It is difficult to pin down the moment or event the French Revolution began.  It may had been the King’s edict to convene the Estates General in May 1789.  Once the Estates General convened, it may had been the failure of that body to come to a consensus of how it would count votes on measures before it.  Nonetheless, the august Estates General finally convened to consider the crown’s tax and fiscal proposal.  The assembly of the Estates General would ultimately turn out unpredictable and go horribly wrong.  

The beginning of the Chinese Culture Revolution is not as difficult to identify.  It began with the Chinese Communist Party’s publication of the infamous May 16 Notification in 1966.  From there the students would begin the chaos, terror, and murder.   The Party used the chaos to purge itself of unwanted rightists, capitalists, and spies.