Goblin mercenaries furnish Horde war machines

Full History

The first Horde crossed the Dark Portal with military traditions formed among the orcish clans of Draenor. As the war expanded across Azeroth, the invaders needed more than warriors and warlocks to contend with the Alliance's ships, fortifications, and technologies. Goblin mercenaries and engineers offered specialized equipment and services that could meet these demands.

Their machines included zeppelins useful for movement and reconnaissance, while sappers brought explosives to operations against enemy positions. Goblin alchemy and ingenuity served the Horde's immediate military needs. Their presence was recorded through the units and warfare of the Second War, not necessarily through evidence of one permanent treaty binding every goblin settlement or commercial house to the warchief.

The arrangement also belonged to a broader pattern in which both sides relied upon peoples beyond their central armies. Dwarven engineering, gnomish inventions, and gryphon riders strengthened the Alliance, while the Horde sought its own forms of technical and magical advantage. The war was therefore shaped by transport, explosives, scouting, and industry as much as sword and spell.

Goblins remained important traders and engineers in the later world, frequently pursuing commercial interests that crossed political boundaries. Their Second War service is a chapter in that practical history: technology could be sold to a powerful belligerent without determining the permanent loyalties of every goblin people.