I was playing through Morrowind again, and was looking at it from a tactical point of view, and realized that the Empire would have had a hard time of conquering Morrowind except for the Ascadian Isles region (which is relatively flat terrain, perfect for a phalanx). But getting toward the Molag Mar region and the Balmorra regions, it becomes hilly and heading north from those points it goes from hilly to mountainous. And heavy infantry (like most of the famous ancient civilizations had, like the Greeks, Romans, and Babylonians) perform poorly in those situations, especially if confronted by light infantry, which the Ashlanders fight as.

Also, what kind of calvary does the Empire use? Heavy (like knights) or light (basically mounted archers, like the Huns used). Or do they use Chariots?

Vvardenfell is quite far into Morrowind, there's plenty of Morrowind on the mainland before one gets to Vvardenfell too.

Most of Vvardenfell was wilderness until relatively recently and even now most of the population is concentrated in the SW. Who would want to conquer the Ashlands or Molag Amur?

Also any army worth its salt won't rely solely on 1 type of troops.

I don't see why the Imperials would use the Phalanx formation at all, the Imperials Legions are allmost exact copies of the Roman Legions(at least the eastern ones)and if anything, would be using formations such as the tsudo formation.

But as with any invading army, they will not waste time sprawling thru the rocks and hills and wastlands when they first come, they will only capture areas of tactical importance, and would only attempt to capture the less desireable parts of the land(if they would even bother at all) when those areas are very well secured.

A determined resistance that took advantage of native advantages and had the leadership of the gods would never, ever be subdued. Then of course you'd have to wonder what that would get anyone as the other 99% of the population was slaughtered.

Building off of Amazon Queen's post, Vvardenfell is holy land and it was closed to colonization for some time, which severely restricted it's population - particularly it's non-Dunmer population. When the Empire conquered the province I doubt they even had to worry about Vvardenfell. They certainly wouldn't have cared if the Ashlanders didn't recognize them, and with the mainland secured the Great Houses wouldn't have been in a very good position to fight back. Vvardenfell could have been turned into a last stand, and I can't tell you why this didn't happen. Perhaps in the Dunmer's mind this wasn't an option due to its holy status, or perhaps the Empire was able to avoid this through diplomatic wrangling.

Vivec seemed to think that they could, so I think the Empire could. I tend to trust Vivec on these things, as he is a pretty intellegent general.

Taking Vvardenfell is alot different then taking Morrowind, which has open plains and diverse terrain thats not all volcanic wasteland. Morrowind would have put up a great fight, but in the end, it would have turned into a complete bloodbath that would have probably broke the legions attacking, but destroyed Morrowind as a nation. Vivec was wise enough to see that a war, while Morrowinds people would have probably given their live in defense of their homeland, would have been the end of them.

That indeed was the case. The ceasefire was signed after the empire conquered the mainland without even going near Vvardendell. The entire religious and political structure of civilized Morrowind is on the mainland. Once Vehk submitted, it was all over for civilized Morrowind.

However, as we all know, the Imperials really only have control of Vvardenfall in name only. Most of it is populated by Ashlanders or wild beasts and the empire has little control over them. The parts of Vvardenfell the empire has any significant control over are the parts control by the great houses, and this is pretty much due tot he fact that the empire has spears pointed at them in their respective capitals on the mainland.

Again.

After a prolonged war and a decisive battle, the Tribunal signed a treaty with the Emperor's heir, acknowledging the hegemony of the Empire and making major concessions, in exchange for limited autonomy. In other words, the Empire conquered Morrowind by force.

That was the second empire, not the third empire. That was between Vivec and Prince Juliek Remen.
Vivec and Tiber Septim made a deal in which Morrowind gained autonomy, and Tiber Septim gained a big stompy robot. That was with barely no fighting.

The Empire would not exist if it conquered Morrowind. Even Tiber worried about warring against Three Gods. If Vivec can flood all of Morrowind with a wave of his hand, the legions wouldn't be a problem. I think the Tribunal worried for their people, and the sanctity and privacy of Vvardenfell, for many reasons. The rumor that Vivec gave Numidium to the Empire seems to suggest that the Tribunal were confident in their own power, that the Empire could not have taken Morrowind by force.

On another level, the Empire gained another ally and could turn it's attention onto the Aldmeri, who did feel the full force of Numidium, and who would trust the Empire if it turned against it's deal?

In the Reman Empire, it was said that the Dunmer were losing the war. I think that Vivec knew what the Imperials were capable of on the battlefield, and didn't want Morrowind to re-live those days. So he saved Morrowind the trouble.

Well it's no doubt that although Vivec is a great general, he would admit there are many great Imperial Leaders. In the Reman Era that is quite obvious.

They didn't. I think it was three of the five great houses decided the best course of action was to sign a treaty with the Imperials. They would become part of the empire, while retain the autonmy to self-govern. That was why, despite being part of the empire, slavery was still legal in Morrowind.

No, Vivec made the deal, not the Great Houses. Slavery was made legal because they demanded it and self autonomy in return for becoming part of the empire, otherwise, they would have continued war.

They would have stormed through Vvanderfell like hot knife slicing through butter.Remember the Telvanni had already said they had no interest in fighting,(which in my opinion has led to the bitterness with them and all the people of Morrowind)they had no interest in politics and did not care who ran the show.So the imperial battlemages would have swarmed and slaughtered all who opposed.Morrowind would have been helpless without the wizards.There are actuall refrences to this and this is why they did not fight.

Read 2920.

Well, given the excessivly bloody battles the legion fought against Morrowind during their invasion, I don't think they were 'helpless' at all. The legion's strength lies in open, organized battles, but once they got into Vvardenfell where they couldn't form up into large military formations (especially in an extremely hostile land) they would have been picked off. As for the Telvanni..my opinion is rather biased since I HATE them, but they wouldn't be enough to save Morrowind, in fact, I know they wouldn't. What are your sources, by the way?

There are several if you go around talking to people about Morrowind ,they will say this to you.If I remember correctly you can also spark this topic by asking about Imperials.

Dingosky95, I think I'm going to have to disagree with your assessment that the Empire would cut through Morrowind like a hot knife through butter. The invasion by the Reman Empire was only won after a decisive battle at Ald Marak in which the Legion successfully flanked the Dunmer by magically crossing the lake bed instead of going to the straits where Vivec and his troops were located. Remember, the invasion wasn't called The 80 Year War for nothing.

They will say what exactly? If you read On Morrowind, an Imperial Provience you learn that Imperial generals dreaded invading Morrowind, because they were renown fanatical warriors, nothing about relying on the Telvanni for the safty of the nation. In fact, they didn't care, like you said, but Dres, Redoran and Indoril were up for the fight. Later, when Remen invaded, the Dunmer put up a bloody good fight and fought the legions, though they did loose, again, no Telvanni intervention. The Telvanni had absolutely nothing to do with Morrowind during the wars, and thus, they had no hand in the fate of the nation.

That being said, there is no proof that says Morrowind's only hope lay in the Telvanni wizard, so we know Morrowind wasn't hopeless without them, because they didn't fight in the war. So that arguments out the window.

Also, you know, by talking to people (especially the ashlanders) that the legions strength lay in open battle, but had they came to Vvardenfell, they would loose their advantage, and as much as I love the legion, thats true. The Ashlanders and other dunmer living on Vvardenfell would have torn them apart had they invaded. Even if they we're victorious, the casualties would have been outstanding.

I will tell you what I will go play Morrowind now and get the quotes and references and be back in a while to post.

Just go here - http://www.imperial-library.info/

It's quicker.