FREE ESSAY ON GANDHI

GANDHI

There are few men in history that have accomplished what Gandhi did when he took on one of
history's most powerful empires. Gandhi was an Indian man that took on the British
Empire's policies of injustice, discrimination, and command without throwing a single
punch, firing a single bullet, or in any way using violence as a weapon. The fact that he
defeated the British Empire by winning Indian Independence obviously tells us that Gandhi
should be given the rank of being remembered as a 'great man in history.
Gandhi began his work against the injustices of the British Empire when he was a young
man in South Africa. After returning to India, Gandhi had convinced himself that he must
get in touch with the masses and persuade them to follow him in nonviolent and
non-cooperative protest against British Rule. Through marches, demonstrations, and
protests, Gandhi was able to bring the attention of the world to India by displaying the
atrocities of the British empire and not retaliating with violence. Although Indian
Independence was Gandhi's main goal, he struggled with the idea that Hindus and Muslims
did not want to live together after India had gained independence.
In 1893 Gandhi began working aginst the unjust discrimination that he, and other Indians
working in South Africa, experienced. Gandhi was thrown off a train, traveling across
South Africa, because he had refused to yield his first class seat and move to the third
class where all of the colored people were forced to ride. Shortly after the train
incident, Gandhi organized his first protest in which he burned passes that Indians were
required to carry at all times in South Africa. Although his first protest was not well
attended, Gandhi had received enough newspaper coverage that his second protest drew a
large crowd. At this second protest, which addressed new laws that singled out Indians as
second class citizens that had few rights, Gandhi replied to violent threats, coming from
the crowd, by stating, 'We will not strike a blow but we will receive them . . .They may
torture my body, break my bones, or even kill me. Then they will have my dead body, not
my obedience. Gandhi was able to lead a highly effective march in South Africa, and his
success caused him to return to India where he could work for an even greater cause,
Indian Independence.
Soon after making his return to India, Gandhi began traveling all over the country in
order to get to know the people. There were a number of politicians, both Hindu and
Muslim, that were in favor of asking for home rule. Gandhi responded to these politicians
by saying that the common people make the difference, and only through uniting them will
independence by granted. The belief in maintaining contact with the common people ran so
deep in Gandhi that he himself lived as a poor man, making his own clothes, and doing all
of the things that the common man had to do. Poor sharecroppers saw Gandhi as the man
that best represented them, and they turned to him for leadership. Through nonviolent
campaigns, Gandhi organized the poor and was able to win a rebate on rent, freedom for
the sharecroppers to choose their own crops, and a commission, part Indian, to hear the
grievances of the poor. Although other people had won similar victories Gandhi was unique
in that methods his methods of protest against a tyrannical government focused on
nonviolence and non cooperation.
Gandhi used marches, demonstrations, and public protest in a nonviolent and non
cooperative manner as tools for fighting for Indian Independence. The central theme of
Gandhi's method of protest was to always behave in a nonviolent and non cooperative
manner. Perhaps Gandhi best described his methods in a meeting with British politicians
when he said, In the end you will walk out (British will leave India) because 100,000
Englishmen simply cannot control 350 million Indians if those Indians refuse to
cooperative, and that is what we intend to achieve. Peaceful, nonviolent, non cooperation
until you yourself see the wisdom of leaving. Not everyone believed that nonviolence
could bring independence to India, and there were groups that would lash out with violent
attacks against the British. Gandhi reacted to these violent outbursts in a unique
manner. Whenever violence took over, Gandhi would fast until the fighting stopped. On
these occasions, the people would rather stop fighting violently than see Gandhi starve
himself to death because of their violence. It was a long battle of nonviolent protest
against the British that finally brought independence to India, but freedom brought
problems of its own.
In conclusion, Gandhi should be considered one of history's 'great' men. He set out to
accomplish a goal that seemed almost unattainable. By taking on the British Empire with a
nonviolent campaign and achieving Indian Independence, Gandhi created a place for himself
in history. Although Gandhi had achieved so much, he remained humble, and was very
disappointed with the way that Indian Hindus and Muslims were fighting each other after
they gained Independence. Gandhi died at a time when he wanted to achieve an end to the
hostility that the Hindus and Muslims had toward one another. Perhaps the real tragedy of
Gandhi's life was that he accomplished what few in history could, but died without
knowing his real impact or accepting that he was indeed a 'great' man.