The Empire is finished. Your court is corrupt, your Emperor is dead and you have no allies because you betray everybody for self preservation. Nords admire strength, Skyrim willingly joined the Empire because Talos was a son of Skyrim and a hero, the Empire thinking everything would be fine by outlawing Talos worship was a severe mistake on their side, seeing as like I said before, Talos was the ONLY reason they joined the Empire in the first place.
Skyrim is alone and isolated, not one single province comes to Ulfric's aid. Skyrim endorsed the Mede Dynasty, made Titus Mede their Emperor. They didn't rejoin in the last two hundred years because of Talos.
Who has come to the Empires aid? Noone, and nobody will because like I've said time and time again, the Empire sold out it's people prior and after the Great War.
If the Empire can barely afford/sustain it's millitary against a 'rebellion' after 30 years of rebuilding then tell me, what in the hell are they going to do against the Thalmor? Nothing.
The Empire is barely dealing with the rebellion, they just sent General Tullius. The Stormcloaks are struggling against not even a fraction of the Empire's might. The Imperial Legions are all in Cyrodiil.
"We're ready to march on Solitude, but the Emperor's cousin is getting married! If royal blood was spilt, all of Cyrodiil would be up in arms. We can't afford an all out war with the Empire. So we'll bide our time for now." - Ulfric Stormcloak
The Stormcloaks are fighting local recruited militia Auxiliaries. They're not even facing the real Military.
Tullius' Legion is part of the 'real' millitary. I don't see what your point is about fighting the whole of Cyrodill being a bad thing? Of course it is, that doesn't make it any less right. You know what does annoy me, is the emphasis on the Stormcloaks and how they should use their brains and stop fighting, yet not once do you mention the fact that the Empire is fighting too.
Skyrim will NOT fall to the Elves under Ulfric
Putting a lot of hope into a man who has been captured three times during his Military campaigns.
I didn't mean it in that way. I meant just because the Empire is out of Skyrim doesn't mean the Elves will flood the border in an instant like most people seem to beleive.
the only reason any Thalmor can even be in Skyrim is because the Empire allowed it.
No. The Thalmor will always be in Skyrim, you can't "push" them out. A read of the TES novels will explain that further, the Thalmor will go underground using assets and other various agents.
Without a legitimate reason to be there, they would have no garrison's, no prisons, nothing.. How do you expect them to run local interference with no base of operations?
Skyrim is THE place to be in a war against the Elves, it's simply too well defended and too far away for them to make any sort of successfull attack.
Except you're not defending.
"When we're done rooting out Imperial influence here at home, then we will take our war to the Aldmeri Dominion." - Ulfric
So Ulfric can't attack, but the Empire can? My statement was about the defensive advantages of Skyrim's landscape, not what Ulfric intends to do...
Skyrim is also still one of the most wealthy nations in Tamriel, according to Wiki.
Skyrim has vast natural wealth in the form of ore. You can't eat ore, which is why the food and other resources from the Empire are important. Leave the Empire and trade is heavily taxed by the EETC.
