[Kuruharan]

They (the stockpiles) could come from anywhere. Rhun seems likely, and surely the Witch-King could 'persuade' the Easterlings and Wainriders to give him what he needed in the way of supplies, as well as providing themselves as troops. I don't see it being very hard to slip supplies through the back-door of Mordor, either.

That is a long supply line if I ever saw one. Long supply lines equal inevitable problems and delays even under the best of circumstances (and I can concede that transport across Mordor certainly would not have been encumbered by things like the enemy activity and bandits that often plagued supply lines in this day and age). Still, you have things like broken transports, the need for the transporters to eat a chunk of the supplies, considering the derelict state of Mordor I would assume bad roads, all sorts of stuff. Gondor was actually in a much more favorable logistical position.

And one must also take note that Angmar's defeat was already in the past. The power of Gondor could very well have waned in that time just enough to leave the army incapable of responding properly to the situation.

I kind of doubt that. The time involved was not that long and there is no plague or famine or other massive population reducing event mentioned during that time.

It makes more sense for him to want to take revenge in a rather violent manner. And from the Witch-King's campaigns in Angmar, we see that he prefers to cause destruction and death, razing entire areas as the army passes.

I think in this case the issue is what he was capable of doing rather than what he wanted to do.

Besides orcs, as CaptainofDespair has observed, there were also Wainriders and men of Khand and Harad that the Nazgûl could use to prevent Gondor from accessing the first few miles of the pass.

Minor point: Hadn’t the Wainriders been completely broken 56 years before this though?

Anyway, on to the big stuff…

That is true: the Morgul forces had a continuous link to their bases of supply; but the garrison of Minas Ithil was isolated, and eventually it did fall. No reinforcements could get into Minas Ithil, nor could food or military goods; for the Morgul army, however, whatever its size, it could be reinforced at will from the Mordor end of the pass, and it could be freely resupplied and re-equipped without interference or interruption.

As I pointed out above, I’m not sure this is the case. Just a glance at the map indicates that Gondor was in a better logistical position because their supply lines were shorter. In a protracted campaign of attrition of the type you are proposing, I think Gondor would have had the decisive advantage, therefore, I don’t think that is what happened.

No doubt they had an excellent picture of the tactical situation, and they had far superior communications, having no impediment to their lines of communication with Minas Ithil; however, they had no way to take advantage of their intelligence, unless you can demonstrate how Gondor could effect a military operation in Mordor or the eastern end of the Ithil pass without resort to the Ithil pass or the Morannon.

You say that “they would be willing to pay a pretty heavy price” to defend Minas Ithil, and I agree: but once the Morgul force was entrenched along the entire western approach to Minas Ithil, the “advantages” for Gondor would be much akin to those enjoyed during World War I by armies attacked heavily entrenched positions: very poor prospects indeed. It would seem that most of the Nazgûl were there as well, and anytime a breach began to form in the Morgul lines, I suspect one or more of them would join in the fray.

For one thing, the advantage conferred to the defender by entrenched positions was not anything like as great in this style of warfare as they were in World War I. (Actually, given the particular style of warfare described in Middle-earth, I prefer the term “fortified” and will use that.) Assuming that the Mordorian forces had walled off the western end of the pass, even in depth, all the Gondorians would have needed to do was employ conventional siege tactics to breach each layer of fortification. While this could be costly, given the logistical advantages of Gondor I think they would have succeeded had they tried this.

It would seem that most of the Nazgûl were there as well, and anytime a breach began to form in the Morgul lines, I suspect one or more of them would join in the fray.

True, but the Witch-king’s presence didn’t turn the tide at Fornost and their power was reduced in daytime and their master’s power had not grown as great at that point as it did later.

An oversimplification of the events surrounding the defeat of Angmar. The Witch-king was defeated because in his pride after having seized Fornost

Perhaps, but the rest of your explanation, interesting as it is, is an overcomplication of the point I was trying to make. My point was that Gondor was able to fling an army sufficient to crush Angmar (no small feat) about 1000 miles away from its home base (also no small feat) and yet a mere 25 years later Gondor couldn’t muster the strength to defend one of its primary cities. I find this impossible to swallow if conventional tactics are all that is considered.

which is exactly why even a large army from Gondor would be of less effect: only the front lines of the two armies could fight, and all the advantages would accrue to the Morgul side.

It depends on what you are wanting to do. If one is just wanting to grind it out, than a meeting of the front lines is all that is required. But I don’t think a Thermopylaesque battle in the pass is what would have happened anyway (a situation where I think the Gondorians would have won in the end anyway, just like the Persians did). I think it would have been more of a siege.

I don’t find any conflicting information: it is extremely sparse, but I do not see any internal conflicts or counterindications. The text is quite clear that the Nazgûl led a force that descended upon Minas Ithil by surprise, invested the citadel, and took it after a two-year siege.

I’m afraid that the words “take by surprise” followed by “two-year siege” used regarding the same event have a rather jarring effect in my brain.

Also, see the bit about Gondor’s potency in 1975 and then their apparent utter impotence in 2000-2002. This just does not compute.