Siege of Gondor

The Siege of Minas Tirith, or Siege of Gondor, occurred in the year TA 3019 when Sauron's Morgul-host besieged the city of Minas Tirith during the War of the Ring. The siege was broken, while it neared success, by the arrival of Théoden and his thousands of Rohirrim horsemen from the west. The Battle of the Pelennor Fields immediately ensued.
==History==
===Background===
Gondor was first attacked on June 20, 3018 when the forces of Mordor launched a surprise attack on the ruined city of Osgiliath. However while the eastern half of the city fell, Boromir the son of Steward Denethor II successfully defended the western half by destroying the last bridge that crossed the Anduin river. Nine months passed after the skirmish in Osgiliath when Sauron's servant Saruman sent forth a large army to destroy the people of Rohan. They were, however, defeated by the forces of the Rohirrim in the Battle of the Hornburg.The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter VII: "Helm's Deep" After this decisive victory, Aragorn revealed himself to Sauron through the Palantír of Orthanc, which spurred the Dark Lord into action, making him send his main armies before the full force was prepared. He decided to release his long-prepared army in hopes of quickly annihilating his greatest enemy, Gondor before aid could arrive. Due to the threat of the huge fleet of Corsair warships sailing from Umbar, the southern fiefdoms of Gondor sent far fewer people to aid Minas Tirith's defense than expected.The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter X: "The Voice of Saruman"
===Prelude===
There was no dawn between March 9 and 10. This was the day which is called the Dawnless Day. A large cloud from Mordor silently crept over the lands of Rohan and Gondor, covering the sun and preventing sunlight from penetrating the clouds. Sauron's purpose was to instil fear amongst the Army of the West, and also to ease the passing of his minions who feared daylight.The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book Five, Chapter I: "Minas Tirith" On that same day, an army from the Black Gate emerged and captured the island of Cair Andros. The purpose was two-fold: to prevent the Rohirrim from reaching Minas Tirith, and to attempt to cut off the garrison at Osgiliath. The Muster of Rohan, led by King Théoden, left the camp at Dunharrow, the beacons of Gondor being lit one day prior.The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book Five, Chapter III: "The Muster of Rohan" During the Dawnless Day, the Ring-bearer Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, and their guide, Gollum, approached Minas Morgul. When they arrived, they saw a red flash emanating from beyond the eastern mountains - likely from Orodruin - which was answered by lightning and blue flame issuing from Minas Morgul and the surrounding hills. The Witch-king of Angmar emerged from the city on a black horse, accompanied by an army stated to be larger than any that departed from the vale since the time of Isildur. This was the smaller of Sauron's forces; the larger host issuing forth from the Black Gate.The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book Five, Ch. IV: "The Siege of Gondor"
====Fall of Osgiliath====
On March 11, Denethor sent forces to reinforce the garrison at Osgiliath, expecting a large blow from the enemy. After giving a report to Denethor, Faramir left to command the garrison. That night, they were attacked by the Witch-king's forces, who had been joined by Haradrim regiments. In the morning of the next day, despite stout resistance, the Witch-king's forces crossed the Anduin and Faramir retreated to the Causeway Forts of the Rammas Echor, the wall surrounding the Pelennor Fields, holding the position for most of March 12. Gandalf arrived to give heart to the defenders, remaining there for most of the day, before escorting wounded back to Minas Tirith. Although Faramir and his men resisted stoutly and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy forces, the Witch King's army began to breach the wall, forcing Faramir to retreat with most of his remaining men, but was soon overtaken by Orcs and Southrons pouring onto the fields. Prince Imrahil and Gandalf led a cavalry sortie which allowed the retreating men to regroup and return to Minas Tirith, but Faramir was wounded by a Southron arrow and was carried by Imrahil.
===The siege===
Upon arriving at the city, the enemy sprawled before the main walls of Minas Tirith. They quickly put up siege equipment and dug trenches. A large force of Orcs and Easterlings was sent to guard the northern roads against possible reinforcements from Rohan. It put trenches and stakes on the road, enough to halt any charge.
On March 13, the Witch-king began to soften the defences of the city. However the outer wall of Minas Tirith, the Othram, built when the Númenóreans in-exile were still strong, was as impregnable as the tower of Orthanc. The siege engines of Mordor, while not penetrating it, were able to launch incendiary missiles into the lower city, setting it ablaze. The heads of casualties and prisoners taken in Osgiliath and at the Causeway Forts were also hurled into the city to demoralise the defenders. Soon, dismayed by the cries of the Nazgûl and the seeming hopelessness of the defence, most of the men on the walls had fled into the second circle of the city. A distraught Denethor refused to command the defence, as he thought the entire city was to be destroyed and Faramir was doomed to die. Gandalf and Imrahil then took charge, and inspired hope whenever they went.
In the night, large siege towers were dragged to the walls by Mûmakil to test the garrison. The main assault was launched against the Great Gate - the only vulnerable point in the wall - by a huge battering ram, Grond. However the resistance was stoutest at that point, and the forces of Mordor suffered high casualties. Grond was hurled against the gate three times, but on the third try, it and the Witch-king's magic managed to destroy the gate completely. The Witch-king entered the city, with only Gandalf upon Shadowfax confronting him. At this moment, the horns of the Rohirrim sounded, forcing the Witch-king to leave and confront the new foe.
===Siege ends===
With the arrival of the Rohirrim, the men of Gondor were encouraged and sortied from the city to attack their besiegers, beginning the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. After the coming of the Grey Company and reinforcements from southern Gondor, the siege was completely overthrown.
