Turbulent Times in Old Middle Earth: 1944-2050 Third Age

[Valandil]

I have only noticed fairly recently just how many major events happened close together - approximately 1000 years before the events of "Lord of the Rings". If you check out Appendix B - from 1944 to 2050 of the Third Age, you have:

1944 - King Ondoher of Gondor and his sons die in battle - Earnil drives out Wainriders / Arvedui (son of Araphant, King of Aranarth) makes claim on Gondor's crown
1945 - Earnil (II) crowned king
1974 - Arthedain falls - over-run by forces of Witch-king from Angmar / King Arvedui drowns and northern palantiri lost
1975 - Angmar's forces destroyed by remnants of Arthedain, combined with Gondor, Lindon and Imladris
1976 - Aranarth, son of Arvedui, takes title of Chieftain of the Dunedain (maybe only then learning from Lossoth of the death of his father, Arvedui?)
1977 - Frungor (Frumgar?) leads Eothed into north (ancestors of Rohirrim - they had lived on the SW outskirts of Mirkwood since the Wainriders occupied their old lands east of Mirkwood - they now moved to the northern end of Anduin - which HAD until very recently been the eastern part of Angmar)
1979 - Hobbits choose first Thain for the Shire (forced into self-governance with the collapse of Arthedain)
1980 - Witch-king gathers Nazgul at Mordor / Balrog appears in Moria - slays Durin VI
1981 - Balrog slays Nain I - dwarves flee Moria / many Silvan Elves flee Lorien - Amroth & Nimrodel are lost (and soon after - Celeborn and Galadriel begin rule in Lorien)
1999 - Thrain I establishes new kindgom at Erebor
2000 - Nazgul besiege Minas Ithil
2002 - Nazgul take Minas Ithil (renamed Minas Morgul) and capture its palantir
2043 - King Earnil II dies - son Earnur made King of Gondor
2050 - King Earnur responds to challenge of Witch-king and goes to Minas Morgul - and is lost / The Stewards begin to rule 'in the name of the king'

Interesting if you look at how many major things happen. Three kingdoms are no more - Arthedain, Angmar, Moria. The remnants of one re-establish a new place (Erebor) - while another struggles to keep its identity (remnants of Arnor/Arthedain). The greatest kingdom of the time (Gondor) loses its king - and then loses the line which replaced him - and gives up the concept. There is also major upheaval in an important elven-realm (Lorien) of the time. The ancestors of the Rohirrim make a major migration (and we're not told exactly when Fram, son of Frumgar kills Scatha and is slain by dwarves - but prob somewhere in here). The Nazgul and the Balrog reveal themselves. Even the Shire goes from being a dependant state to an independant state.

In fact, look how much of this happens in just a seven-year span: from 1974 to 1981! Almost all - excluding what happens in Gondor. (and we thought those years were turbulent in OUR age! )

Wondering: Was Sauron gearing up for an earlier appearance? Shortly after this, in 2063, Gandalf goes to Dol Guldor - and Sauron retreats into the east. This begins the 'Watchful Peace'... although they've been around for about 1,000 years (and suspected Sauron was at Dol Goldur since about Year 1100) this is the first thing we see the Istari DO! Was this also the first time that Sauron became aware that the Istari had been sent from the West? (did he guess at that - with Gandalf's coming to Dol Guldor?) Did the Istari intentionally 'lay low' for their first 1000 years, as they learned - that they might be more effective in the years after that (which turned out to be about another 1000).

Well... hard to do much of a historical dissertation on fictitious history. But, I wonder if JRRT had anything in mind - grouping all these events close together... or if it was just more or less 'coincidental' as he mapped out his 'history' of Middle Earth.

BTW - I'm not into the RPG stuff that happens around here - but wonder if this time-frame could be an exciting time to set one. Say - 1982, when everyone is wandering around (and I was a freshman & sophpomore in college! )