Mohandas Gandhi recognized as one of the greatest leaders and thinkers of the 20th Century essays

Mohandas Gandhi recognized as one of the greatest leaders and thinkers of the 20th Century essays Mohandas Gandhi, born to a merchant cast in India, defied his family and caste beliefs by studying law in England. This experience broadened his view of the British Empire. He found that he was often accepted there as an equal. After he finished his studies in England he returned to India, but was not terribly successful. Eventually he was hired by a company in 1893 to represent their interests in the British colony of Natal in Africa. He was the first "colored lawyer allowed to practice in Natal and did well. However, he discovered that Indians in Natal were harshly discriminated against. He believed that as a British subject he should be treated as the equal to the Englishmen in Natal and organized the Natal Indian Congress to work for Indian rights. However, he remained loyal to the British, intending to change their policies. He helped organize ambulance services during the Boer War and also helped against a Zulu In 1906, however, when no changes had occurred, he developed the philosophy of civil disobedience, based on writings of Thoreau, Tolstoy and Jesus Christ. He refused to comply with discriminatory laws, which put him Finally in 1914 the government made some concessions including the recognition of Indian marriages and dropping the poll tax for Indian In India he began working for "swaraj," or home rule for India. He worked hard to unite Hindus and Muslims, traditional opponents, to work for this goal. In 1920, arguing that dependence on English goods had undermined Indian self-sufficiency and economy, he urged all to spin their own yarn and weave their own cloth rather than buy British cloth. This led to his first imprisonment in India. In 1930, to protest a salt tax, he led a 200- mile march to the sea and taught the people to gather and refine the law. Once again he was imprisoned. Through this process he saw h ...