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The day Gandhi was born in Porbandar, near Bombay! -
Gandhi went to law school at 19 to London for his studies. This is where he learned about civil obedience. -
After Gandhi came back unsuccessful he went to South African to continue law. -
Later in 1906, however, Gandhi began his peaceful revolution. He declared he would go to jail or even die before obeying an anti-Asian law. Thousands of Indians joined him in this civil disobedience campaign. He was imprisoned twice. Yet in World War I he again organized an ambulance corps for the British before returning home to India in 1914. -
In 1919 he became a leader in the newly formed Indian National Congress political party. -
In 1920 he launched a noncooperation campaign against Britain, urging Indians to spin their own cotton and to boycott British goods, courts, and government. -
This led to his imprisonment from 1922 to 1924. In 1930, in protest of a salt tax, Gandhi led thousands of Indians on a 200-mile (320-kilometer) march to the sea to collect their own salt. Again he was jailed. -
1934 he retired as head of the party but remained its actual leader. Gradually he became convinced that India would receive no real freedom as long as it remained in the British Empire. Early in World War II he demanded immediate independence as India’s price for aiding Britain in the war. He was imprisoned for the third time, from 1942 to 1944. -
Gandhi’s victory came in 1947 when India won independence. The subcontinent split into two countries (India and Pakistan) and brought Hindu-Muslim riots. Again Gandhi turned to nonviolence, fasting until Delhi rioters pledged peace to him. -
On Jan. 30, 1948, while on his way to prayer in Delhi, Gandhi was killed by a Hindu who had been maddened by the Mahatma’s efforts to reconcile Hindus and Muslims. An epic motion picture based on his life won several Academy awards in 1983.