Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-76.97.80.106-20130811163656/@comment-24375261-20140106143136

Lets look this.......

1) At the Battle of Red Ring, the AD's forces in the Imperial City were wiped out, pretty much to a man (or mer, lol).

2) Directly afterwords, the Empire and the AD signed the White-Gold Concordat, the terms of which required the Empire to ban Talos worship, give up a portion of Hammerfell, disband the Blades, and give a large sum of gold to the AD.

3) As a direct result, Hammerfell left the Empire and fought the AD out of their land, leaving the Empire a province down.

4) Now, there are problems in Skyrim because of the ban on Talos worship, further fracturing the Empire and making the Legion waste resources putting down the rebellion.

Note that, out of the provinces of the Empire, Hammerfell and Skyrim were more "warlike", able and willing to fight. Thus, by the terms of the treaty, the AD caused the Empire to lose a significant portion of their forces. Of course, while the Empire is falling apart the AD is gathering stregnth for the next round......