Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-25343239-20150319182007/@comment-260563-20180322181942

The thing is, whenever one country beats another, the victor tries to use the peace treaty to gain some sort of advantage over the vanquished. When Germany lost World War I, the Allies tried to dump a massive war debt on them to crush their economy. When Attila the Hun defeated the armies of the Eastern Roman Empire, he slapped them with a large rate for tribute that enriched his growing empire on Constantinople's expense. That way, the victor gains a massive economic advantage, while the loser's economy remains paralyzed and unable to fund future military endeavors.

Similarly, when the United States defeated Japan in World War II, we took away their right to create a standing military, and instead allowed them to raise a token defense force to defend their lands. That way, there's no way they can retaliate against any country that they fought in World War II.

The Thalmor did neither of these things when they "won" the Great War. They "won" despite losing large swathes of their army, and all they got out of it was A) a province they couldn't hold, that did not offer any military or strategic advantages to them, B) a religious agreement that the Imperials violate in secret all the damn time, with even pro-Imperial officials like Jarl Elisif making secret offerings to Talos, C) a Stormcloak uprising in eastern Skyrim that failed to distract the Imperial Legion as the Legion simply trained more local troops in Skyrim to deal with it. And as Jarl Balgruuf's brother Hrongar realizes, it's an uprising that can be put down if the Whiterun guards joined the fight on the side of the Empire, which they will eventually do, considering Ulfric Stormcloak attacks Whiterun anyways, which will drive the neutral hold into the arms of the Empire.

The Thalmor did not cripple the Empire's economy. They did not ask for yearly tributes nor slap them with a war debt that will cripple them for years to come. Nor did they put any statute in the White-Gold Concordat to limit the size of the Imperial army. So the Thalmor gained nothing solid out of the war. They lost the only territorial gain they received out of the Concordat, the religious agreement they had with the Thalmor is violated daily by Imperials in secret, and the small Stormcloak uprising that the Thalmor worked so hard to create failed to distract the Legion and only got the Empire to raise more troops in Skyrim, not to mention that even the Whiterun guards could end that uprising.

Compare that with the massive losses the Thalmor suffered during the war. They gambled almost everything to gain Cyrodiil during the war, only to lose most of that army to the Imperials. They lost soldiers trying to hold Hammerfell. And unlike the humans, the Altmer don't breed like rabbits, so every death, every loss, hurts them more.

As Robb Stark told Edmure Tully in Game of Thrones: "WE NEED OUR MEN MORE THAN TYWIN NEEDS HIS!" The Stark men were superior in combat against the Lannister forces, defeating them at almost every turn, but the Lannisters could suffer losses, while the Starks could not. And unlike the Starks, the Thalmor suffered heavy casualties against an Empire that, if the Skyrim Civil War is any indication, can easily raise more men locally, from the provinces, if it needs to. It also has more cash to splash around, and unlike the Lannisters, whose cash is dependent on gold mines that eventually ran dry, the Empire's cash is primarily based on farming and trade companies, which are renewable sources of wealth. Which means the Empire can always raise more men, train them, and equip them for battle, while the Thalmor, whose High Elves were never numerous to begin with, are on a losing streak when it comes to the numbers game.

So while the Stormcloaks would be easy pickings for the Thalmor, considering that if they win, they don't have the Imperial connections or coin to help fix Skyrim fast enough before the Thalmor attack, the Empire can and will crush the Thalmor. The numbers prove it. And any historian worth more than a bucket of apples can easily figure out that the numbers and factors that are usually applied towards warfare favor the Empire.