When Emperor Titus Mede II signed the White-Gold Concordat in 4E 175 it was hugely unpopular within the empire, especially in Skyrim due to the outlawing of Talos worship. While Titus Mede II signed the WGC as necessity, the common people mostly blamed the empire for the loss of territories, prestige, and religious freedom. Additionally, the empire after WGC was seen as a puppet state set up by the Aldmeri Dominion.

Perhaps more importantly is Ulfric Stormcloak who took on the nationalism ideas - to build a nation for Nords, free from outside influence by Elves and Imperials alike. This requires the overthrow of the Empire.

First of all we have to consider the aspect of the Nine Divines prior to the Great War and the subsequent removal of Talos from the pantheon. Prior to the deification of Emperor Tiber Septim as Talos, the traditional Eight Divines were worshipped by the various cultures across Tamriel, albeit under different names. Moreover, it appears that certain features of the Eight Divines existed among the Elven cultures of Tamriel prior to the human invasions that disrupted Elven dominance of the continent. This factor made the original Eight Divines an integral part of the Elven religious and cultural identity.

When the Nord hero, Tiber Septim, emerged and conquered much of Tamriel to create the Empire, he ushered in an age of human political dominance over the Elven cultures. Moreover, when Septim was deified after his death as Talos and added to the Eight, it caused a lot of bad blood between the elves and humans. Humans had appropriated the traditional pantheon and sullied it with the man who conquered the elves.

Now we get to the Great War. The Empire had never fully recovered from the Oblivion Crisis after the death of the last Septim, Emperor Martin. The Aldmeri used this weakness to invade the Empire and subjugate the humans. It was only through decisive action that the Empire survived. However, the Empire was bled dry and couldn't continue the war, so they accepted the religious impositions of the White Gold Concordat in order to survive.

Throughout the war, the Nords had been fervently loyal to the Imperial cause, with thousands of Nords dying under the dragon banner. When the peace treaty was signed, many Nords took it as an insult to Skyrim and evidence that the Empire had abandoned them. Former POW and war hero, Ulfric Stormcloak capitalized on the growing dissent to incite a Skyrim independence movement aimed at the restoration of Talos, and Nord rights.

Now to answer your question. The Nords fought the Empire and not the Dominion primarily over the issue of self determination. The Nords felt that the Empire had grown incapable and felt that Skyrim could better protect its people than some distant, uncaring emperor. Furthermore, we have geographic restrictions. The Aldmeri Dominion was mainly located south of Cyrodil. This makes a campaign against the Dominion difficult, aside from strikes against Thalmor agents in Skyrim, who were under Imperial protection per the White Gold Concordat.

ARGONIA FOR THE ARGONIANS, HAMMERFELL FOR THE REDGUARDS, SKYRIM FOR EVERYBODY! Everybody says there is this STORMCLOAK problem. Everybody says this STORMCLOAK problem will be solved when the mer and beast races pour into Skyrim and ONLY into Skyrim. Solitude and Windhelm are just as crowded as Mournhold or Sentinel, but nobody says Morrowind or Hammerfell will solve this problem by bringing in millions of beast races and quote assimilating unquote with them. Everybody says the final solution to this STORMCLOAK problem is for Skyrim and ONLY Skyrim to “assimilate,” i.e., intermarry, with all those non-nords. What if I said there was this GREAT HOUSE problem and this GREAT HOUSE problem would be solved only if hundreds of millions of non-Dunmer were brought into Morrowind and ONLY into Morrowind? How long would it take anyone to realize I’m not talking about a GREAT HOUSE problem. I am talking about the final solution to the DUNMER problem? And how long would it take any sane dunmer man to notice this and what kind of psycho dunmer man wouldn’t object to this? But if I tell that obvious truth about the ongoing program of genocide against my race, the nord race, Imperials and respectable nobles agree that I am a barbarianwhowantstokillsixmillionmer. They say they are anti-Stormcloak. What they are is anti-nord. Anti-Stormcloak is a code word for anti-Nord

Really I think this question is missing the whole point.

Realistically, by this point it's better to ask the question of how much the Empire really still exists by the time of Titus Mede II. The Oblivion Crisis was probably the beginning of the end for the Empire, lacking strong leadership for hundreds of years before the White-Gold Concordat was signed.

Rather than really changing anything fundamental about the empire itself, the White-Gold Concordat merely was the public unveiling of what the Empire had become - more subservient to the whims of external forces than the interests of its own people and its own stability. The signing of this treaty was abandoning Skyrim in the same exact way as the Empire abandoned Hammerfell.

