Have All Wars Been Started By Atheists?

Somehow, our collective memory only seems to go back to the advent of Fascism and Communism after WWI. Don't people really mean, "All Wars Have Been Started by People of Another Religion  (but not ours)"?

I would surmise that almost all of the wars in history have been initiated by religious leaders or by those who were at least nominally religious. And the almost all soldiers were religious.

The wars outlined in Abrahamic religious sacred texts, for example, were by the commandment of God.  Is God an atheist? (a separate discussion)

It is not my intent to put the onus on any particular religion; however, out of many religious wars, one of the earliest recorded is in the Book Of Joshua. God commanded Joshua to commit genocide, destroying the Canaanites. Starting at Jericho,  "[...The Jews...] destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys [...and...] burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into [... their ...] treasury". (KJV 6:24) They then proceeded to conquer the rest of Canaan the same way. Is this an atheist's war. Is this the only example of a religious war? Is this the only example of religious genocide?

The wars fought in the middle east over the millennia have been initiated by the religious. They may not have been of the Abrahamic tradition, but worshiped at least some sort of god or pantheon of gods, or as the Abrahamics loftily say, "false idols". A Partial List of Religions in the World

Need I mention the spread of Christianity by the Romans. Or Islam by the Muslims? Or their beliefs by the "idolators"? Or the Crusades, pitting one Abrahamic religion against another? It seems the descendants of the Patriarch are a particularly contentious lot. Weren't most of the wars in Europe over the ages led by leaders who were religious? And it may not be much of a reach to say, the World.

But Are We Asking The Right Question?

I would suggest that, in all wars, the soldiers who were enlisted or conscripted to fight were mostly the religious.

Weren't the legions of actual combatants whose blood was split religious? Weren't the legions of civilians whose blood was split religious?  
(I will not use that obscene phrase, "collateral damage")

In other words, the cannon fodder has been religious!

Hitler wanted to eventually suppress religion when the time came, but it never came (you might say that he was distracted). He did not suppress it in Germany, with the exception of Judaism and a few minor sects.  Religion in Nazi Germany His war was fought by the religious on all sides. The Nazis even conscripted a future Pope into their "Hitler Youth" and as a "child soldier", but he was allowed to practice his religion. Pope Benedict XVI

Even Stalin, who forced atheism on Russia, allowed religion when it suited his purpose. "During World War II, the Church was allowed a revival as a patriotic organization ... Thousands of parishes were reactivated ..." i.e. he needed loyal cannon fodder.  Stalin-Religion The USSR was more religious than the leaders wanted us to believe.  Religion in the Soviet Union

Certainly, some wars have been started by people of Abraham's tradition, some were stared by "idolaters", but you would be hard pressed to name many that were started by atheists.  And you would be very hard pressed to find any wars that were not fought by the religious.

(With thanks to Wikipedia. However, the opinions expressed herein are purely my own)

TTFN
(Peace, Skepticism, Bright, Humanism, Green, TED)