For a more recent, if similarly calamitous, manifestation of the power of chaos theory, consider how different the world would be today had not a devout, soft-spoken Saudi Arabian engineer inherited a significant fortune from his estranged father.
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When you hear the term Hobbesian, you think of people at each other's throats, struggling for power in a situation of chaos.
The chaos reinforced the power of the army, which was called in to restore peace, and fueled widespread speculation that the instability was orchestrated by hardline interests seeking to derail reform and strengthen the hand of the military.
He maneuvered to power in 1966, after the chaos of a communist coup attempt and a purge in which hundreds of thousands died.
It exudes an atmosphere of mild chaos, coupled with an unhealthy appetite for the spoils of power.
It stretches the imagination to see Afghanistan stepping from its current chaos to a system of democratic power-sharing.
Incidents such as the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean and Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005, have provided deadly evidence of the power of nature to wreak destruction and throw human communities into chaos.
What is more, despite the inevitable short-term chaos, the return of Mr Chavez to power in Venezuela actually strengthens the cartel.
The rebels seized power in the north - an area the size of France - in the chaos following an army coup in March.
The Islamists and Tuareg rebels seized power in northern Mali - an area the size of France - in the chaos following a coup in the capital, Bamako last year.
But the Columbia team came to the head of the peloton to lead the chase and -- as well as catching the breakaway quartet with 25km left -- they managed to split the peloton, such was their power of their work at the front and the cross-winds which caused chaos behind.
He praised their success in reopening hospitals and restoring power supplies and said those who predicted chaos on the streets after the collapse of Col Gaddafi's rule had been proved wrong.
In the resulting chaos a small, ruthless band of conspirators known as Bolsheviks grabbed power under Lenin and Trotsky.
Here, those who want to save Africa from another century of horror are, literally, in a dead heat against those who derive their power from misery and chaos.
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