No offense, but for the population at large, was there a meaningful choice?

The side that really wanted this might have been a smaller minority than the ones that did not, but ultimately they were not only far for violent (in every meaning of the word and method) but also had control of the police and the courts, meaning murderers routinely got away with it while the leadership and even rank and file got murdered, received very long prison sentences that removed them from society entirely, or even got framed for murders and executed or lynched for it.

The average person does not now, or have they ever, dictated anything. Also as it stands there is no such thing as an 'average' person by any metric.