Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948): Chronological Overview

1893

• Departure of Gandhi to South Africa, he experienced racial discrimination in various forms.

• A famous incident, Gandhi was thrown off the first-class compartment of the train at Pietermaritzburg station (07 June)

1894

• Foundation of Natal Indian Congress.

1899

• Foundation of the Indian Ambulance Corps during the Boer Wars

1904

• Foundation of Indian Opinion (magazine) and Phoenix Farm at Phoenix near Durban.

1906

• First Civil Disobedience Movement (Satyagraha) against the Asiatic Ordinance in Transvaal.

1907

• Satyagraha against Compulsory Registration and Passes for Asians, (The Black Act) in Transvaal.

1908

• Trial and imprisonment- Johannesburg Jail (First Jail Term)

1910

• Foundation of Tolstoy Farm (Later Gandhi Ashrama near Johannesburg).

1913

• Satyagraha against derecognition of non-Christian marriages in Cape Town.

1914

• Quits the South African forex era and returns to India, Awarded.

• Kaisar-i-Hind for raising an Indian Ambulance Corps during the Boer Wars.

1915

• (Arrived in Bombay, India) On 9 Jan, the foundation of Satyagraha Ashrama at Kocharab near Ahmedabad (20 Mav); In 1917, Ashrama shifted to the banks of Sabarmati; All India tour.

1916

• Delivered a speech on the occasion of the opening ceremony of Banaras Hindu University-BHU (04 Feb.)

• Abstained from active politics (though he attended the Lucknow session of INC held from 26-30 Dec., I916, where Raj KumarShukla, cultivator from Bihar, requested him to come to Champaran.)

1917

• Gandhi entered active politics with the Champaran campaign to redress the grievances of the cultivators oppressed by Indigo planters of Bihar (April 1917).

• Champaran Satyagraha was his first Civil Disobedience Movement in India.

1918

• In February 1918, Gandhi launched the struggle in Ahmedabad, which involved industrial workers.

• Hunger strike as a weapon was used for the first time by Gandhi during the Ahmedabad struggle.

• In March 1918, Gandhi worked for peasants of Kheda in Gujarat who were facing difficulties in paying the rent owing to the failure of Crops.

• Kheda Satyagraha was his first Non-Cooperation Movement.

1919

• Gandhi gave a call for Satyagraha against the Rowlatt Act on April 6, 1919, and took command of the nationalist movement for the first time (First all-India Political Movement).

• Gandhi returns the Kaisar-i-Hind gold medal as a protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre- April 13, 1919.

• The All India Khilafat Conference elected Gandhi as its president (Nov. 1919, Delhi).

1920-22

• Gandhi leads the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movement (Aug. 1, 1920-Feb., 1922).

• Gandhi called off the Movement (Feb. 12, 1922) after the violent incident at Chauri-Chaura on Feb. 5, 1922.

• The Non-Cooperation Movement was the First mass-based politics under Gandhi.

1924

• Belgaum (Karnataka) session of INC-for the first and the last time, Gandhi was elected the president of the Congress.

1925-27

• Gandhi retires from active politics for the first time and devotes himself to the "constructive programme" of the Congress.

• Gandhi resumed active politics in 1927.

1930-34

• Gandhi launched the Civil Disobedience Movement with his Dandi march/Salt Satyagraha.

• (First Phase: March 12, 1930 - March 5, 1931; Man of the Year Gandhi was chosen by Time magazine as their "Man of the Year" (in 1930, after the Dandi March to break the salt laws).

• Andhi-Irwin Pact: March 5, 1931.

• Gandhi attends the Second Round Table Conference in London as the sole representative of the Congress; Sep. 7-Dec. 1,1931. 

• Second Phase Jan. 3, 1932-April 17,1934

1934-39

• Gandhi retires from active politics, sets up Sevagram (Vardha Ashram).

1939

• Gandhi resumes active politics.

1940-41

• Gandhi launches the individual Satyagraha Movement.

1942

• Call to Quit India Movement for which Gandhi raised the slogan, "Do or Die" (We shall either free India or die in the attempt), Gandhi and all Congress leaders arrested (Aug. 9, 1942).

1942-44

• Gandhi was kept in detention at the Aga Khan's Palace (now Gandhi National Memorial) near Pune (Aug. 9, 1942 -May 1944).

• Gandhi lost his wife Kasturba (Feb. 22, 1944) and private secretary Mahadev Desai; this was Gandhi's last prison term.

1945

• Gandhi's influence on the Congress wanes perceptibly after 1945.

1946

• Deeply distressed by the orgy of communal violence, as a result Muslim League's Direct Action call, Gandhi travelled to Noakhali (East Bengal-now Bangladesh) and later on to Calcutta to restore communal peace.

1947

• Gandhi, deeply distressed by the Mountbatten Plan/ Partition Plan (June 3, 1947), while staying in Calcutta to restore communal violence, observes complete silence on the dawn of India's Independence (Aug. 15, 1947).

• Gandhi returns to Delhi (Sep. 1947)

1948

• Gandhi was shot dead by Nathu Ram Godse while on his way to the evening prayer meeting at Birla House, New Delhi (Jan. 30, 1948).

• He died, with "Hey Ram" on his lips.