Technically it was a defensive war. Staghelm and his entourage largely battled against waves of approaching Silithid, which the NEs accidentally woke up. The NEs were trying to push them back into AQ, but it was the bugs that were on the offense and trying to expand. This is ultimately the factor that got the Bronze Dragonflight involved, because the damned bugs started encroaching heavily into Tanaris once the NE lines broke. But the NEs did allright for themselves till Staghelm buckled.
Silithus is a bad example. Again - we can’t import the “all in” events, and the War of the Shifting Sands was that, even if the Night Elves did more heavy lifting than the other such events.
Night Elves also held their own fairly well against the scourge in Lordaeron during the Frozen Throne campaign, but we’re talking about another forested environment. I think when one looks at the way they fight wars, we can pretty obviously say that they wouldn’t do that well in open fields, but the offensive/defensive comment I think is the result of looking at Ashenvale in isolation.
“Shiromar looked up at the sky and remembered a time when the sun had been eclipsed by dragons; when the Qiraji and silithid flooded over the legions of night elves in seemingly eternal waves; when hope seemed but a shadow. It seemed as if none would survive those terrible months; yet here she was, standing before the sacred barrier that saved their lives all those years ago, during the War of the Shifting Sands. Fandral Staghelm led the charge, his son Valstann at his side. They had chosen the gorge so that their flanks would be protected against the unending flow of silithid. Shiromar was close behind the front line, casting spells as quickly as her energies would allow. They had fought their way to the mouth of the gorge, Fandral and Valstann accompanied by the most battle-hardened sentinels, keepers and priestesses, with the druids healing and casting exhaustively. It seemed that for every massive cluster of silithid that was destroyed hundreds more would take their place. So it had been for the past few days, since word of the silithid incursion had first arrived and Fandral had sounded the call to arms.”
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/story/short-story/war-of-the-shifting-sands
it seems, the night elf attacked the silithids first, before they started to be a real thread.
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Incursion: An invasion or attack, especially a sudden or brief one.
Fandral led the charge to contain the Silithid, but it was the Silithid on the offense when the NE accidentally woke them up. The NEs weren’t really running an offensive war.
I mean, fair enough - although we do have that with the caveat that we don’t know (and can’t know) anything that would give us an idea of the relative effectiveness of the components of what they were throwing at the Quiraji.
It was a preemptive attack, yes, but it doesn’t change the fact that the night elves were conducting an offensive to defend the continent.
The NE never woked them up, that was the Trolls once, in the troll aquir war.
They were defending against the aggressive expansion of the Silithid.
I don’t think you can graft a tactical assessment onto a strategic concept like that.
If the Night Elves are bad on defense, that’s something you assess on the level of individual battles.
The NE never woked them up, that was the Trolls once, in the troll aquir war.
“Around 975 years before the First War, Archdruid Fandral Staghelm, a leader of the Kaldorei people and specifically its druids, initiated an ambitious quest to regrow the desolate land of Silithus. To this end, he sent his warrior son, Valstann, along with a group of druids, to begin this project. As they trekked across the scalding dunes in search of fresh water reservoirs that they would use to transform the region into a lush forest, they came across a mysterious and ancient fortress deep in the desert’s interior. Although some of the druids, sensing the darkness, advised against entering the dark halls, Valstann forged onward. His presence in the cold, shadowy halls of Ahn’Qiraj inadvertently roused the dormant qiraji back to life. From his prison beneath the fortress, the Old God became aware of the awakened qiraji.”
Yes they did. Staghelm’s own son accidentally woke them up.
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You know…that this does not fit chronologically, the War of shifting sands was 1000 years before the first war.
Around 975 years BEFORE the First War … so its 25 years off?
yeaaaah…shifting sand: Year 1000
but 25 years later…he awakened the Aqir? How should that work?
Are we sure that it was exactly 1000 years? Or roughly?
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The pieces of the scepter would become lost for the next thousand years. it was exactly 1000 years, you get this piece of information through the scepter.
According to the in game book: “The War of the Shifting Sands”.
“It has been nearly a thousand years since the 'War of the Shifting Sands.’ It was during this war, in the heart of the Silithus desert, that a great tragedy and even greater burden beset Fandral Staghelm. It is thought that the events described herein are what ultimately shaped the unsavory disposition of the Arch Druid.”
the scepter told you…it was exactly 1000 years ago. and if i´m remember right, chronicle told you the same thing.
Again, I’m asking if we’re quite sure about that.
If I say that Night Elves have been screwed over for a decade, I could be counting the time since Cataclsym released or when it was announced and we learned of the spoilers. In either case, it’s not exactly a decade. I’m just saying “decade” because that roughly conveys the concept.
NPCs and Titans I imagine are capable of the same shorthand.
No, we’re not. Read the damned in game book from vanilla. 
It is very clear it “has been NEARLY a thousand years”. So a thousand years minus 25 checks. //https://classic.wowhead.com/item=20415/the-war-of-the-shifting-sands
Okay, I have to backpedal, the one about the Qiray is even new lore, from the Chronicles. The one about the dragons accidentally flying over it and making that discovery was old lore.
Found the old one better though.