The short explanation is: words came to taps, taps came to pushes, pushes came to shoves, shoves came to blows, blows came to shots and war was on.
The longer explanation is, the Union was willing to tolerate secession & Confederacy, but not the seizure of many Federal properties, most notably, Fort Sumter.
When Lincoln called for 75,000 troops to retake seized forts, etc., Confederates declared war and the rest, as they say, is history.
Nothing happening in the European Union these days seems likely to repeat our tragic history.
“When Lincoln called for 75,000 troops to retake seized forts, etc., Confederates declared war and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Well, thank you for that take. It’s the best I have read to date. It seems, from other reading, that both sides were spoiling for a fight. They each thought they owned morality and would fight to the end to justify their ownership. (As it turns out, they were both wrong.) No, I don’t think the EU will erupt into civil war. It was a cluster F from the beginning; a soviet union without the (thank God) military. It’s just going quietly into that good night. (When I say quietly, I mean we will hear the gnashing of teeth from liberals from here to Antarctica.)