War of Dwarves and Dragons
The Conflict
Prelude
Like so many events involving the dwarves, the fall of Moria is where this story begins. The survivors were naturally refugees. Seeking homes, a decent number of them migrated towards the Lonely Mountain and Iron Hills. The Grey Mountains to the north of these colonies also had the potential to be wealthy settlements. Hence some of these dwarves kept going to form Grey Mountain colonies.
However, this naturally did not go as planned. Granted, the dragons were much reduced in numbers after Melkor's defeat in the First Age. But time allowed them to repopulate - they were still common enough to pose a problem by the Third Age. Their home, unfortunately for the dwarves, was just north of the Grey Mountains. Also unfortunately for the dwarves, dragons like to steal the wealth of others.
When the dragons felt that they were strong enough and when the treasure hoards were big enough to justify it, the dragons attacked. Naturally the attacks were brutal. They lasted a solid 20 years. Eventually, the Grey Mountain colonies were destroyed and the surviving colonies retreated back to the Iron Hills and Lonely Mountain.
The sakings proved too much for the dwarves. They could not justify the continual and significant costs. Thus they retreated from the Grey Mountains to their more established colonies. The defeat in this war paved the way for serious problems for them later. It also left many treasure hoards under dragon control. Granted, not as much as what was in Moria and the Lonely Mountains. The fact that the colonies were still relatively new meant that the real losses were more in the wealth the dwarves were unable to generate due to the war rather than what was stolen from them.
Historical Significance
The threat of dragons never truly went away. A solid 200 years later, the Lonely Mountain was destroyed by Smaug.
Start Date
2570 of the Third Age
Ending Date
2589 of the Third Age
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