It doesn't matter once your nation is weakened we the mighty Altmer will come and take what is rightfully ours.
Spoiler Alert... kinda?
Here's the story, once upon a time, a great warrior, named talos, was the greatest man ever to live, so on, he became a god amongst men, eventually went to sovandgard (sp). The thalmor believe he was not a god so he did not deserve a spot at the side of the divines. When the imperials submitted to them , they included that Talos could no longer be worshipped, the imperials had to accept rather than having their people slaughtered by the elves, which had a superior army. Ulfric stormcloak wishes to worship talos, the greatest nord warrior to live, he has convinced others to follow his cause, he believes the empire is weak, no longer being as strong as they once were, he does not believe they deserve to rule skyrim, that is why he killed the high king so the moot would name him high king. Long story short, Stormcloaks want to worship talos, and ulfric wants to be king, the empire wants to squash the threat, so that they can be ready to deal with the thalmor as much as they can when they return. The thalmor are lurking around, they are really annoying and talk down to everyone, even the emperor, they are the real enemy, the civil war is about power, considering you dont get the power, its just a make ulfric king , or destroy the rebellion type of thing.
Just trying to help..
don't know if your being sarcastic?
so,baisically,tormcloaks wanna take over because they want to be free to worship talos (and because this ulfric wants to be king) where as imperials wanna keep whimpering in the corner and forefiet what they believe...ok,kinda know which way im going now.stormcloaks it be,DOWN WITH IMPERIALS!!!!
Not m8 stay chill, you explained it really welli am also an elder scrolls wiki fanatic and read everything there, they have made excellent work with the story
Alright, i have read alot of wiki too, i have also beaten most of the factions. I have beaten the stormcloaks, beaten the imperials, beaten dark brotherhood, beaten the thieves guild, beaten the companions, have not touched the blades or mages college. I try to get the whole picture before i get involved with my own character.
(spoiler alert) i have done all the above and the mage college too... and yes not the blades... there is no way i would kill Paarthurnax (hope i wrote it right) i find him pretty awesome, i never liked the blades anyway x)
If you have cicero, you can sit at the throat of the world all day, it makes the day much better. That dragon makes me happy, plus he can teach you how to make your fus ro dah stronger. Ulfric, i think can either teach you more shouts, or make them stronger, not sure, never tried it.