>>514126610
>In the end, the heroic Redguards fought the Aldmeri Dominion to a standstill, although the war lasted for five more years and left southern Hammerfell devastated.
lel. merbastards fucking gaza'd the southern parts of both hammerfell and cyrodiil. the only reason hammerfell still exists as an independent kingdom os because the thalmor got distracted by cyrodiil's weakness, decided to invade there too and overstretched their forces, otherwise hammerfell would have been overrun and conquered.

the great war book spells out pretty clearly why the thalmor are messing with skyrim.
>The second army, largely of Nord legions under General Jonna, took up position near Cheydinhal.
>Lord Naarifin was taken by surprise by Decianus's assault, but Jonna's troops faced bitter resistance as the Aldmeri counterattacked from Bravil and Skingrad. The heroic Nord legionnaires held firm, however, beating off the piecemeal Aldmeri attacks.
>By the fifth day of the battle, the Aldmeri army in the Imperial City was surrounded.
>An attempt by the Aldmeri to break out of the city to the south was blocked by the unbreakable shieldwall of General Jonna's battered legions.

hardy nords are a nuisance on the battlefield so as many of them need to die in a pointless civil war as possible. this essentially robs the empire of a back-up plan in the next war.