Well, he did help lead a force to liberate it from the Forsworn with the false promise from the Imperials that they would be allowed to continue their worship of Talos despite the recent ban from the White Gold Concordat, then as soon as he freed Markarth he was thrown into jail along with the rest of his men, most of which were probably either killed or tortured by the Thalmor, so yes, it is not just all about the Silver, even though it is very useful, it is also because of the above, the Imperials do not deserve to rule over it since they were unable to take it themselves.

Your argument is invalid, you've said that the stormcloaks having Markarth would put them to deep on enemy territory, but the imperials having Riften is a good strategic location. But both of those points are true for Markarth and Riften in the opposite control, but Markarth provides considerably more wealth than Riften, making it a sound move.

You're forgetting about the Ceasefire. Which would allow the Stormcloaks to offload large quantities of silver in a small space of time and generate massive funds for their campaign.

There's a more basic point.

The Romans, Sun Tzu, Von Clausewitz, Phillip II of Macedon, all the great military minds in history knew one principle extremely well:
The only time you meet your enemy on the field of battle is when you've already won.

Ulfriq should have spent more time politicking. Challenging the Solitude High King was a smart move. Having taken back Markarth from the Forsworn gave him additional 'street cred.' Instead of breaking so overtly from the empire, the smart thing to do would have been to marry one of the emperor's niece's to cement an alliance, work up a scheme to keep the Thalmor distracted and tied down with trying to eliminate Talos worship in Skyrim (perhaps focusing on Markarth, so that the Thalmor are more likely to run into problems with the Forsworn and the Falmer as well, combined with the inherent difficulties of that very rocky and steep terrain), win the allegiance of all the Jarls by professing to be in favor of Skyrim 'autonomy' while still maintaining allegiance to the empire (a deception, of course), and build up Skyrim thru eliminating bandits and the remainder of the Forsworn (perhaps in a false allegiance - "We'll give you back Markarth if you help drive the Thalmor from Skyrim").

In the end, with Skyrim strengthened and united, the Empire given time to recover, and the Thalmor off balance, overstretched and confused in the Reach, it would have been a simple matter to convince the Emperor to let Skyrim declare independence, as it would be too difficult for the emperor to resist such a request. A sweetener could be an agreement to draw the Thalmor into a precipitous attack on Skyrim (either thru an escalation of their involvement in the Reach or more generally), using the western mountains to channel their attacks to their disadvantage and giving the Empire's forces freedom of maneuver for a counterstrike.


I need to develop an Expansion.

The question is : How is he going to get that wealth out of the reach??? The empire already had a hard enough time with the Forsworn, but now Ulfric has to deal with the forsworn, get his men to and back of markarth through EMPIRE territory, and still have enough resources for the war. I think it's far too costly just for some silver.

The Reach has more than just silver mines. Controlling Markarth is the key to controlling the region, so he gets access to all those other mines.

Riften is also Stormcloak territory and difficult to govern. The imperials will have a tough time holding it. Let them deal with all the banditry for a while and it can be retaken later. In Markarth the Stormcloaks have the Silver-blood family in their camp, so they have a good chance of holding it. It's not ideal, but if you have to choose I'd go for the money.

You're forgetting about the Ceasefire. Which would allow the Stormcloaks to offload large quantities of silver in a small space of time and generate massive funds for their campaign.

You need alot of carriages to off-load that much silver. Not to mention a buyer.
And those large convoys would be ample targets for dragons.

Plus, have you been to Cidna Mine? There's barely any silver there...mined it all up in about five minutes..

EDIT: this was a joke btw ^^^^

(forsworn)

But the Stormcloaks aren't the Empire, remember what Ulfric done to the Reachmen last time ? They can round them up and execute them one by one. Remember they were only allowed to remain to work for the Silverbloods, with their control over Madanach gone there's no reason the Stormcloaks won't march a small militia up there to exterminate every last Reachman.

EDIT: oops

I'm not saying they wouldn't be able to fight back, they most certainly can. But my point is, that it isn't worth all the trouble of sending men to fight enemies that aren't the Empire. Those men could've been on the front lines, but no, they have to defend Markarth and their silver from the forsworn. They would be far too busy with that to even pose a threat to the empire.

The ceasefire with the Empire allows for the Stormcloaks to spare men hunting down the Forsworn.

