The Battle of the Camp was a battle between Gondor and the Wainriders.
History
Background
The Wainriders were beginning to recover from their defeat at Dagorlad and were apparently not completely driven out by the rebellion in Rhovanion, and now in TA 1944 made an alliance with Khand and Harad. The new Éothéod lord, Forthwini found out about this and warned King Ondoher of it. Meanwhile, Eärnil, based at Pelargir received this news on the ninth day of Cermië and prepared a force that crossed the river Anduin in part, leaving the Fords of the Poros purposely undefended.[1]
Prelude
The northern assault of the Wainriders was met by the King of Gondor himself, Ondoher, with his two sons Artamir and Faramir. The Easterlings swept through Gondor's defence, cutting down the King and his heirs and routing his army. While the Wainriders attacked Ithilien from the north, the armies of the Haradrim crossed the Poros and invaded Southern Ithilien. The Gondor Captain Eärnil had led Gondor's inferior Southern Army to victory over the Haradrim, destroying their army in South Ithilien, to the north of the Poros. After his victory, Eärnil turned north.[1]
The Battle
Believing their victory complete, and Gondor defenceless before them and apparently unaware of the defeat of their allies in the south, the Wainriders paused in North Ithilien to celebrate their conquest. The feasting Wainriders suddenly found their success reversed, as Eärnil appeared with his Southern Army, reinforced by fleeing members of Ondoher's defeated northern troops. Eärnil's army descended on the unprepared Wainriders, driving many of them into the swamplands of the Dead Marshes. That eastern people, for so long a dreaded enemy of Gondor, never marched against Gondor again. The battle was named after where it had taken place: the Battle of the Camp.[1][2][3]
Aftermath
Because there was no heir apparent to the throne, Ondoher and his sons having been killed in the battle, Eärnil was made King. He was a distant relative of Ondoher, and could trace his lineage back to Elendil and Anárion of old.[1]
Eärnil's victory is counted as one of the biggest military successes in the history of middle earth. With a numerically inferior army than the one that went north, Eärnil was able to totally rout the entire allied armies of Harad and Khand a feat that would not be duplicated until the end of the Third Age at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. The subsequent promotion of Eärnil to the throne of Gondor gave the southern Dunedain a boost to moral that had been needed since their many losses during the plague and the invasions that followed. It also helped improve relations with the northern kingdom of Arnor. Eärnil's promise of support to Arnor reforged ties that had been hanging by a thread for several centuries. The stunning success north of the Poros had positive repercussions throughout the Free Peoples of Middle-earth.
Portrayal in Adaptations
Translations around the World
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
|---|---|
| Chinese (Hong Kong) | 營地之戰 |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Unfinished Tales, Introduction, Part Three, II: "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands), "The Third Age"
- ↑ The Atlas of Middle-earth, The Third Age, "Wainriders and Angmar"
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