User blog comment:Thedoucheinthenorth/The Civil War - Why it is great/@comment-76.172.16.254-20121120131249/@comment-1600847-20121122194551

The Great War wasn't a loss for the Empire, it was a loss for the Thalmor. Their goal was to conquer the Empire, which they failed at doing due to the Imperials, Bretons, Nords and Redguards (all the human races, come to think of it) working together. Had they not accepted the WGC (I never thought to abbreviate it before), there is no way of knowing how the war would have went. The Empire had lost more than half its army, as had the Thalmor, supposedly, so it could have gone either way. While I agree the WGC was a terrible price to pay for peace, it could have been much, much worse. The Empire now has time to regain their strength while, as you rightly pointed out, the Thalmor are busy purging themselves and killing lots of their own able-bodied people. Then again, the Empire is also busy losing troops quelling the Stormcloak Rebellion.

And I agree, the Empire shouldn't have sold out Hammerfell the way they did, though I think Bethesda just threw that in to make the Great War seem more poignant. At any rate, the Mede Empire is much weaker than the Septim Empire from the previous games. It makes saving the Empire in Oblivion so pointless...