Mahatma Gandhi believed that the only real and effective way to create change was by not carrying out violence. He revolutionized India because of this and hoped for others to carry on the same method as he once did. There is evidence to support and to not support his philosophy, Mandela to some degree created change through violence, however the Cuban revolution was fully at the hands of weapons. Mahatma Gandhi's policy of non-violence was certainly the most effective way of leading India to independence. Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 and was assassinated on January 30, 1948. His real name was actually Mohandas Gandhi but was given the title Mahatma which meant great soul. Gandhi believed non-violence to be the morally superior path and that it was as effective as violence to achieve goals but at much less cost.1 In 1930 Gandhi embarked on his salt march along with 2500 followers, arguably one of Gandhi's greatest non-violence acts. Salt production and distribution had been a lucrative affair for the British for a long while. Through a number of laws the population of India were prohibited from buying or selling salt independently. They were instead required to buy expensive and extremely heavily taxed salt. Because salt is an essential part of the diet, especially people who were poor, found it very difficult to purchase the salt. This then lead to many sickness's but also lead to Gandhi's inspiration to create change. Through Gandhi's march people were somehow moved in a way that they were willing to stand for what was right and not use violence to create a change in society. By the end of the year over 80,000 people in India were arrested for essentially following Gandhi and attempting to revolutionize their country. Gandhi not only used marches and social movements to create national alteration, he used his words of wisdom that inspired countless Indians to push the British out of their country and gain their independence.
