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In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth much of the history of the three ages of his legendarium are concerned with wars and the battles and armies of those wars. ==Armies of Middle-earth, hierarchy and organization== The charts below show the general hierarchical〔The hierarchy of a ''host'' over ''armies'' over ''legions'' is not unique to Tolkien's writings but is used elsewhere with the understanding of that hierarchy. For example, the ''1911 Encyclopædia Britannica'' entry for Lucuis Lucinius Lucullus shows its use: "In the spring of 69, at the head of only ''two legions'', he (Lucullus) marched through Sophene, the south-western portion of Armenia, crossed the Tigris, and pushed on to the newly built royal city, Tigranocerta, situated on one of the affluents of that river. A motley ''host'', made up out of the tribes bordering on the Black Sea and the Caspian, hovered round his ''small army'', but failed to hinder him from laying siege to the town. Lucullus showed consummate military capacity, contriving to maintain the siege and at the same time to give battle to the enemy's vastly superior forces." Lucullus' small ''army'' of two ''legions'' is outnumbered by a ''host''. Similarly, in the entry for Karnal: "It was here that Ibrahim Lodi and his vast ''host'' were defeated (at the Battle of Panipat (1526) ) in 1526 by the veteran ''army'' of Baber... ", the historical estimates for Lodi's vast ''host'' are 40,000-100,000 and Baber's ''army'' are 15,0000-25,000.〕 terms used by Tolkien to describe military formations and organization, and how these relate to specific or estimated strengths in battles throughout the history of Middle-earth. These terms, with ''host'' indicating military forces larger than an ''army'' and the others indicating forces smaller than an ''army'', are used with a remarkable general consistency over the time of Tolkien's writings from 1917–1972, as well as an in-universe consistency over the three ages of Middle-earth. There are certainly times when some of these words: ''host'', ''army'', ''company'', ''band'' are used outside of this context. For example: ''host'' can refer to the whole of a people which includes males, females and children, not just the warriors, or "the war-high",〔J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien editor, ''History of Middle-earth'', Vol. II, (1984), p.70. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien editor, ''History of Middle-earth'', Vol. X, (1993), p.115, "But the hosts... all these great companies, both of the full-grown and war-high and many others...".〕 to use Tolkien's own phrase. At times, ''army'' can mean a singular fighting force of no set size, as can ''company'', or ''host''. Within the context of most battle, or war, descriptions these terms are generally consistent throughout the canon.〔''Mythlore'', Number 62, Volume 16, No.4, ISSN: 0146-9339, Loback, T.. ''Orc Hosts, Armies and Legions, A Demographic Study'', 1990, p.12, "At this point it will be helpful to show a plausible, overall order of battle, or Table of Organization to support these conclusions..." there follows a list of terms and estimates that generally coincides with those used here. The article is the second part of a two article study of Middle-earth demographics and the strength estimates as well as the organizational breakdowns shown here are drawn from it.〕 More modern military terms such as ''battalion'' and ''regiment'' see occasional use, but are not widespread. While estimates of numbers can be often supported textually by simple extension of textually cited numbers, they are only estimates when there is not a specific number stated by Tolkien. However, it can be said with some certainty that a description of strength using the ''Names'', such as: ''Name''-''host'' (e.g. Great-host) as a number of the ''Name''-''armies'' (e.g. Orc-armies), is supported textually across the board in the canon, as the selected, but by no means only, references demonstrate. It is important to consider the context in which these terms appear in the stories since, as a writer of fiction, Tolkien's primary purpose is to engage and entertain the reader while not being tied to a set terminology the way a military historian must be. Tolkien sometimes adopts just that historian stance going into great detail about tactical movements, weapons and formations as he does in ''The Battles of the Fords of Isen'', or ''Cirion and Eorl''.〔J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien editor, ''Unfinished Tales'', (1980)〕 He can apply the same attention to detail to the drill of a shield-wall formation as to the intricacies of family relationships of the Sackville-Baggins. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Armies and hosts of Middle-earth warfare」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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