Wars of the Wainriders

The Wars of the Wainriders,The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, Part One: The Prologue and Appendices to The Lord of the Rings, VII: "The Heirs of Elendil", The Heirs of Elendil - The Northern Line of Arnor: the Isildurioni, pg. 195 (entry 24) or the War of the Wainriders,The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, Part One: The Prologue and Appendices to The Lord of the Rings, VII: "The Heirs of Elendil", The Heirs of Elendil - The Southern Line of Gondor: the Anárioni, pg. 200 was a conflict between the Easterling Wainriders, their allies and Gondor with its Northmen allies.
== History ==
=== Background ===
In the more than 600 years following Rómendacil II's defeat of the Easterlings in TA 1248, the Easterling tribes of Rhûn had not been a threat, as Gondor possessed eastern territories all the way to the shores of the Sea of Rhûn, and also had the loyalty of the Northmen of Rhovanion.The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A: Annals of the Kings and Rulers, I: The Númenórean Kings, (iv): "Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion" However, the hatred of the Dúnedain and the Men of Gondor survived in the remaining tribes living further east and were ultimately united into a confederation, probably by agents of Sauron.
=== Invasion begins ===
In TA 1851,The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands), "The Third Age" the Wainriders began raiding eastern Gondor and the princes of Rhovanion, causing much destruction and leaving many dead especially amongst the Northmen. After five years of attacks, Gondor finally assembled an army led by King Narmacil II himself. The battle was lost and King Narmacil was slain, as was his faithful Northman ally Marhari. Afterwards, Gondor lost its eastern territories and the land of Rhovanion was occupied and enslaved.Unfinished Tales, Part Three: The Third Age, II: "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan"The Atlas of Middle-earth, The Third Age, "Wainriders and Angmar"
=== Rule of the Wainriders ===
For forty-five long years, the Wainriders ruled in Rhovanion, where they built homes, settlements, outposts, and storehouses, most likely with the use of forced labor. 
===Beginnings of the Éothéod=== 
Although most of the Northmen of Rhovanion fell into slavery, some survivors of the sack and people made into fugitives by the Wainrider's takeover followed Marhwini, the son of the Marhari southwest into the Vales of Anduin south of Mirkwood where they settled. They would soon become known as the Éothéod.
The Éothéod continued to oppose the invaders, maintaining friendship with Gondor and learned that the Wainriders had grown hungry for more conquests and that there was great hatred of the Wainriders in those that they ruled. By TA 1899, they knew of the Wainriders plans to attack Gondor's province of Calenardhon from over the Undeeps and gave that information to the Gondor. They began to co-ordinate a plan to rouse and assist a rebellion in Rhovanion when war began.
=== Escalation ===
As the Wainriders prepared for war, Gondor's king Calimehtar pre-emptively sent a great host against them from out of North Ithilien. With this, the Wainrider's plans to attack Calenardhon were changed and they instead set out to confront Calimehtar. This worked in Gondor's favor as it allowed for the two foes to meet with all force in one place instead of many, leaving the Undeeps undefended. Gondor and its Éothéod allies took quick advantage of this and sent their own cavalry over the Undeeps to attack the enemy from behind. The two armies met at the Second Battle of Dagorlad, and the Wainriders were defeated with Marhwini's éored's support and Gondor's cavalry assailing them from behind.
The Wainrider's defeat led to an uprising in Rhovanion by the slaves but the Wainriders were not completely expelled from the west, as they still remained in Rhovanion due to the partial failure of the slave rebellion. The Éothéod also continued to harass them from the west as well. The Wainriders had been checked, but they had not been defeated.
=== A new threat ===
For forty-five more years, the Wainriders were still a problem despite their losses in the west and plotted a new campaign. Needing more support to recoup their losses and defeat Gondor, they formed alliances with the Men of Harad and those of Khand. Once again, the Éothéod again warned Gondor of this new threat to the west. In the month of Cermië of TA 1944, war resumed with the Wainrider alliance threatening Gondor from both the north and the south. Ondoher prepared to meet the enemy in the north while Eärnil, his most trusted general, prepared to face them in the south.
The King marched his army out of Ithilien intending to fight the enemy once again on the Dagorland, but was surprised in front of the Black Gate by Wainriders from Rhovanion and a combined Wainrider/Variag army from Rhûn traveling along the Ash Mountains to battle. There King Ondoher was utterly defeated, losing his life and his two sons: Artamir and Faramir. Some survivors retreated south, but the field was lost.
The Wainriders advanced into Northern Ithilien with no opposition, setting up camps. Here, the victors celebrated believing Gondor was at last defeated. But this was not true, for Eärnil's smaller but well led Southern Army defeated an army of Haradrim in South Ithilien, and proceeded to march north to face the Wainriders. He met up with some of the retreating troops of Ondoher's defeated army and fell upon the Wainrider camp in a surprise attack. The Wainriders were completely defeated in a great rout. Those Wainriders that didn't escape back to Rhûn died in the Dead Marshes. The war was over. 
