On this day in 1948, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the political and spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement, was assassinated in New Delhi by a Hindu fanatic. He was known as Mahatma, or "the great soul."

Famous for... Gandhi's persuasive methods of civil disobedience influenced leaders of civil rights movements around the world, especially the Black Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. was a follower of Gandhi's methods.
Biographical Beginnings.

• Gandhi's Vaishnava mother was deeply religious. When he was young, she exposed him to Jainism, an Indian religion that advocated nonviolence.
• In 1888 he went to study law in England.
• From there, he went to work in South Africa. There, he was subjected to racism laws that restricted the rights of Indian laborers.
  

Moment of Truth. When Gandhi was removed from a first-class railway compartment and thrown off a train, it became his moment of truth. He decided to fight injustice and defend his rights as an Indian and a man.

Works in South Africa.

• He launched a campaign against legislation that would deprive Indians of the right to vote
• Formed the Natal Indian Congress
• Drew international attention to the plight of Indians in South Africa.
  

Satyagraha Comes to South Africa.

• In 1906, when the Transvaal government tried to further restrict the rights of Indians, Gandhi organized his first campaign of satyagraha, or mass civil disobedience.
• After seven years of protest, he negotiated a compromise agreement with the South African government.
  

Home Again. In 1914, Gandhi returned to India. For a time, he lived a life of abstinence and spirituality with little participation in Indian politics.

War. Though Gandhi supported England in World War I, in 1919 he launched a new satyagraha protesting Britain's mandatory military draft of Indians. Hundreds of thousands joined in the mass civil disobedience.

Timeline.

1920.

• Leader of the Indian movement for independence.
• Reorganized the Indian National Congress as a political force.
• Launched a massive boycott of British goods, services, and institutions in India.
  

1922.

• Called off the satyagraha when violence erupted.
• One month later, he was arrested by the British authorities for sedition.
• Found guilty and imprisoned.
  

1924.

• Released from prison.
• Led an extended fast in protest of Hindu-Muslim violence.
  

1928.

• Returned to politics, demanding dominion status for India.
  

March to the Sea.

1930.

• Launched a mass protest against the British salt tax, which hurt India's poor.
  
• March to the Sea for Indian Independence. In March, Gandhi began his boldest act of civil disobedience yet ~ a march to the sea. It was a protest against British rule in India and a symbolic act to defy British law.
• Gandhi left Ahmedabad on foot, starting off with 78 civil resistance volunteers on a 240-mile Salt March to the sea at Jalalpur, on the Gulf of Cambay. The walk took 24 days.
• At Jalalpur, they made their own salt by evaporating sea water. Thousands had gathered at the start, and several thousands joined them on the march.
  

Beginning of Civil Disobedience.

• The March to the Sea signaled the beginning of civil disobedience or non-violent defiance of the British administration.
• It brought into action the new Congress policy of Purna Swaraj, or complete independence.
• The march, which resulted in the arrest of Gandhi and 60,000 others, earned new international respect and support for the leader and his movement. (See Today Only for March 12)
  

1931.

• Gandhi was released to attend the Round Table Conference on India in London as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. The meeting was a great disappointment.
• After his return to India, he was again imprisoned.
• In jail, he led another fast in protest of the British government's treatment of the untouchables~ the impoverished and degraded Indians who occupied the lowest tiers of the caste system.
  

1934.

• Left the Indian Congress Party to work for the economic development of India's many poor.
• His protégé, Jawaharlal Nehru, was named leader of the party in his place.
  

War Comes to the World. Again. When World War II broke out, Gandhi returned to politics.

• He called for Indian cooperation with the British war effort in exchange for independence.
• Britain refused and sought to divide India by supporting conservative Hindu and Muslim groups.
  

1942.

• Gandhi launched the "Quit India" movement, calling for a total British withdrawal from India.
• Gandhi and other nationalist leaders were imprisoned until 1944.
  

1945.

• A new government came to power in Britain. Negotiations for India's independence began.
• Gandhi worked for a unified India, but the Muslim League disagreed.
  

1947.

• Britain finally agreed to create the two new independent states of India and Pakistan, to Gandhi's distress.
• Bloody violence broke out between Hindus and Muslims in India.