A military historian evaluates the Siege of Gondor and the Battle of Helm's Deep

Where it's not Ranger related. Rankin Bass, Bakshi, PJ, or independent. If it's not specifically ranger related, let's talk movies (or TV)!

Moderator: caedmon

Post Reply
User avatar
Cimrandir
Haeropada
Posts: 938
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2010 2:44 am

A military historian evaluates the Siege of Gondor and the Battle of Helm's Deep

Post by Cimrandir »

Some time back I read a series of articles from a professor with a PhD. in military history comparing the Siege of Minas Tirith and the Battle of the Pelennor Fields to real-world military history and theory and then compared and contrasted it with the books. This past week, I've discovered since then he's also written a follow-up series doing the same to the Battle of Helm's Deep. These articles may be old to some but I thought they were fascinating in their depth and wanted to link them on the forum for discussion. The author really gets into the nitty-gritty of military theory and operations and I learned quite a bit. From classical antiquity to World War 2, it was interesting to read about the parallels to Middle-earth. It's also pretty fun to see the contrast to what the Professor wrote. Spoiler alert - for the most part, Tolkien got it right. Jackson did not.

Also, I had never considered it until I read these articles but Saruman is dumber than a box of rocks.

Anyway, I'm linking them below if anyone has an evening to spare.

The Siege of Gondor -

The Siege of Gondor, Part I: Professionals Talk Logistics
The Siege of Gondor, Part II: These Beacons are Liiiiiiit
The Siege of Gondor, Part III: Having Fun Storming the City
The Siege of Gondor, Part IV: The Cavalry Arrives
The Siege of Gondor, Part V: Just Flailing About Flails
The Siege of Gondor: Part VI: Black Sails and Gleaming Banners

Helm's Deep -

The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part I: Bargaining for Goods at Helm’s Gate
The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part II: Total Warg
The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part III: The Host of Saruman
The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part IV: Men of Rohan
The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part V: Ladders are Chaos
The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part VI: Is This a Good Sword?
The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part VII: Hanging by a Thread
The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part VIII: The Mind of Saruman

And as a fun little add-on (and more directly relevant to our kit-based forum) here is a review of the kit of the Gondorian infantry -

Gondor Heavy Infantry Kit Review
Persona : Cimrandir - late 3rd Age Dunedain
User avatar
Odigan
Vendor
Posts: 332
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 6:42 pm
Location: Southern WI
Contact:

Re: A military historian evaluates the Siege of Gondor and the Battle of Helm's Deep

Post by Odigan »

I also "read" these a while back, as the YouTube channel A Great Divorce has recorded audio versions of these and a number of other blog posts.
User avatar
Cimrandir
Haeropada
Posts: 938
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2010 2:44 am

Re: A military historian evaluates the Siege of Gondor and the Battle of Helm's Deep

Post by Cimrandir »

Oh, that's super cool! I had no idea it existed. Thank you for sharing!
Persona : Cimrandir - late 3rd Age Dunedain
Post Reply