In the Life of Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatmas Gandhi

From Alexander the Great, to Oliver Cromwell, to Martin Luther King Jr., history has shown us many great leaders. From Conquerors to revolution leaders, our world holds a vast number of prized people. But from all the people that have walked this Earth, there are only a very few which we can call great. Mahatma Gandhi toppled part of one of the most powerful nations of the world, without even raising a sword. By his death, without so much as a penny to his name, he won the respect of leaders around the world and of the people he helped.

Mohandas Gandhi, christened Mahatma meaning "great soul", was the leading figure in the Independence of India. Gandhi, raised from a middle-class family, was sent to study law in England. Growing up with his crowd, Gandhi knew very little of discrimination until he faced it heads on. Gandhi went to South Africa to practice law and faced his first battle against discrimination. Gandhi had bought a first class ticket for a train, but was ordered to move. When he protested, the official forced him off the train. Gandhi faced many laws that discriminated against Indians, and the prejudice people had towards Indians and other people. This was an eye opening event for Gandhi becoming the first event in his life that started his quest for racial and national justice. Gandhi started to fight against this injustice by breaking laws using a method of non-violent actions, called civil disobedience, which he used throughout his life to thwart the British. When Gandhi returned to India, he inspired Indians from all over, with his ideas.

Of the many other events in Gandhi's life that influenced him to fight for justice, the Amritsar massacre was one of the most important. While Gandhi was not there, it opened up his eyes even more to the horrors of what the British could and did do. During that time, the British had ruled that the Indians were not allowed to have meetings that protested the British. On the date April 13, 1919, Indians gathered together to peacefully protest the British rule. British commander Reginal Dyer ordered his soldiers to fire into the crowd which slaughtered more than three hundred and fifty men, women and children. This incident led the Indian National Congress to start to call for total independence and spurred Gandhi's idea of Indian Independence.

Gandhi now started to become the leading figure in the independence. Gandhi now started