The Union Industrialists of the North who owned Lincoln and resented the competition of Southern slave labor and the Southern politicians in the pockets of the wealthy slave owning planters made the war about slavery.
Fully 98% of both countries did not care one bit about slavery.
After enough Yankee soldiers were killed the survivors, their comrades, just wanted revenge and they didn't care for what cause—they wanted blood and the bodies of their hated enemies women...
The Red Army in East Germany during WWII is the best comparison.
"The Union Industrialists of the North who owned Lincoln and resented the competition of Southern slave labor and the Southern politicians in the pockets of the wealthy slave owning planters made the war about slavery" A agree. The war was started by the politicians who were "owned" by the interests of the wealthy. The average, non slave owning southerner was fighting to keep his homeland from being invaded. One example for support of slavery as the root cause can be found in the money printed by confederate states and southern private banks during the war. Symbolism adorning money most often enshrines the highest, most sacred institutions of a culture. Many banks offered money adorned with slave scenes.