User blog comment:Thedoucheinthenorth/A question of morality/@comment-68.20.166.62-20121213204901/@comment-5074828-20121214221309

Sovengarde it is then, because once the Thalmor take the Empire, their gunning for Skyrim, they already have a foothold there. There's some holes in your argument. First, the new emperor was an Imperial not a Breton. The Empire didn't abandoned Hammerfell. Hammerfell continued the fight the Thalmor even after the Empire signed the Concordant so the Empire had to give up Hammerfell, they had no choice. The Empire had no more military power left to hold off the Thalmor. And the Legion wasn't spread that thin, during and following the Crisis, many Imperial Legionnaires were pulled back to  Cyrodiil especially from Morrowind. This is why the Argonians were so successful in their invansion. On top of that the Red Mountain exploded so the Dark Elves got more then they deserved.