I had this topic in mind for quite a while,and i would like to hear your thoughts on it people.As things stand right now in Skyrim there are 2 major armies represented by the Imperials & Stormcloacks and one minor army represented by The Forsworn.So when the game starts we have :

-Imperials controlling Haafingar,Falkreat,Hjaalmarch&The Reach.
-Stormcloacks controlling Eastmarch,The Pale,The Rift&Winterhold.

And last but not least Whiterun starts as Neutral.

For a better visual of the situation heres the map :



Now if you look at the map,u could say Skyrim is split in half with the West belonging to the Imperials and the East to the Stormcloacks .If things were just this simple i would give the imperials a 60-40 %chance in there favor to win the War considering they have better trained troops and better war equipment.But then there`s the Forsworn who reside in The Reach and judging by there numbers if you look at there camps they have enough men to take Markarth by force.

Problem is they dont seem to be organized enough to mount a full scale attack,but that could change now that there king is back.So what would this mean for the Imperials?Well if u only look from a tactical point of view at the situation probably nothing.It would have been a problem if the Forsworn would have let the Stormcloaks pass trough there lands,but there`s zero chances of that happening.And if the Imperials manage to get Whiterun on there side,i would say they stand even better in the grand scheme of things.

But then again there`s the moral implications of loosing such a province, especially to the Forsworn who most nords know nothing about there past and they just know them as that one Barbaric tribe that keeps killing people.Would the other holds still remain loyal to Imperial law if they didn't try to get Markarth back?I for one dont think so,and even if they did there morale would be shattered and Ulfric will have a field day destroying one Imperial Army after another.

In my opinion the Imperials need to stay on defensive positions till they deal with the Forsworn threat.So what do you guys think will happen?

The imperial army has an ace in the hole that raise their winning chances by 1000%: The Dragonborn!!

The Stormcloaks have a better chance. They have the console.

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv146/gmosko/Skyrim/1d95a002.jpg

The imperials aren't intervening in Markarth more probably because Igmund and the Silverbloods are keeping them in the dark about the real situation with the Forsworn.