The first battle between the Britain and the American colonists occurred at Lexington, Massachusetts.
The colonists had become frustrated by Britain's levying of a series of taxes on them to get out of debt incurred during the French and Indian War. The colonists felt that taxation without representation was unfair. Things came to a head in Boston in 1773 when colonists dumped 340 chests of tea into Boston Harbor in protest of the Tea Act. In response, the British government passed the Intolerable Acts, which included the closing of Boston Harbor. At the First Continental Congress, held in 1774, the colonists united to oppose Britain. The British ordered troops to march on Concord in 1775 in search of an arsenal. The first shots of the war were fired on April 19, 1775.
Merchants and traders who travel along these routes must stop at oases to replenish food and water supplies and this means that whoever controls an oasis also controls the trade along the route—making oases desirable to political, economic, and military leaders.
The corruption within the communist Chinese government, lack of freedom of speech, press, and restriction on political participation. Inflation and the democratic movement in Eastern Europe are triggers of the incident.