Elena Tiriel
Message:
34706
27 Nov 04 2:47 PM
Reply To:
34270
General Audience
Read-Only
This is a general-purpose military event template, useful for battles, wars, invasions, sieges, attacks, etc. I have inserted descriptions of each section and sample quotations in place of the text in each section.
For a large event (e.g. the Battle of the Pelennor), I usually have one event called "
Battle of the Pelennor: Overview", which follows as much of this template as possible with the information available.
Then, I create sub-events, such as
Witch-king Slain by Éowyn and Merry in the Battle of the Pelennor, each of which begins with the comment: "An event in the
Battle of the Pelennor; see that entry for an overview:" Links to all the sub-events appear in the
Timeline section of the Overview event.
Edit: 19Jan05: Changed "The Enemy" to "The Combatants"
To use this template, copy it to a text file, replace all the { with <, and replace the descriptive text with the quotations that you have compiled.
{br />{b>{a name="TOC">Table of Contents:{/a>{blockquote>{a href="#Enemy">The Combatants{/a>
{a href="#EnemyAF">— Attacking Forces{/a>
{a href="#EnemyDF">— Defensive Forces{/a>
{a href="#Timeline">The Timeline{/a>
{a href="#Prelude">The Prelude{/a>
{a href="#Description">The Battle{/a> [or War, Invasion, Siege...]
{a href="#Aftermath">The Aftermath{/a>
{a href="#Note1">Notes{/a>{/blockquote>{/b>
{b>{a name="Enemy">The Combatants{/a>{/b>
{b>{a name="EnemyAF">Attacking Forces{/a>{/b>
{b>{a name="EnemyDF">Defensive Forces{/a>{/b>
A description of each of the opposing forces in the battle, including their numbers and armament: "the Haradrim who occupied Ithilien...", "battalions of Orcs of the Eye, and countless companies of Men...", "troll-men and Variags and orcs that hated the sunlight", "the Southrons were bold men and grim...", "a great fleet manned by the corsairs of Umbar...", "the Dunlendings saw their chance...", "allies of Sauron that had long threatened the borders...", "five hundred grim dwarves clad in hauberks of steel mail...", "In its right hand was a blade; in its left it held a whip of many thongs.", "they were only rudely armed, and had no great number of horses for riding...".
{b>{a name="Timeline">The Timeline{/a>{/b>
A chronological summary (quoted from the Tale of Years, if possible) of the sequence of events before, during, and after the battle (mainly useful for overviews of multi-day or -year events, like wars, sieges, or invasions, or an event group, like a battle and a subsequent siege); includes links to other events in a related series (note: this example is an actual entry from the
Battles of Dale and Erebor in the War of the Ring):
March 3019
17
Battle of
Dale. King Brand and King Dáin Ironfoot fall. Many Dwarves and Men take refuge in
Erebor and are besieged. ...
[See:
Battle of Dale]
[See:
Brand, King of Dale, slain in the Battle of Dale]
[See:
Dáin II Ironfoot, King under the Mountain, slain in the Battle of Dale]
[See:
Siege of Erebor]
27
Bard II and Thorin III Stonehelm drive the enemy from Dale.
[See:
Bard II becomes King of Dale]
[See:
Thorin III Stonehelm becomes King under the Mountain]
The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix B,
The Tale of Years: The Third Age
{b>{a name="Prelude">The Prelude{/a>{/b>
The prior events, actions, attitudes, alliances, or other changes precipitating the battle, preparing for it, or influencing its outcome, either immediately or over time: "they were stirred up by the emissaries of Sauron...", "Thrór slain by an Orc in Moria...", "Cirion sent north for help...", "warning that the Wainriders were plotting to raid Calenardhon", "a revolt of those enslaved was being prepared...", "eager for a share of the spoil...", "determined to avenge the defeat of his father...", "after the Great Plague, the forts were abandoned to chieftains of mixed Dunlendish blood...", "less than a year ago they won back the crossings...", "it took three years to muster all their strength...", "The eagles must have gathered from all the eyries of the North...", "divided his forces into a northern army and a southern...", "fortified the isle of Cair Andros...", "the wains bear away to refuge the aged, the children, and the women...".
{b>{a name="Description">The Battle{/a>{/b> [or War, Invasion, Siege...]
A description of the action, participants, terrain, and tactics during the battle: "Ere long the vanguard swirled round the spur's end and came rushing in...", "Many Dwarves and Men take refuge in Erebor and are besieged...", "the army had been driven across the Limlight, and was then suddenly assailed by the Orc-host that pressed it towards the Anduin...", "Rocks were hurled down from on high by the goblins above...", "the army of Gondor was saved from annihilation through the rearguard defence of Marhari...", "they were drawn up on two great hills of blasted stone and earth...", "a great host of foes was arrayed on the slopes above them...", "all his arrows but one were spent...", "Dáin fell, standing over the body of King Brand before the Gate of Erebor...", "Beorn tossed wolves and goblins from his path like feathers...", "the enemy broke and were soon in disordered flight...", "the horsemen of Marhwini harried the fugitives and inflicted great loss upon them in their long rout over the plains...".
{b>{a name="Aftermath">The Aftermath{/a>{/b>
The military, political, social, or geographical consequences of the battle, either immediate or longer term: "not one living foe was left within the circuit of the Rammas...", "Barely half of their number could still stand or had hope of healing...", "the evil realm was brought to naught", "After the deaths of Ondoher and both his sons, Arvedui laid claim to the crown of Gondor...", "the Rohirrim lived in perpetual alliance with Gondor...", "word had gone out that the king was indeed come among them...", "Most of the Northmen were reduced to servitude, and all their former lands were occupied...", "Cirion ceded Calenardhon to Eorl and his people...", "the sea roared in through many chasms...", "the frontiers of Gondor were for that time withdrawn to the Anduin...".
{a name="Note1">{b>Notes{/b>
Comments or quotations that expand upon some of the information contained within the entry (see the
Numbered and Hyperlinked Footnotes post for a template): "1. The year is canon, but the date is an estimate.", "2. The Númenórean
ranga was slightly longer than our yard...", "3. Here Beorn exhibits some of the qualities of the legendary Old Norse berserker...".
