could the easterling breach erebor?

[tom the eldest]

Now,in the northern theather of th wotr,erebor was besiege by the easterling,but they were unable to breach the mountain until they hear that sauron was defeated and the siege was broken.if the easterling has much more time,could they breach erebor and finally defeat the dwarven kingdom once and for all?

[littlemanpoet]

The reason the Easterlings were even near Erebor was because of Sauron. Like most Humans, the Easterlings were most susceptible to tribalism and inter-tribe squabbling and war, taking land and riches from each other until a powerful lord (like Genghis Khan) could establish hegemony and unite all the tribes into a single army. Sauron could be that powerful lord. In its absence, the Easterlings would "melt away" back to their own lands and take up their squabbles where they had left them.

[tom the eldest]

The siege,in this scenario,happen way before the ring destruction.with so much time,who knows.

[littlemanpoet]

A siege is by nature a battle plan that takes months to see to its end. So it may well have been begun long before the destruction of the ring, but ended with it. As to why the Easterlings were not able to extricate the Dwarves before the ring was cast into the flames, I think that has to do with both the nature of siege and Dwarves, the heartiest and stubbornest of the Children of Eru.

[tom the eldest]

Do easterling have catapults?could they bring down the side of the lonely mountain with tyat?or at least make a hole in the gate?

[Zigûr]

It took three days for the Easterlings to overrun Dale, but the Dwarves were "the most redoubtable warriors of all the Speaking Peoples" ("Of Dwarves and Men"). The Easterlings were presumably numerous, since they were able to defeat the Dwarves and their Dalish allies who were probably more formidable as soldiers and better equipped.

It was not a matter of combat but of morale which weakened the Easterlings and brought victory to the Dwarves and Men of Dale, which implies that the siege could have been maintained in different circumstances. That being said, surely beseiging Erebor would be an utterly monumental task - an entire mountain with tunnels and halls and, I would imagine, a very great store of weapons and armour.

Could reinforcements have come from the Iron Hills? We hear little of them by this late in the Age. There is no mention, for instance, that any force attacked them, yet before Erebor and Dale were rebuilt Gandalf was concerned that "To resist any force that Sauron might send to regain the northern passes in the mountains and the old lands of Angmar there were only the Dwarves of the Iron Hills." So at one time the Iron Hills were considered an Eastern defence - did Erebor and Dale replace this? As such it's difficult to know if the Dwarves could receive reinforcements. That being said, perhaps Thranduil could have come to their aid. It depends how threatening Dol Guldur was at the time, I suppose.

Originally Posted by tom the eldest

Do easterling have catapults?could they bring down the side of the lonely mountain with tyat?or at least make a hole in the gate?

As has been stated in numerous other recent threads about the Easterlings, we know next to nothing about their military equipment or technology. I suppose they could potentially have been afforded siege engines by Sauron, but given that their military effectiveness at the time was limited by Sauron's inability to send reinforcements from Dol Guldur it's hard to say how much support they had been given.

[tom the eldest]

Isnt iron hills dont have a sizable number of dwarves anymore since the refounding of erebor?im pretty sure that it has become obscure since erebor was refounded.as for catapult,they could get it from sauron,and that catapult could add some firepower,because its able to throw high enough to bypass minas tirith's first wall,which is very high,while at the same time remain out of range from gondorian machine in the wall.