After Melkor burnt the trees of the Valar and left for Middle Earth with the Silmarils the Elves began a long a brutal war against him. He took many Elves and threw them into the dark pits of Utumno (sp?) they were tortured in those pits, they went without sunlight and eventually became the Orc race.
Melkor/Morgoth also took several Miar spirits (sp?) and turned them into Balrogs. Gandalf and Saruman are Miar spirits, Istari.
Uruk-Hai as said by Gandalf in FOTR "He is breeding Orcs with Goblin-Men"
Goblin Men? Strange, maybe someone should check the book, they can't be Half-Orcs because they are different altogether...aren't they?
They are called Maiar...
No the orcs were far earlier (cuz how could he make war without orcs??)
He took elves from the shores of Cuiviénen before the Valar even noticed that they had awoken... Melkor did everything earlier than the other valar did... (thats why the elves feared orome, thinking he's the Dark Rider again)
He turned other spirits towards his mind already during the music of the ainur