What Happened This Day in History January 30th

Of course there are many events to choose from, but one of the things that struck me the most was the fact that this was the day in 1948 that Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated.

The assassination of Gandhi is a pretty amazing thing since what this man stood for was non-violence. He was a man of peace. His was always searching for truth. In 1930 he was named "Man of the Year" by Time Magazine. Most of us have probably seen the movie called "Gandhi" in which Ben Kingsley portrays the world renowned leader.

Gandhi was born in Porbanda in the state of Gujarat, India on October 2, 1869. At that time India was under British rule. At the age of 13 Gandhi was married. His bride was Kasturbai Makhanji and she was 14 years old. Theirs was an arranged marriage as was the normal custom of the area. They had their first child when Gandhi was the tender age of 15. Their first child died after only a few days. Gandhi and his wife had a total of four more children all boys.

At the age of 19 Gandhi went to London to study law. He returned to India where he did some legal work. He had problems with a British Officer and decided it was best to take a job with a company based out of South Africa.

When Gandhi had to deal with discrimination, it brought him to realize the social inequalities that existed toward the Indian people by the British. Gandhi began to champion for social justice. He was always a proponent of peaceful protest and urged others to do the same.

Gandhi returned to India in 1915. The British Viceroy of India asked for Gandhi's assistance in helping to recruit Indian men for the World War I effort. Even though Gandhi was a man of peace he, ironically, agreed to do this. His motive for the recruitment was to support his cause for freedom for the country of India. He did, however, send a letter to the Viceroy telling him that he would not serve in the military himself.

Gandhi was an incredible organizer and good at inspiring people to help with his causes. He was instrumental in building hospitals and schools. He became very popular among the people. When he was unjustly arrested for supposedly creating unrest hundreds of thousands of his countrymen supported him by protesting and he was released from jail.

The man who shot Gandhi was Nathuram Godse. He was executed on November 15, 1949. Gandhi was 78 years old when he died.

There is so much more to this man than I have chronicled here. It's a shame that he died the way that he did, by an assassin's hand. It's not easy to describe such a complex individual. He was a great man and influenced many important people with his philosophies. The world is a better place because of him.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi_(film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi