The great Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi, is without a doubt one of the most influential leaders in history. He was born in 1869 and died seventy-eight years later. His life has been studied by all sorts of groups for its influence on various aspects including religion, politics, non-violence and humanity.
His father hoped to send his son to England to study law, but young Gandhi had other ideas.
Gandhi’s journey into the world of nonviolence began at an early age. As a child, he was influenced by many great people including his two close friends who were brothers that had made vows of nonviolence towards all living things. Gandhi then began to identify as a vegetarian and tried not to hurt any living thing even from an early age. His family was wealthy enough to afford a house outfitted with servants and neighbourhood maids. Gandhi was his father's favourite child and he received the most privileges as a result. At the age of five, Gandhi was sent to live with an aunt and uncle because of his caste. He received a better education than most untouchable children got because of this separation, but it also gave him an advantage that still caused him problems later on: he wasn't used to being looked at as inferior, so he kept looking for ways not to be seen as such.
Gandhi attempted to go to England, but was denied because of his religion; he continued his campaign for Indian independence and eventually went to South Africa as a lawyer.
Gandhi was very much involved in political matters as an adult and wanted to make a difference for the Indian people. He helped start the Natal Indian Congress and later the All India Congress at the age of twenty-two. He soon became known as a man who cared about religion, politics and humanity and always defended causes that he believed in. He also spent a lot of time trying to better his community's lives. Much of his life was devoted to uplifting Indians living in South Africa. He helped them learn to read and write, gained them the right to vote, and gained them better-living conditions.
When Gandhi returned to India in 1915, he began his own newspaper called "Young India". The newspaper was used to spread the word about independence for the people of India. He also helped start a group called the Khilafat movement which sought revenge for Muslims in Turkey.
Gandhi soon realized that independence would only be achieved if all people took part in it. He had previously renounced eating meat because he felt it was wrong for humans to kill other living things. On March 12, 1917, he had received news that many Indians were being slaughtered by the British in the city of Amritsar. His brother Harilal was one of those killed.
The first use of nonviolent resistance came during this time. Gandhi was involved in several strikes at factories that raised him very little money for food and led him to publicly fasts on multiple occasions. He almost died of hunger during one of these fasts.
India finally gained its independence in 1947, but due to the fact that the British had ruled India for two hundred years, problems still existed when India gained its independence. There were many disagreements among the Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities when dealing with matters of religion. All of these differences led to conflict which in turn led to "The Partition" of India. Gandhi’s unity ideologies ended up telling him that he needed to unite these three groups in order for India to be a successful country. The way in which he chose to do this was through peaceful protests and by allowing people of these groups to live together despite their differences.
Gandhi was considered an enemy of the British, and as a result, Britain tried to eliminate him when they had the chance. Gandhi continued his peaceful resistance regardless of these threats.
Gandhi once said that “nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.”
His nonviolent resistance helped India gain its independence without anyone getting killed and without anyone being at risk for losing their lives; it was a great accomplishment for not only India but for everyone involved in helping to make it happen.
Gandhi believed that the world should be a better place. This is one of the main reasons he encouraged his followers to "Live simply, so others may simply live."
This was meant to encourage people to stop being greedy and share with others. He also encouraged his followers to "Speak the truth, even if your voice shakes." meaning that people should not be afraid, to tell the truth, no matter what it is.
Gandhi believed in equality for all races, and this is why he encouraged his followers to" Not claim any human being for your own." In other words, one should always try not to prefer or like someone because of their race or religion.
Gandhi was very influential in world history. He helped to gain independence for India and for everyone to live peacefully together even though we are all different from each other, he is a great man who changed the world.
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