User blog comment:Thedoucheinthenorth/The Civil War - Why it is great/@comment-5469467-20121101051603/@comment-5135631-20121102014442

Hang on, the Empire uphold the Concordat. Fair enough, they have no choice, they have to stop the Thalmor threat. The Thalmor threat is still there. Yet the Empire is in Skyrim so we can one day push back the Elves, apparently.

Wake up. The Empire lost the Great War on the negotiating table, not on the battlefield. They have had time to recover, in terms of manpower etc, but the actual empire has been broken. Hammerfell proved you can fight off the Dominion, even by yourself. The Empire talk about fighting the Dominion again, but the more of a foothold the Thalmor get in Northern Tamriel, the weaker the Empire will be come the second great war. Believe it or not, Empire's aren't always powerful. Sometimes division is better. In the short term Skyrim would be weak if the Stormcloaks won, but they'd pick it up soon.