The Nords merely saw the writing on the wall - they had a choice to persist as part of the empire as nothing but a province enslaved to Cyrodil, or break away and form their own union that would prioritize their own well being, and perhaps put up a credible resistance to Aldmeri expansionism outside of imperial incompetence.

This is a little outside my area, but I'll have a go. I'd better clarify first that I can't talk about the Civil War itself, since that would violate this sub's twenty-year rule, but I'm happy to discuss events in 4E 181 or earlier, and how they affected the thinking of the relevant parties.

OK, so there are two important events from that period that have had a long-reaching impact, and they were contemporary events. The most obvious one is the signing of the White-Gold Concordat in 4E 175; but also important is the Reachmen Rebellion -- or the Forsworn Uprising, as it is now known -- in 4E 174-176.

The Forsworn Uprising was an incident where separatist Reachmen, who are not primarily of Nordic ethnicity, rebelled against Nord rule and declared their own kingdom. There had been long-standing ethnic tensions between the Nords and the Reachmen: genetically the Reachmen are more Breton than anything else, but historically they have had closer ethnic affinities to Orsinium than either Skyrim or High Rock. The Colovian King Cuhlecain's victory over the Reachmen at Old Hroldan, at the end of the Second Era, was a large part of what propelled the Septim dynasty to power. The chaos of that period had long-term consequences. The Reach was brought under Colovian control, but simultaneously Falkreath (Cuhlecain's capital) was absorbed into Skyrim, and the Reach followed suit. So we're talking two complete holds being forcibly brought into the borders of present-day Skyrim.

This in turn had resonances with even earlier historical events. The Reach has always been a symbol of Nordic empire: it was the loss of the Western Reach (now High Rock) to Aldmeri invaders that brought the First Nordic Empire to its end, all the way back in the First Era.

So when Ulfric quashed the Reachmen Rebellion in 4E 476 176, this was seen in many quarters as an attempt to recapitulate Nordic imperial ambitions of the past. Ulfric's victory was widely taken as a symbol of Nordic sovereignty. This seemed eminently realistic given the weakness of imperial rule in Cyrodiil at the time: and there could be no clearer evidence of that weakness than the White-Gold Concordat.

The upshot is that the quashing of the Reachmen Uprising led to widespread nostalgia for the days of the Nordic Empire, and the time of Jurgen Windcaller. The First Nordic Empire came to an end in 1E 420; about time, some nationalists thought, for a second empire. That would mean throwing off imperial rule. So you can see how the Empire could come to be seen as the real hurdle: in the 170s, at least, the idea wasn't based on hostility to the Empire, exactly, but more on a sentimentality for the days of Nordic sovereignty. It took several more years for that sense of nostalgia to develop into a real conflict, and by that time Nordic attitudes to the Empire had shifted. But here I'll cut myself off because of the twenty year rule.

I thought I'd just add a fun fact here about the Elder Scrolls series that real historians might enjoy.

The Oblivion Crisis occurs in the 433rd year of the Septim Empire.

The Crossing of the Rhine is typically dated to 406 CE, though it may have been in 405. Augustus first took the title Augustus in 27 BCE. 433 years.

Pretty nice reference IMHO. The barbarians (demons) are literally at the (Oblivion) gates.

The Thalmor came into ancient, noble Skyrim and tried to enforce their alien decree on a sovereign, ruggedly independent nation!

And the so called Empire let them! Worse, the Empire defended their so called right to do so!

We parted ways with the dying Empire that had no claim to the lineage of the Stormcrown and rather than accept it, the bastards tried to keep their grip with a milk drinking yes man.

The sad, sad reality of the situation is that the Stormcloaks followed a man, Ulfric Stormcloak, in a near cult of personality. Ulfric Stormcloak was a raging narcissist who quite literally thought that he was the most important thing in all of Skyrim, and therefore he should be in charge. Even as the Imperial Army stormed his palace, with the Dragonborn at the fore, he thought that the Dragonborn executing him would make a better song for the bards. This is not normal. When the prophesied hero, destined to fight the World Eater, for the sake of Mundus is in a room, he is the most important person in the room. Unless you're Jarl Ulfric, in which case, that guy is just a prop for your glory.

He had charisma, yes. But his uprising was more about himself than anything else, and he latched on to Talos worship (which, by the way, was tolerated by the Empire until Ulfric's actions in the Reach against Reachmen forced them to begin more than pithy "enforcement" of the ban) as a means of keeping support.

He created a problem, and then became the only solution to that problem, because it was for his personal benefit. Unfortunately, the idea of free Talos worship was quite alluring to many Nords, and it forced a costly war for them.

