Assisting the Americans in the War of Independence proved a costly decision for France.  The nation’s failure to adequately address the desperate and worsening financial situation led it to near bankruptcy.  The King reluctantly agreed to convene the Estates General to approve a sweeping tax proposal to raise revenues. 

Following in the heels of the disastrous Great Leap Forward, the Four Clean Ups Campaign is pushed out in another failed attempt to achieve a communist utopia. Desperately Mao Zedong searches for yet another movement that will propel China toward his goals of communism and ideological purity.