I prefer stormcloaks, I dont care about his strategy, All I know is that Skyrim is free of the legion!

Supplying an army is vitally important. Yes there will be some bleed-off from the Forsworn, but the men at the front can't fight with sticks. If the Stormcloaks lose, Brunwulf Free-Winter talks about having to rebuild supply of wood and metal before he can undertake his Grey Quarter beautification program. So obviously Ulfric was hurting for basic materials.

If Ulfric has The Reach, he can attack Haafingar from two sides.

I do see the problems of getting the silver out of Markarth, though.

As a proclaimed strategist myself i can tell you the good and the bad about this swap.

Stormcloaks Pro's

1. Access to the silver mines can make the Stormcloaks rich, and fund Ulfrics campaign.
2. Its prevents the Empire from accessing the funds of markarth.
3. There is alot of technology that can be researched out of the ruins of the Dwemer, that once inhabited Markarth.
4. Riften still has alot of Stormcloak supporters, who are sure to disrupt the Imperials.
5. The Reach is much easier to hold, then The Rift could be.
6. Markarth's large stone walls have great defense against siege's.
7. The Rift was corrupt, and brought little funding, other then Black Briar Mead.
8. Cease Fire allows for easy supplies sent to Eastmarch

Stormcloaks Con's

1. Ulfric now has to deal with the Forsworn, the group he banished from Markarth 20 years prior.
2. Supply lines are cut, Silver Carvans would have to travel through hostile holds just to reach Eastmarch/Windhelm
3. Markarth is full of imperial supporters, who may cause trouble.
4. Forsworn hate Ulfric, and they happen to be working the mines.
5. Stormcloak reinforcments would have to cross hostile holds just to make it to The Reach to reinforce the troops.
6. Gave the Imperials another city closer to Windhelm, now surrounding Eastmarch.
7. Forsworn, Bandits, Vampires, etc. Can easily ambush the Caravans, as they have to travel 100's of miles (Lore Based)

With all the posotives and negatives of this trade, its hard to say it was a good, or a bad trade. It was probably more posotive then negative, but in the end it was a fair trade for both sides.

I got to say with all the mountains it was a good choice to get markarth.

Yes, but to supply an army you need more than just money. You need a good base of operations, preferably close to both your troops and your means of income, and you need secure supply lines.

Markarth provides security, but it's on the opposite side of Skyrim, and surrounded by hostile territory. Not only that, but there's an insurgency that probably hates Ulfric and his Stormcloaks, and will more than likely ramp up their attacks because he now holds the Reach. The mountains are also a problem, as it makes moving troops or supplies harder just because of landscape, but the terrain also makes it easier to set up ambushes and whatnot, since the visibility is worse.

The Reach and its silver mines might as well be surrounded by an enormous minefield. Sure, the Stormcloaks may have a lot of money stockpiling in Markarth now, but it's not going to be easy for them to move it.

Also, Riften's farms can give more food to Imperial Troops.

The imperials have the same problems, and Morthal isn't garrisoned so it's not actually surrounded. Besides the fact that this is all contingent on a cease fire which would be violated if the imperials attacked a trade caravan.

Which is what I mentioned twice. The Stormcloaks can move vast quantities of ore and material to bolster their ranks until the ceasefire ends, as can the Empire heavily garrison The Rift in preparation for an assault on Windhelm.

A ceasefire that ends the second Alduin is taken care of, which, given the order of events in the MQ after that point, would probably happen fairly quickly after the deal is struck to begin with.

And besides, the Imperials don't have the same problem. They only have to worry about the Forsworn and possibly insurgent Stormcloaks. While there are threats to them in the Reach, they have friendly neighbors and don't need to worry about trekking all the way way across the country to see a friendly face. Sure, they could go to Dawnstar and deliver it by boat (probably would be their move actually), but even getting to there would be difficult. The bogs and marshes infested with charus and the bad weather up north aren't going to be a walk in the park either.

Ulfric forces will fight on two fronts in the reach: the imperials and the forsworn. The latter also have a score to settle and will probably harass the stormcloacks evenmore than the imperials.

I always swap Markath for Winterhold and Dawnstar, effectively giving control of the northerm shore back to the empire, not to mention that in the west Ulfric's hold is no longer safeguarded from surprise attacks