User blog comment:Longdead97/Ulfric's war effort & gaining support. Smart move or no?/@comment-7055753-20130323143058/@comment-6336669-20130329011213

If you finish the Imperial Questline, Tullius mentions dealing with the Thalmor and the Elven army, they didn't like the choice their Emperor made, and I'm not defending him. You must admit however that when you finish the Civil War in favour of the Stormcloaks, the Empire is basically finished in Skyrim.

Both sides have a cliffhanger facing the Elves, and the Stormcloaks are basically on their own, and of course, playing as the Dragonborn, if there turns out to be a Elven war DLC, the Stormcloaks will likely win. But look on it from a logical standpoint, the Empire couldn't defend the Imperial City from the Elves, and they had Nords, Imperials, Redguards, etc. etc. defending. Stormcloaks have primarily a single race. They would likely lose.

Oh yes, and I believe the Ultimatum was made AFTER the Elves were destroying the Imperial city, the Emperor submitted and so the ban of Talos worship was put in place. I can't remember the whole Hammerfell debacle, but the Imperials defended Talos to the edge of defeat. Again, after IF they took the city, they would have marched on Skyrim and the remaining provinces, and taken them too, especially SKyrmi because the Stormcloaks were extremely small, if even in existance becuase there was no need for a rebellion at the time yet. But they didn't take the Imperial City. The Imperials were the only thing preventing Elven rule over all of Tamriel. The Stormcloaks, are once again, Rebels.