In the First Age, Morgoth attempted to overwhelm his Eldarin foes by throwing everything possible at them. Usually, his armies met with mixed success. Even the Nirnaeth Arnoediad proved to be so costly a victory that Morgoth could not fully capitalize on the defeat of the Elven armies and their allies. He seized Hithlum and the March of Maedhros, restored his troops to Dorthonion, and took full control over the upper Vale of Sirion. But the Falas, Nargothrond, Doriath (and Brethil, which was technically a part of Doriath), and Gondolin each had to be dealt with separately.
In the Second Age, Sauron attempted to duplicate Morgoth's dubious successes with sudden onsloughts, hoping to achieve crushing military victories. Yet, he lacked Morgoth's advantages. Whereas most of Middle-earth was under Morgoth's control, Sauron had to continually engage in empire building. And whereas Morgoth's chief fortress of Angband was closely ringed about by his enemies, Sauron positioned himself in Mordor with the intention of deploying agents and forces to work against both the Eldar in the north and the Numenoreans in the south.
Numenorean settlements had not advanced very far north by the time Sauron forged the One Ring around the year 1600. The great fortresses of Pelargir, on the lower Anduin, and Umbar would not be established for more than 600 years. Numenorean power was at best a promise of future conflict. But when Gil-galad called upon Numenor to help prepare Eriador for the coming war, the Numenoreans invested nearly 100 years in fortifying positions along the Gwathlo and Lhun rivers. By the time Sauron began to move his forces north, his enemies had multiple lines of defense.
Which is not to say that Sauron should have been repulsed. The histories make it clear that Sauron seized Tharbad and pushed his way into Eregion with relative ease. Ost-en-Edhil held out for a while, possibly as long as a year. Elrond's attempt to reinforce Eregion failed and he had to retreat north. Sauron sent an army to keep Elrond out of the way. And, apparently, at the same time he was destroying Eregion, Sauron sent an army east of the Misty Mountains to root out the Elven and Edainic peoples there, the latter of whom had long been allied with the Longbeard Dwarves.
So, Sauron not only gave his enemies a long time to prepare for the war, he spread his forces thinly when he launched the war. Gil-galad was able to consolidate most of his surviving forces at the Lhun after being pushed back from the Baranduin river. Sauron overran Eriador, but Tolkien notes that Sauron killed or drove off the Men and Elves living throughout the region. Those who were driven off fell back to Elrond's encampment in Imladris or Gil-galad's kingdom. The two regions were thus strengthened by Sauron's advancing campaign.
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