2) Had Gondor won Mordor would have had to of:A) Try again and lose more orcsorB) Assault Cair Andros or Pelagrir full-scale and lose due to the superior defenses present in those cities compared to Minas Tirith. Yes, they were more properly defended. Little was it known that both fortresses sent their soldiers to defend Minas Tirith before the battle ended. The reason Minas Tirith was so poorly defended was because it relied on. . . wait for it. . . control of OSGILIATH for protection.As you can see, the Battle of Osgiliath was the most important battle of not only the Third Age, but perhaps of all history in Middle-earth.