Fortunately, this naive view is wrong, as a train of events that started almost half a century ago showed.

ECONOMIST: Particle physics

Without realizing it, he says, humans set into motion a train of events we didn't realize we were in no position to control.

CNN: Gaia straits: Planetary doctor says condition terminal

So Mr. Romney is to blame because of decisions he didn't make at a business he didn't run that may or may not have set in train a series of random unconnected events many years apart that included Ilyona Soptic's illness.

WSJ: Review & Outlook: The Postmodern President

Ukip leader Nigel Farage was convinced that the UK would leave the EU as a consequence of events set in train by the UK veto.

BBC: Barroso criticises UK approach to summit

From the moment she arrived in the emergency room that Friday morning in February, the train of events ran against a peaceful ending.

NEWYORKER: Letting Go

The young hero, Hugo Cabret, through a series of events outside his control, lives a clandestine life in a grand but unnamed train station in Paris and spends his days winding the enormous clocks which are the unerring reference points for the coming and going of trains connecting all the legendary capitals of Europe across its ancient timeless landscapes.

FORBES: Scorsese's Hugo And The Precious Virtues of Analog Time