=== Afterwards ===
The Northmen people of Rhovanion were now completely freed, some of whom migrated to Gondor where they were welcomed as distant brethren. In TA 1945, Eärnil was crowned King of Gondor. The Éothéod also maintained friendship with Gondor, although in the decades to come they began to migrate north. Over the next few decades Gondor's borders continued to be troubled, preventing Gondor from sending aid north to aid Arthedain until it was too late.
===Legacy===
The war led to a series of events that created the Éothéod who later became the Rohirrim. The Wainrider invasion was devastating for Gondor, resulting in loss of territory both in the East and Umbar and heavy casualties, with the loss of two kings in battle. The Wainrider invasion therefore weakened the kingdom at a critical moment and prevented it aiding Arthedain when attacks were renewed by Angmar at the same time as the third Wainrider assault. Therefore the rulers of both kingdoms became aware that a malign force was co-ordinating attacks on the exiles of Númenor, an indicator of the return of Sauron.
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Afrikaans 	Oorloë van die Oorlogswa Ryers
Albanian 	Luftërat e Shoferë Karrocash Lufte
Armenian 	Մարտակառք հեծյալներ պատերազմները
Azerbaijani 	Döyüş Arabası Sürücülər Müharibələri
Bosnian 	Vozači Ratnih kočija ratovi
Catalan 	Guerres del Genets de Carros de Guerra
Croatian 	Vozači Bojnih kola ratovi
Danish 	Vognkørerne krige
Dutch 	Oorlogen van de Oorlogswagenrijders
Estonian 	Sõjavankrijuhid sõjad
French 	Guerre du contre les Chariotiers
Galician 	Guerras da Condutores de Carros de guerra
Greek 	Πόλεμοι των Οδηγοί Πολεμικών Αρμάτων
Hindi 	युद्ध रथ ड्राइवरों युद्धों
Indonesian 	Perang-perang dari Kereta Pertempuran Penunggang-penunggang
Italian 	Guerre del Carrieri
Japanese 	戦争馬車ドライバー戦争
Kannada 	ಯುದ್ಧ ರಥ ಚಾಲಕರು ಯುದ್ಧಗಳು
Kazakh 	Соғыс арбасы жүргізушілері соғыстар (Cyrillic) Soğıs arbası jürgizwşileri soğıstar (Latin)
Korean 	전차 라이더 전쟁
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Согуш арабалары айдоочулар согуштар
Latvian 	Kaujas rati braucēji kari
Lithuanian 	Karo Vežimo raiteliai karai
Luxembourgish 	Kricher vun der KrichwaggonChauffeuren
Macedonian Cyrillic	Војните на Јавачи на воени коли
Maltese 	Gwerer tal-Rikkieba tal-karrijiet tal-gwerra
Marathi 	रथ रायडर्स युद्धे
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Сүйх тэрэг тэрэгчид Дайнууд
Nepalese 	युद्ध रथ चालक युद्धहरू
Norwegian 	Krigsvognkjørere kriger
Persian 	جنگ های سواران ارابه
Polish 	Wojna jeźdźcy rydwan Wojny
Portuguese 	Guerras dos Ginetes de Carruagem de Guerra
Punjabi 	ਰਥ ਰਾਈਡਰਜ਼ ਜੰਗਾਂ
Romanian 	Războaiele din Calareti car de Luptă
Russian 	Войны Люди Повозок
Serbian 	Ратови на Возачи Ратних кочија (Cyrillic) Ratovi na Vozači Ratnih kočija (Latin)
Sinhalese 	යුධ අශ්ව රථ පදවන්නන් යුද්ධ
Slovenian 	Vozniki vojne kočije Vojne
Spanish 	Guerras de la Carrieri
Swahili 	Vita ya Madereva wa Magari ya Vita
Swedish 	Vagnsryttarna krig
Tajik Cyrillic 	Саворони аробаҳои ҷангӣ Ҷангҳои
Tamil 	போர் தேர் சாரதிகள் போர்கள்
Tatar 	Сугыш арбасы драйверлары Сугышлар
Telugu 	యొక్క యుద్ధాలు యుద్ధ రథం డ్రైవర్లు
Turkish 	Savaş arabası biniciler Savaşlar
Turkmen 	Uruş arabalary sürüjileri Uruşlar
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Війни з Водії Бойових Колісниць
Urdu 	جنگی رتھ ڈرائیور جنگیں
Uzbek 	Уруш араваси ҳайдовчилари Урушлар (Cyrillic) Urush aravasi haydovchilari Urushlar (Latin)
Vietnamese 	Các cuộc chiến tranh của Người đi xe ngựa
Welsh 	Rhyfeloedd y Gyrwyr Chariot Rhyfel
==References==
Category:Easterling Wars