==In adaptations==
===The Lord of the Rings film trilogy===
The siege features prominently in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King with some modifications from the book.
Following their successful overrun of the city of Osgiliath and subsequent massacre of Gondor's relief force sent to liberate it, the army of Mordor began to cross the river in force under the supervision of the Witch-king and Gothmog. On March 13, the Orc forces assembled for battle on the fields of Pelennor, complete with drummer-trolls, catapults, and siege-towers; the host was so large altogether that it stretched wider than the city itself. Within the walls of the city itself, the men of Gondor stood idle as Denethor was too consumed by madness to even notice the siege had begun. Drunk on the fear from the citizenry within, the orcs opened the battle by launching the severed heads of the relief force into the city as a form of psychological warfare meant to demoralize their enemy.
Overwhelmed by grief, despair and insanity over the (supposed) death of his youngest son Faramir, Denethor took one look at the Mordor army arrayed outside the city, declared that all was lost and shouted at the defenders to flee for their lives. This notion was quickly dispelled however as Gandalf swiftly knocked out the raving Steward, assumed command of the city's defenses and ordered preparations for battle to be made immediately.
As the Gondor soldiers raced to take up positions and ready for combat, the orcs opened fire on the city with their catapults, causing serious damage and sowing havoc. Undeterred, Gandalf ordered the defenders to return fire immediately with the city's trebuchets. The Gondor soldiers were helped somewhat by the fact that while the orcs' catapults were indeed causing a lot of damage, they were also inadvertently providing the defenders with an abundance of ammunition with which to fire back; that being the debris falling all around them. The defenders therefore began to hurl large chunks of the city itself back at the Mordor forces, inflicting heavy losses on the orcs who were nonetheless ordered to remain stationary. Furious at their defiance, the Witch-king and the other Ringwraiths launched a surgical strike into the city and systematically demolished the trebuchets.
The Mordor siege-towers meanwhile moved ever closer to the city walls. At first the city's archers shot at the towers to no avail; Gandalf quickly redirected their focus to the trolls below pushing the towers. Though the trolls were rapidly shot down, the towers still reached the city, allowing battalions of orcs to pour out onto the outer walls. Unfortunately for the orcs, the defenders were too well-organized for the wall to be taken and their offensive was blunted.
At the base of the wall far below, the orcs brought up a rudimentary battering ram to break open the main city gate. The ram however could not make so much as a dent in the massive and powerful gate and the orcs were under constant fire from the Gondor archers above, resulting in yet more heavy casualties for the orcs. Undeterred, Gothmog brought up the infamous super-battering ram known as Grond, a massive siege-weapon requiring no less than six trolls to use. Seeing the Hammer of the Underworld approaching, Gandalf took several detachments of soldiers down to the city courtyard to stem the orc advance. Outside, Grond began bashing through the city gate and the attackers drew up for the imminent offensive.
In just six strikes, Grond punched through the city gate as the defenders readied themselves, their courage fortified by the Elven Ring of Power Narya worn by Gandalf. On the seventh strike, the city gate burst open entirely, unleashing armored trolls and a flood of orcs into the city. Despite a valiant resistance by the Gondor soldiers and their Istari commander, they could not hold back the tide of enemies and were eventually forced to retreat back to the city's second level. Now confident of victory, Gothmog ordered his subordinates to move into the city and kill all in their path.
As first light appeared on the following day, the battle raged on throughout the city. By then however, the defenders were exhausted and close to defeat, numbering barely 2,000 left alive while the helpless citizens huddled together at the city's peak. While leading the defenders back to another level, Gandalf was alerted to the burning of Faramir by Pippin, whereupon the two stormed the immolation ceremony and rescued Faramir while his deranged father burned alive and threw himself off the ramparts to his death. Sensing an opportunity, the Witch-king of Angmar confronted the Wizard and the hobbit, intending to slay them both. Though he managed to break Gandalf's staff, the wraith was interrupted by the timely arrival of the Rohirrim from the West, forcing him leave prematurely and beginning the concurrent Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
While this battle was fought out on the fields, the orcs inside the city cornered the remaining defenders on the third level. As they readied themselves to make their final stand, they were saved by the intervention of the newly-arrived Dead Men of Dunharrow, who swept through the city like a cleansing flood, slaughtering every last orc and evil creature within.
== In other versions ==
In the early drafts of The Lord of the Rings, the Siege of Gondor - called "Ondor" here - was the first major battle of the War of the Ring (given the absence of the Battle of the Hornburg). The stakes were even higher, as the Dark Lord marshalled all his might against the White City: the host of Mordor would have been joined not only by the peoples of Rhûn and Harad, but also hordes from Moria, Dol Dúghul (Dol Guldur) and Isengard, with Saruman acting as commander of Sauron's armies (instead of the Witch-king). Following the breaking of the Fellowship, Trotter (Aragorn) and Boromir travelled to Minas Tirith and join the Men of Ondor in their fight. During the assault, the Lord of Minas Tirith would perish, leaving Trotter in charge of the city's defenses, much to Boromir's displeasure. Jealous of Trotter and bereft of hope of victory without the One Ring, Boromir betrayed his people and went into the Enemy's camp, seeking Saruman's aid in becoming the new Lord of Minas Tirith. The siege would be broken by Gandalf, sent back from death as the White Wizard, or by the Giant Treebeard in some versions. In subsequent drafts, J.R.R. Tolkien came up with the idea of Rohan riding to Gondor's aid.
==References==
Category:Sieges
Category:War of the Ring