Final answer:
Some Red Guards became victims themselves due to the shifting loyalties and purges of the Cultural Revolution. Mao's curbing of their power and their subsequent displacement to the countryside ended their influence. Historical patterns show this to be a common outcome in authoritarian regimes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Red Guards, initially empowered during the Cultural Revolution to purge China of 'bourgeois' elements, became victims themselves due to several factors. Initially encouraged by Mao and Lin Biao, they targeted the 'Four Olds': old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas, leading to widespread violence and destruction. The Red Guards attacked intellectuals and destroyed cultural sites, but eventually, even they were not immune to the atmosphere of suspicion and the purges they had helped to foster. Leaders like Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping fell from power after showing insufficient revolutionary fervor. The Red Guards' power was eventually curtailed by Mao himself in 1968, with many of them being dispatched to the countryside to 'learn from the peasants', a move that effectively ended their role. In the unpredictable turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, even the most fervent supporters could quickly become the next targets, as loyalties shifted and the definition of what constituted 'sufficient revolutionary fervor' changed. Evidence of this pattern of erstwhile revolutionaries becoming victims themselves is seen throughout history in other authoritarian regimes, such as Stalin's Soviet Union. High-ranking officers and party members, once part of the ruling elite, found themselves on the wrong side of the leadership and were purged during events like the Great Purge.