W-what the hell is happening to /r/askhistorians ? Is there not a subreddit for fictional history or am I confused and this is that subreddit?

One popular theory among conspiracists, with evidence corraborated from documents taken from the Thalmor embassy to the north-west of Solitude, is that Ulfric Stormcloak was actually an asset of the Aldmeri dominion. These conspiracists believe that Ulfric was used by the Altmer to sow the seeds of discontent and to turn the Nords of Skyrim against the Empire. Then while the Empire of Cyrodyl is occupied with the supression of a rebellion to the north they would take the opportunity to swiftly bring all of Tamriel under the control of the Altmer.

The Stormcloak Rebellion's generally "anti-Imperial" attitudes always struck me as bizarre and revisionistic, considering that the Cyrodiilic Empire began as a Nordic conquest of the south, and in many ways has always been more like the heart of the Empire of Man than some subjugated colony. The administration may reside in Cyrodiil, but the core of the power structure always resided comfortably with the Nords.

The Stormcloaks are making a move for religious and political independence. There would be no war if the Empire would let them leave peacefully. The Empire invaded Skyrim, not the other way around.

I think if they had been able to leave peacefully then they may have eventually gone to war with the Dominion.

Because obviously the noble Thalmor were far too powerful for the Nords. The majority of the population were living in little more than mud huts (compared to the impressive architecture found within the Aldmeri Dominion and her allies), and truly, their most advanced mages often had trouble telling necromancy and restoration apart.

Of course, many would like to argue that men are inherently inferior - I disagree. They simply needed a guiding hand from the more advanced. Part of this reason they weren't as advanced is because of their ridiculous belief in Talos, which is notorious for being an anti-progress divine (as well as being heretical by nature).

To think, if it weren't for Talos worship, we'd be exploring Aetherius by now.

Skyrim, being part of the Empire, is forced to follow the laws of the Empire. If the Stormcloaks are fighting for an independent Skyrim, it doesn't matter whose really responsible for some of the policies your government enacted, you are going to be fighting against your government, who is enforcing those policies, in order to achieve said independence.

Look at it this way. If it was instead a situation where the Empire was forced to enslave a certain percentage of its people or face certain destruction, and they cave and start doing so, would you find it odd when the states that make up the Empire start rising up for their indepencence?

Yes, working with the Empire might be the better long term goal for a stronger Empire that doesn't have to cater to the Thalmor, but if what you want is an independent Skyrim, the Empire would be your enemy.

The Imperial Legion agreed to outlaw the worship of Talos in the White-Gold concordat after the Great War. The once proud to be in the Empire Nords viewed the declining Empire as the enemy and launched a rebellion.

When the White-Gold Concordat was signed, Skyrim was but a province of the Empire. Since the Empire was taken over by the Aldmeri Dominion/Thalmor, they first needed to gain independance before fighting the Dominion.

The ignorant Nordic brutes were misguidedly outraged by the loss of their god-king (who should have never risen to the level of the Divines). Their anger left them hungry for blood, and the closest scapegoat they could find was the Imperial Legion. Of course, the Aldmeri Dominion, even if it had been attacked, would not have been at fault.

Ulfric felt betrayed by the Empire he basically sold his honor for, after the Concordat was signed, it wasn't really about Talos, that's just an excuse to rally the Nords, it's about him. The Talos ban wasn't enforced, but Ulfric made a fuss in Markarth. If he really wanted a "free" Skyrim, he would have talked to Torygg, the young King looked up to him, but Ulfric wanted to make a statement, killed him, and declared war on the Empire.

If Nords started to attack Thalmor agents inside Skyrim the Imperial Legions would have to follow the White Gold Concordat and enforce it's laws inside the province. Therefore Nords would be forced to wage war against both the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion. Either that or they stop their attacks and bent the knee. Also, armies on Skyrim were loyal to the empire and had to follow their commands, they weren't going to be permited to attack the Thalmor because it would be catalogued as an Imperial military movement against the Dominion.

You have to understand that while it was very important that the citizens of Skyrim retain their right to worship Talos, the truth is that Ulfric simply desired to have the entire province to himself. By recruiting soldiers and rebels under the common goal of letting Skyrim be for the Nords and for Talos, he was able to form a concrete army that truly believed in such goals. The impromptu army fighting off the Imperials means Ulfric can control Skyrim with an iron fist, as well as negating any further Imperial poking.

One thing to remember is that the Empire is a descendant of the Targaryen Dominion, while most of the Jarls of Skyrim are descended from Starks. The blood feud is thus much older than the WGC.

*Galactic Legion