>>9134
That's what Jurgen Wind-Sniffer said at least so everyone would join his little cult.
A more mundane explanation is that Nords had been campaigning for like 300 years and were militarily overextended.
Then like 100 of them decide to go to Red Mountain and get involved in a 3 way battle they knew nothing about involving the most technologically and magically advanced race in Nirn and forces that had the potential to end the world.
They came away from that with a defeat, but still alive. And this is apparently a huge loss that requires the restructuring of pretty much your entire society into some little prayer circle.
But I agree with the sentiment via another metaphor: OP has militarily stretched thin and is relying overly much on a singular aspect of his tactical capabilities to the detriment of other options.