User blog comment:Thedoucheinthenorth/The Civil War - Why it is great/@comment-1600847-20121031011532/@comment-5135631-20121031203438

The Dominion fought Hammerfell after a a destructive war yes, but the parts of Hammerfell they wanted they already owned for much of the war, so it was the Redguards who kicked them out, not the Thalmor not bothering to fight hard enough. If you think the war was hard on the Thalmor, it was much harder for the Redguards. I think the Nords are capable. The Empire would sell out the Nords in the event of a second great war as they did to the Redguards in the first one. You can only really count on Skyrim being able to successfully coordinate itself with a leader who cares about the country more than they do their own skin. That man is Ulfric.

As for the second part, I&apos;m not sure. I think they engineered much of the game in favour of the Stormcloaks, but it will be intersesting to see.