I just came across a rather interesting note in "The Making of Appendix A."
It says...
Quote:
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...and in the Battle before the Gate of Moria ten thousand orcs were slain.
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Admittedly, this tidbit of information was taken out before it saw the light of day, but I think it can give some insight into what Tolkien was thinking.
A few provisional observations can be gleaned from this.
1) The loss of 10,000 orcs was enough to cripple the orcs of the Misty Mountains for something like a century.
2) Part of this crippling was due to many of the survivors of Azanulbizar fleeing southward to trouble Rohan and Gondor, with serious trouble there starting only 2 years later. This argues that substantial numbers of orcs managed to escape from the battle.
3) The dwarves were outnumbered at the battle of Azanulbizar. This means the total number of Longbeards (assuming that virtually all male dwarves fought) was probably less than 10,000. It must also be remembered that some other Houses sent forces, although we don't know if all the Houses sent forces or how many soldiers they would have sent. The forces sent by the other Houses were described as "great" and Gandalf speaks of "all the dwarves from the four corners of the earth" which implies a pretty all-out effort. When this is considered the number of Longbeards (or for that matter, any other kind of dwarf) plummets considerably. It must also be remembered that only half the dwarf-host made it out of battle alive.
4) On the other hand, if one assumes that perhaps a similar proportion of orcs made it out, which in my view is plausible given the orcish tendency to bolt at the first sign of real trouble and the difficulties that dwarves would have in pursuit not having cavalry, that would mean that the orcish army at Azanulbizar was around 20,000. This would probably mean that the total for the dwarf-host was possibly a few thousand above 10,000 as massively outnumbered armies tend not to succeed in open field battle even if they are more courageous and better armed, particularly if they are fighting from a serious tactical disadvantage.