By 1797, the second Directory already had a bad reputation and was mistrusted. It was viewed as corrupt and needed the military to support its continued existence.  The public had turned against the Directory.  In desperation, a coup d’état was planned. Its main author a fellow by the name of Abbe Sieyes.  In collaboration with Napoleon Bonaparte, the military, and others, the Coup of Brumaire in 1799, ousted the existing French government and installed a provisional government run by a Napoleon Bonaparte led consulate.  Thus ended the French Revolution that had begun ten years earlier. 

By 1975, Zhou Enlai was politically ruined and finished.  He was also dying from a terminal disease.  In Zhou Enlai’s absence, Madam Mao and her Gang of Four tried to take advantage of the situation and gain power.  They were thwarted, however, by Chairman Mao and Deng Xiaoping.  Mao eventually installed Hua Guofeng to replace Zhou Enlai.  Both Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong died in 1976.  Thus ended the Chinese Culture Revolution that had begun ten years earlier.  The Gang of Four were blamed for much of the revolution’s disasters.  They all would be convicted and sent to prison.