The Isle of Artaeum disappeared around the same time the moons reappeared right ?

Wouldn't the psijic order be able to detect it if it was just one massive illusion spell?
Given the decline of magic over the third era; can the thalmor really have the magical means to fool even the psijics?

Now, this is really rather silly to think about, but from what we've seen of imperial tactics & outfitting, the goblins should actually have a huge physical (if not morale) advantage over the humans. Shin & lower thigh protection is highly de-emphasized by imperial armor, while they favor stricking weapons of lengths insufficient to be effective versus a near-ground target. It's essentially a classic case of the left-handed advantage: both the tall men and the short goblins are trained to fight tall foes, because tall foes are more common. This renders the tall men's training slightly inapplicable, but leaves the short goblin's training wholly relevant. Having the three shortest armed forces (goblin, bosmer, and four-legged Khajiit) on their side really is a very strong advantage.

I agree that the Thalmor didn't make the moons disappear, but they sure as hell took all the credit for it reappearing.

The only ones casting doubt on those assertations are Imperial Propaganda.

I don't feel like getting into the whole big thalmor debates again right now, so I'll just adress the OP's question about what I'd do if I commanded either side's army:

Thalmor: I'd never've invaded Cyrodiil. Instead, I'd've purged the AD of the blades, then proposed the following deal to the Emperor: allow Thalmor Agents to travel openly through your lands, and we'll destroy the DB, Daedra cults, and other padomic groups. In exchange, we'd end the Skooma trade to Cyrodiil. If he accepted, we'd do as we said (which they proved themselves capable of in the great war), greatly reducing human access to Daedric Artifacts, unleashing hordes of strung-out junkies upon Leyawiin, and get rid of one of the great outlets of human psychopathy. We'd try to use the excess sugar to mess with either the Sload, or the Maormer. Regardless of whether or not the deal was taken, we'd focus first on invading Thras and Padonyea. At the same time, we'd try to establish relations with the Hist, Ka'Po'Tun, and the legendary surviving dragons (I'm talking about the ones who were there even before the events of Skyrim). Thras and Padonyea are far more obtainable goals, and make far better use of Altmeri seapower, than "the whole of Tamriel", + diplomacy rocks, + the spiritual battle against Padomics is most important.

Empire: I'd've sent a ghost fleet (lots of ships with very few men) sailing for Alinor, and had all my island holdings pretend to be better manned than they were (have more blokes on the wall than is normal). That'd hopefully freak the Altmer right the eff out and mess with their tempo. Besides that, I'd also try to leverage Titus Mede II's obvious daedric ties (he wielded Goldenbrand) for greater influence. That's really all that a commander could do. The Empire's errors were mostly due to the nature of surprise attacks. No genius plans I could hatch would really have much of a chance of getting implemented with all our forces scattered.


Now, this is really rather silly to think about, but from what we've seen of imperial tactics & outfitting, the goblins should actually have a huge physical (if not morale) advantage over the humans. Shin & lower thigh protection is highly de-emphasized by imperial armor, while they favor stricking weapons of lengths insufficient to be effective versus a near-ground target. It's essentially a classic case of the left-handed advantage: both the tall men and the short goblins are trained to fight tall foes, because tall foes are more common. This renders the tall men's training slightly inapplicable, but leaves the short goblin's training wholly relevant. Having the three shortest armed forces (goblin, bosmer, and four-legged Khajiit) on their side really is a very strong advantage.

MW-style Scutum. Also, discipline n' [censored].

Good. I as founder of this thread would like all future comments to be like the one within this little box thing pretty please.

I agree that the Thalmor didn't make the moons disappear, but they sure as hell took all the credit for it reappearing.

Bosmer are also more focused on the "now" than the Altmer. So it's only really the Altmer who obsess (or the religious ones, most Altmer care more about their social standing) over escaping Mundus. The Khajiit present Mundus was being created by trickery, but good things came of it.

Yes.

The Thalmor want this:

Kinda make you wonder what they where on when they came up with that

I will not discuss my strategy if I were Thalmor for I just can't stand that bunch of arrogant fascists.

As Imperial leader, I would first wage a kind of secret war against the Thalmor inside the Empire, arranging for "accidents" to happen to Thalmor agents, letting rampant Talos cults spread in the countryside. I wouldn't do anything against Talos believers as long as they don't shout it loud on the streets nor directly target imperial interests. And I would let that tacitly known to the Talos priests. Then, I would try to rally the people arround the legion, using it widely in the country-side to unroot bandits, necromancers, summoners, deadra cultists... Meanwhile, I'd certainly organize some kind of effort to settle again in Morrowind, empowering the dunmers to do so, in exchange for whole hearted support for the Empire.
Then, and only then, I would prepare a full fledged war against the Aldmeri Dominion, which also implies negotiating something with Hammerfell to secure an alliance of some sorts. And that would also imply a large intelligence effort in Elsweyr and Valenwood, stirring up the local politics towards more chaos and disorder. Ideally, I would obviously let the Thalmor declare war for the second time, otherwise, I guess I would be happy making every possible effort to disintegrate the Aldmeri Dominion's grip in the mainland before actually attacking it. Depending on which province is the weakest, I'd obviously invade Valenwood and Elsweyr before pondering an expedition of some sorts against Summerset.
My main objective would be the probably achievable fall of the Thalmor government, not an outright and complete domination of Tamriel. So if a few major losses on the mainland are enough, those invasion plans would be scrapped in favour of a more consensual effort to enforce peace in HIgh Rock.