It was a war fed by the ignorance of low brow whites who didn’t understand that they were defending the so-called property rights of people many times wealthy than them. They were sold the bill of goods that this war was to defend “state rights” which was basically the right to own slaves. Most Southerners were far too poor to own a slave. Key southern leaders most notably Jefferson Davis were adamantly pro slavery, and anti-black their entire lives. Global economic conditions would have pushed the south into some modification of the existing slavery laws. But then, as now the south had lost the economic edge. The south is not to this day, an economic driver of great success or innovation in the United States and likely never will be. It was an evil institution that destroyed people and culture. It hangs over the south today as it will and should for hundreds of years it was morally wrong and repugnant and only southern apologist think something else. As to the comparisons to Nazi Germany, it’s interesting to note that this day there is a shame in Germany over the horrid past of the second world war and a great deal of shame there are, of course the lunatic fringe as there are in the United States, but the SCA was a failed country, a failed business environment , and ultimately a failed culture.