The truly strategic failure of Ulfric was to start the civil war. Think about it : Torygg the High King, admired Ulfric and his ideals, he respected him. If Ulfric just sit down with him, and speaked to him, maybe he just have avoided the war. But instead, he went and kill him, merciless. With right or not, behind the law of the Nords or not, he just divided Skyrim in the worst time possible.
So while the Frosworm (in fact Ulfric′s actions led to the Frosworn creation) still plaguing the land, the Stormcloacks are fighting the Empire. So as result, BOTH , the Empire and the Stormcloacks (thus means, the forces in Skyrim) are weakened, severely.
Guess who is the only one benefited from this? Yes, the Dominion.
I guess they are laughing as they see their enemies destroying each other.
The excuse of the Gold Concordant is absurde, the Empire accepted it just to stop the bloodshed, and that is how Ulfric pay it: shedding more blood, and benefitting the Dominion!!
And he even dont care in kill his own people. Not a good king, not even a mediocre one
So for me, Ulfric is a horrible strategist, and a murderer.

The mountains surrounding Markarth are a natural defence against the enemy, as negotiating the steep inclines is more than difficult. However, the city is open to an offensive the otherway, as the hills and farmland can easily be negotiated. Markarth is wealth because of the mine, with the added bonus of support of the Silverblood family for Ulfric.

Riften is only just over the border from Cyrodiil, and provides a foothold in the south of Skyrim, presenting two bonuses:

• Easy crossing into Morrowind.
  
• An effective defensive position to repel incursions into Cyrodiil from the north.

The area surrounding Riften is mostly swampland, and isn't profitable for farming. Fishing maybe, but that's it. Riften trades wealth for defence.

On the field of battle however, Ulfric may have the charisma, but Tullius is more experienced as a commander, but he has his flaws.

It works both ways. Riften is borders Eastmarch, and the only accessible path for the Imperials is the ravine that connects the Rift with Falkreath Hold.

The Legion is "stretched thin" these days.

The Reach isn't exactly the safest place to wander around.

As many have said its for the silver. Markarth is also a lot easier to defend than Riften. Just look at how it was built it's like a mini helm's deep. Plus the surrounding mountains aren't good for imperial soldiers if they aren't used to living in the mountains like many Nords. Once he got Whiterun having Markarth would be a very good spot to have.

Still the Imperials lose the War then we say(with a axe on our neck) ,Oh wait it wasn′t a bad idea Ulfric, pls dont kill me!!!

Markarth might provide a lot of wealth from it's silver mines, but there's a problem. If it's surrounded by Imperial provinces on all sides, there's no way to get that wealth out of there and actually make use of it. You could have all the gold in Fort Knox, but if you can't get it out to sell or trade it, you might as well have nothing.

Whiterun may be decorated with red flags, but it is neutral until you reach a certain point in the war. If you support the Stormcloaks and Whiterun has decided to support the Imperials, you've likely already taken it.

Being neutral doesn't mean you just let any side pass through your territory.

I honestly never thought of Ulfric as being a good strategist or even a good commander, he has all the lead troops into battle pinned down but he seems to lack the ability to think that far ahead. Half of why I like Tullius as much as I do is because he is a real military strategist.

They don't seem to have a problem with the Legion and Stormcloak camps in their hold.

Exactly. Usually that means "Keep us out of it and go around."

They wouldn't need to fight, they could just starve him out. If the Imperial forces could block the routes to Markarth, they're in good territory to be supplied by their own forces whilst Markarth would starve... any relief force sent by the Stormcloaks would have a long trek, and risk breaking their own line of supply.

In a game where the Stormcloaks control every hold except Morthal and Solitude, Tullius STILL has the nerve to want Riften despite the fact that he is essentially deep in Stormcloak territory when nearly all of Skyrim is Stormcloak. See, Tullius is a terrible strategist.

Except that the Rift has a pass into Morrowind, an Imperial controlled province. That means he can bring supplies and troops from Morrowind, into the Rift, and use it as a second front against the Stormcloaks. So yeah, it is a smart move.

He still has Solitude, so he can get supplies from any ships the Empire sends.Taking Riften also gives him an immense advantage since it puts the Imperials within striking distance of Windhelm.

It also allows him to attack from more fronts. No longer can Ulfric just push westward. He at least has to maintain garrisons on the borders of Falkreath, Eastmarch, and Whiterun.

Yes but I actually think it's sound, story-wise.

Ulfric has a soft spot for Markarth and Nords are stereotyped as thinking with their hearts, not so much their minds. It fits in quite well.

I'd agree that Ulfric is no Napoleon.
Even if the Stormcloaks were to get hundreds of thousands of septims from the mines, how will they get that money to Windhelm where it's needed?
And the Legion could simply launch raids into the Reach and hit the mines which are outside Markarth. If they really wanted to they could support the Forsworn and garuantee them their own kingdom, though I doubt the Nords would like that much.

People are talking like the roads are heavily guarded even in imperial territory. Skyrim is a rugged land and the empire's forces are stretched thin. They can barely hold their forts, let alone patrol miles of road. You occasionally see patrols out skirmishing, but these are scattered and probably scouting patrols. Even if you don't get every shipment through, to have the gold, silver and orichalcum flowing is worth the risk and then you don't have all of that going into imperial coffers. The Legion won't be able to pay its troops using Skyrim's metal resources any longer.

Even though Markarth has a lot of resources Ulfric will still be faced with a population who favors the Empire and a position thats surrounded by Solitude, Whiterun, and Falkreath. It's essentially blockaded just by its position as all roads lead right to Imperial-allied cities. I'm not sure his reasoning for this, did he just want to deny the Imperial Nords the resources?

All it takes is a spy to report the planned route.
Then ambush it.

That's already the case, so it changes nothing.


That's enough reason. And the population in the Reach doesn't necessarily favor the empire. The Forsworn hate everyone, and the Silver-bloods- the most powerful family in the area- are Stormcloak supporters.

Id wager it has a lot to do with the symbolism behind Markarth, as it was where the war started.