Sauron's Grand Invasion Plan 

''Keeping the Elves away from places they shouldn't be...like Helm's Deep'' - I see what you did there, well played Sir, well played.

So he made 7 invasions and lost all of them. Seems like he should have prioritized the top 3 or something.

The plan was largely sound, but no plan survives contact with silly Hobbits and old men with walking sticks.

Quick shout-out to Battle for Middle-earth 2 for focusing on Dol Guldur, Dale etc. up north, among other less well-trodden places.

Considering Sauron's perspective on time, it must have been weird to change gears and attack Minas Tirith as soon as possible because of Aragorn challenging Sauron through the Palantir. Suddenly Sauron needed Minas Tirith to fall before Aragorn could get there, because Sauron thought that Aragorn might well use the Ring's power to take over Gondor, and unite many peoples of Middle-earth against Sauron from there.

Sauron wanted to take out the Dwarves and Men first and deal with the Elves later, probably because the Elves had their Elven Rings that made them extremely difficult to assail, probably wanted to lead them himself personally or had the Nazgûl lead them.

The way he was winning War of the Ring was very much how Morgoth was dominating Beleriand near the end of the 1st Age. So we can safely say he learned from his master alot.

The attack on Minas tirith was provoked by Aragorn using the palantir. We dont know Saurons original plan.

It's hindsight of course but if Sauron had sent a strong enough force against Gondor that it would have still defeated the combined forces of Gondor and Rohan there, there would have been no army of the Free Peoples to distract him by marching to the Black Gate and in all likelihood, Frodo and Sam don't make it to the Sammath Naur. I think Sauron overreacted to his defeat in the War of the Last Alliance and spread himself too thin by trying to attack so many different locations simultaneously.

Where there's a whip, there is a way.

Reminds me of how time favored Morgoth, and Sauron likely planned with that history in mind. It's likely he was willing to gamble as many armies as necessary to isolate Minas Tirith and Erebor, where his hardest blow would fall, just as he saw Morgoth bring the hammer down on Fingolfin's and Maedhro's realms in the Battle of Sudden Flame, at which point, the main fortresses enclosing him would be out of the fight, and he could control the pace of the war.

His plan to tie up his opponants clearly was working right up to the destruction of the ring. Though as you say their were three opponants that he didn't anticipate which allowed Minas Tirith to be reinforced, it was not enough to deal with future attacks, He had tied down everyone else.

More spectacular was Sauron’s logistical train to keep armies fed, replacements moving, and spare parts as required, etc…

My impression was that Saruman launched his war because he was convinced that Rohan had the ring. He knew that Hobbits had it, and that Hobbits had been captured by Anduin on their way to Gondor, and Rohan had destroyed his returning column by Fangorn, where Aragorn was also seen to be. Saruman launched his attack because all available intel implied that if he could take Rohan now, he would also take the Ring.

Here's a fun thing to consider - the attacks on the north had 4 and a bit armies going from Dol Guldur, three being thrown at Lorioen, one at Thranduil and all weakened to send that small force to Rohan. I think this was a quick change on Sauron's part, the original plan being just two armies, one against Lorien and one against Thranduil.

cheers and greetings from Canada love your content.. may the Valar bless your path.

Your final holiday suggestion made me come back from the next vid in my queue to say "LMFAO!" and "Thank you!".

A Great day it is when a new Darth Gandalf videos comes out , they really make my day

Being honest, Sauron never struck me a a military commander, yes, he had the command of armies, but his main tactic seems to have been just to overwhelm the enemy with numbers, something that had even failed on a number of occasions for his master, Melkor. Despite his intelligence, he does not seem to have learnt from either his own or Melkor's defeats.

Great video! I enjoyed the logic and multiple angles/outcomes. Also, I appreciate that you had on screen credits for the artwork and screenshots. It's probably a lot of work, but I feel it's worth it!