The Thalmor - the elven supremacist government that controls the Aldmeri Dominion - are rarely placed front and centre in Skyrim, but are clearly destined to assume a bigger role as antagonists in the future.
We learn that not long before the events of Skyrim that both the Aldmeri Dominion and the Tamrielic Empire had fought a great war, and that the latter had suffered defeat and was forced to sign the White-Gold Concordat, which prevented the complete destruction of Tamriel.