User blog comment:JoshofBlades/Why the Empire should prevail over the Stormcloaks!/@comment-94.9.66.95-20111120170317/@comment-4098609-20111122235814

They had their capital city taken from them, and it took them a year to get back, and then they had to surrender to the exact terms they were fighting against because they couldn't possibly carry on the war. The net result was the loss was like three of their provinces.

Some "victory".