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South Africa
Gandhi went back to India, where he found work hard to come by, so he accepted a year's contract to work for an indian firm in Natal, South Africa. -
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Gahndi Time Line
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Gandhi's Time in South Africa
Despite arriving on a year’s contract, Gandhi spent the next 21 years living in South Africa, and railed against the injustice of racial segregation. -
Gandhi, Assemble!
He founded a political movement, known as the Natal Indian Congress, and developed his theoretical belief in non-violent civil protest into a political stance, when he opposed the introduction of registration for all Indians, within South Africa, via non-cooperation with the relevant civic authorities. -
Gandhi has had enough
On one occasion he was thrown from a first class train carriage, despite being in possession of a valid ticket. Witnessing the racial bias experienced by his countrymen served as a catalyst for his later activism, and he attempted to fight segregation at all levels. -
Gandhi Returns to India
On his return to India in 1916, Gandhi was still treated unfairly. -
Gandhi Expands
He was raising awareness of oppressive practices in Bihar, in 1918, which saw the local populace oppressed by their largely British masters. -
Gandhi Expands Even More
His fame spread, and he became widely referred to as ‘Mahatma’ or ‘Great Soul’. -
Gandhi's Boycott and Prison
He instigated a boycott of British goods and institutions, and his encouragement of this led to his arrest, on March 10th, 1922, for which he served 2 years, of a 6-year prison sentence. -
Gandhi is Free
The Indian National Congress began to splinter during his incarceration, and he remained largely out of the public eye following his release from prison in February 1924. -
Gandhi makes Salt
When the British introduced a tax on salt in 1930, he famously led a 250-mile march to the sea to collect his own salt. -
Gandhi Assasination 1
The first attempt came on 25th June 1934, when he was delivering a speech, together with his wife, Kasturba. Travelling in a motorcade of two cars, they were in the second car, which was delayed by the appearance of a train at a railway level crossing, causing the two vehicles to separate. When the first vehicle arrived at the speech venue, a bomb was thrown at the car, which exploded and injured people. -
"Quit India" Movement and Gandhi in Prison Again!
During the first years of the Second World War, Gandhi’s mission to achieve independence from Britain reached its zenith: he saw no reason why Indians should fight for British sovereignty, in other parts of the world, when they were subjugated at home, which led to the worst instances of civil uprising under his direction, through his ‘Quit India’ movement. As a result, he was arrested on 9th August 1942, and held for two years at the Aga Khan. Palace in Pune. -
Gandhi freed from prison again! and Gandhi Assasination 2
May 1944, the time of his release from prison, saw the second attempt made on his life, this time certainly led by Nathuram Godse, although the attempt was fairly half-hearted. When invited to speak to Gandhi, Godse declined, but he went to a prayer meeting where he tried to stab gandhi by running towards him with a knife -
Gandhi Assasination 3
Four months later, in September 1944, Godse led a group of Hindu activist demonstrators who accosted Gandhi at a train station, on his return from political talks. Godse was again found to be in possession of a dagger that, although not drawn, was assumed to be the means by which he would again seek to assassinate Gandhi. It was officially regarded as the third assassination attempt. -
Gandhi Assasination 4
The fourth attempt on Gandhi’s life took the form of a planned train derailment. On 29th June 1946, a train called the ‘Gandhi Special’, carrying him and his entourage, was derailed near Bombay, by means of boulders, which had been piled up on the tracks. Since the train was the only one scheduled at that time, it seems likely that the intended target of derailment was Gandhi himself. He was not injured in the accident. -
Gandhi Speech
At a prayer meeting after the event Gandhi is quoted as saying:
“I have not hurt anybody nor do I consider anybody to be my enemy, I can’t understand why there are so many attempts on my life. Yesterday’s attempt on my life has failed. I will not die just yet; I aim to live till the age of 125.”
Sadly, he had only eighteen months to live. -
The Indians are Free!!!
Placed under increasing pressure, by his political contemporaries, to accept Partition as the only way to avoid civil war in India, Gandhi reluctantly concurred with its political necessity, and India celebrated its Independence Day on 15th August 1947. -
Gandhi's Troubles
Keenly recognising the need for political unity, Gandhi spent the next few months working tirelessly for Hindu-Muslim peace, fearing the build-up of animosity between the two fledgling states, showing remarkable prescience, given the turbulence of their relationship over the following half-century. -
Gandhi has even more troubles
Unfortunately, his efforts to unite the opposing forces proved his undoing. He championed the paying of restitution to Pakistan for lost territories, as outlined in the Partition agreement, which parties in India, fearing that Pakistan would use the payment as a means to build a war arsenal, had opposed. -
Gandhi's Attempt at life is coming...
He began a fast in support of the payment, which Hindu radicals, Nathuram Godse among them, viewed as traitorous. When the political effect of his fast secured the payment to Pakistan, it secured with it the fifth attempt on his life. -
Gandhi Assasination 5
On 20th January a gang of seven Hindu radicals, which included Nathuram Godse, gained access to Birla House, in Delhi, a venue at which Gandhi was due to give an address. One of the men managed to gain access to the speaker’s podium, and planted a bomb, encased in a cotton ball, on the wall behind the podium. The plan was to explode the bomb during the speech, which would give two other gang members a chance to take out Gandhi. But it failed. -
Gandhi's time might be coming...
After the failed attempt at Birla House, Nathuram Godse and another of the seven, Narayan Apte, returned to Pune, via Bombay, where they purchased a Beretta automatic pistol, before returning once more to Delhi. -
Gandhi's Last Words...
On 30th January 1948, whilst Gandhi was on his way to a prayer meeting at Birla House in Delhi, Nathuram Godse managed to get close enough to him in the crowd to be able to shoot him three times in the chest, at point-blank range. Gandhi’s dying words were claimed to be “Hé Rām”, which translates as “Oh God” -
Is Gandhi's Death Good or Bad?
When news of Gandhi’s death reached the various strongholds of Hindu radicalism, in Pune and other areas throughout India, there was reputedly celebration in the streets. The rest of the world was horrified by the death of a man nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize. -
Gandhi Honered and Inspireing
Gandhi's life and teachings have inspired many people of the 20th Century, including Dr. Martin Luther King in the United States, Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko in South Africa, and Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar.
His birthday, 2nd October, is celebrated as a National Holiday in India every year.
