Dunlendings

Armor was thick layers of normal clothing. The use of gambesons does seem to fit with what one would expect for such an economy/society.

The Weapons and Warfare book describes them as relying on metal from Isengard and looted farm implements – otherwise using clubs. But this seems highly unlikely. A culture like this living in the foothills of the White Mountains would be able to make spear tips and arrowheads out of stone. There would be enough wood around to expect them to be able to make primitive bows, probably in the 100 to 150 yard shooting range typical of orc bows.

Now, most of the fighting the Haradrim would engage in would actually be more tribal. The tribal wars were normally fought in Africa in mainly ceremonial ways. The Zulus prior to Shaka taking over for example primarily involved the warriors in a skirmish line. They threw their javelins at each other, relying primarily on their smaller shields for protection. There were few deaths. The women in the tribes involved tended to show up to watch what appears to be more displays of posturing and jeering at the enemy. Dancing and singing produced an almost festival atmosphere.   Their preferred method of warfare would likely still be raids and massacres. The main difference between real life and the books would be their use of night attacks and the use of horses. The fact they live so close to Rohan and primarily launch raids against them, stealing horses would seem like a common tactic they would employ and a source of animosity fueling reprisals by Rohan. It would make sense that they would have a few horses that elite warriors would use during raids in the future – possibly stealing horses could be how one gains status in their society.   Similarly, secrecy, mobility and surprise will all be highly prized in their way of fighting. We can expect hit and run tactics, ambushes and other such actions that attack hard and fast then retreat when resistance stiffens enough to begin inflicting losses on the attackers.   Societies like the Wild Men tend to engage in low intensity conflict for a host of reasons other than outright defeat of the enemy, though that is a motive as well. Often it is a tool to demonstrate courage and masculinity in warriors. This means few injuries and even fewer deaths, while war fighting skills are honed. Though the frequent and continual fighting can easily escalate into all out wars of annihilation. In the Yanomami culture, escalation proceeds from chest beating duels up to spear throwing ones. Then raiding parties are sent out with the purpose to kill at least one person. All out massacres follow next. This normally happens in cases of treachery, abducting women, pig theft or accusations of witchcraft. At the very least, we can expect that war by the Wild Men would be spontaneous massacres of isolated villages. It is entirely possible they would not have risen to the level of violence represented by organized campaigns sanctioned by leaders until the influence and support of Saruman.   A lot of the tactics involve the use of bows, slings and maces. Maces are used primarily because they are about as low tech as you can get, thus are cheap and available to everyone in tribal societies. Bows and slings are also easy to make. Their popularity stems from the fact that it is far less risky to shoot at someone with a bow than it is to try and stab or hit someone. Ancient cave paintings suggest that the earliest wars involved marching in columns and using flanking attacks and encirclement. We can expect then that the Wild Men would use similar tactics as much as possible. This in turn would suggest not just the village raids mentioned above but also ambushes.   The reinforcement of their raiding parties with orcs, material support in the form of better weaponry and Saruman’s supernatural persuasion would likely lead these raids to become much more common and destructive. I would expect much higher death counts, fewer taking of prisoners, more cases of war rape and other war crimes and rise in looting. Villages will be utterly destroyed. Farmland that does exist in areas hit will most likely totally ravaged, with everything that cannot be carried away destroyed – including fields and houses.   Now, larger concentrations are needed for engagements such as the two at the Fords of Isen. How would these be fought by Wild Men? The closest I can find to these would be the Gaulic and Germanic armies that went up against Rome. Here, they used shields and wedge formations to attack the enemy ranks. But they only seem to have won in certain conditions that seemed too rare to allow them to win wars. These were numerical superiority, ambushes, broken terrain where legions could not fully deploy and when they could charge the Roman ranks before they could fully form. When the “barbarian” tribes could shelter and recuperate between successive charges, they tended to have the advantage.   This means that the best bet the barbarians had was to replicate something like the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. This battle had all of the traits above, plus a Roman traitor aiding the Germans. It cost Rome 3 full legions and is seen by some as the reason Rome could not sustain its expansion in the region. Rome clearly was able to sustain operations in the area judging by its punitive attacks for years after. But, it is possible that the total disaster of Teutoburg might have proved a deterrence to further conquest. Rohan is no Rome. So, while a catastrophic defeat like Teutoburg might not have had a deterrent effect on Rome, I think it most certainly would for Rohan. I would suspect then that the Fords of Isen would prove the best opportunity for the Wild Men to inflict a similar defeat on Rohan using the same tactics. They would probably disperse afterwards, feeling that the defeat fulfilled their obligations to Isengard. They would probably then go back to their individual bands and raiding isolated villages.   Hans Delbrück, History of the Art of War, Vols. I & II. University of Nebraska Press (1990) [1920-21].

Now, they appear to have a hunter gatherer economy. Rome's Barbarian enemies tended to suffer from poor logistics and rudimentary organization made them poor matches for the legions. Rome’s in depth formations proved hard for the “barbarians” to handle. Then, the Romans could literally stay in the field longer with their fortified camps protecting their supplies. The barbarian army would have to disperse much quicker as their food would run out first. Hence why Rome used scorched earth tactics against them – it would compound the enemy’s already established weakness.   The problem is Wild Men clearly are not Rome either. Which means no fortified camps. A heavy cavalry force striking an unprotected camp at night would prove devastating. There is also the idea that “if your prey comes to ground, leave no ground to go to”. Rohan would probably provide no mercy, striking food sources, burning civilian areas and even escalating to genocide. After all, Rohan did not like them at all even before the War of the Ring. A big defeat at their hands after they side with the enemy would only escalate matters and mirrors how the Armenian Genocide started. Rome burned crops, villages and supply storage when confronted by asymmetric warfare. They killed tribal leaders and used divide and conquer tactics. We can expect Rohan to take the Roman brutality to heart an emulate the same scorched earth and massacres.

The original residents of Dunland ranged over a wide area of Middle Earth. The Numenoreans though ravaged the forests in which they made their homes. Naturally this did not go over too well. They grew increasingly hostile to the realms in exile as a result. They retreated to what became Rohan. But the granting of this land by Gondor to the Rohirrim made matters worse. Hope of resistance was snuffed out when the Great Plague hit them hard. But not as bad as more urbanized areas.   Rohan drove them further into the mountains and edges of Fanghorn. Gondor couldn't bother to stop the abuses. But the garrison at Isengard was essentially abandoned to its own devices. The troops became friendlier and intermarried. Eventually the land became their domain. During this time, the raids intensified to the point that Rohan's forces were besieged in Helm's Deep over a long and cold winter. Eventually Rohan was able to break out and return the favor - trapping the Dunlendings inside Isengard. They won through starving them into surrender.   The threat to Rohan never truly went away until after the defeat of Saruman. He used his persuasive power to convince them to step up their attacks, even sending orcs to help them. They were with his amries at the Battles of the Fords of Isen and at Helm's Deep. Saruman’s promises of victory, Wormtongue’s intrigue and reinforcements of orcs combined to make the raids in the countryside quite brutal. Rural regions were hard hit. When he was defeated, they were shocked that they were not subjected to wholesale slaughter. When Saruman left for the Shire, many simply migrated with him. The force that aided Saruman in the occupation of the Shire had a lot of Dunlendings in it. Though this too was defeated.   From what I understand, this group played no further military role in Middle Earth after this. They sent apparently sent ambassadors to Gondor during Aragorn's reign. This and the surprise mercy of the Rohirrm laid the foundations for future peace between Gondor (which noww included Rohan) and the "wiled men".