Gandhi’s Contribution to World War I Essay

Why? 1)He had begun to approve of the idea of home rule, but he had no interest in exchanging government by British elite for rule by an Anglicized Indian elite. If swaraj was to come to India, he argued, it must come as part of a wholesale social transformation that stripped away the old burdens of caste and crippling poverty. 2)Gandhi had said – â€Å"I felt then that it was more the fault of individual officials than of the British system, and that we could convert them by love. If we would improve our status through the help and cooperation of the British, it was our duty to win their help by standing by them in their hour of need.† 3)He had been almost alone among Indian leaders who had argued for unconditional support to Britain in her hour of need in the hope of a worthy gesture at the end of the war. 4)The issue in Champaran involved European traders forcing illegal dues and payments upon the peasants; Ahmedabad’s problem was centred on the unfair treatment of industrial workers; and the predicament in Kheda was caused by the government ignoring the farmers’ appeals for the remission of land revenue. Gandhi solved each dilemma using unique, yet effective methods which gained him the respect and commitment of many political workers. These events depict the growing unrest in India very clearly. India was itching to fight for independence, which would be a very bloody battle indeed. Gandhi, therefore, decided to support the British Empire in the war, hoping that in return, India would gain independence. What? 1)In April 1918, during the latter part of World War I, the Viceroy invited Gandhi to a War Conference in Delhi. Gandhi agreed to actively recruit Indians for the war effort.[43] In contrast to the Zulu War of 1906 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, when he recruited volunteers for the Ambulance Corps, this time Gandhi attempted to recruit combatants. In a June 1918 leaflet entitled â€Å"Appeal for Enlistment†, Gandhi wrote â€Å"To bring about such a state of things we should have the ability to defend ourselves, that is, the ability to bear arms and to use them†¦If we want to learn the use of arms with the greatest possible dispatch, it is our duty to enlist ourselves in the army.† 2)Early in 1918, the war seemed to be going badly for the Allies; a German thrust was expected on the western front, and the Viceroy summoned prominent leaders of Indian opinion to a War Conference in Delhi. Gandhi supported the resolution on recruitment with a single sentence in Hindi: â€Å"With a full sense of my responsibility, I beg to support the resolution.† 3)When World War I broke out, Gandhi was on the high seas, he was homeward bound, though he hoped to spend a few weeks in England. On August 6, 1914, he landed on English soil and lost no time in calling a meeting of his Indian friends to raise an ambulance unit Public opinion 1)Gandhi did not favour a bargain with the government by offering cooperation at a price and said: â€Å"That we have been loyal at a time of stress is no test of fitness for swaraj (self-government). Loyalty is no merit. It is a necessity of citizenship all the world over.† 2)During the years 1916-18, Gandhi did not take active part in politics. The Moderates did not like his extra-constitutional methods of Satyagraha, the Extremists did not like his studied tenderness to the British Government during the war Consequence And having fought a war whose supposed purpose was to protect the rights of small states and independent peoples from tyranny, the rhetoric of British rule in India had begun to ring hollow 1)In this atmosphere, the harried British government made a frightful mistake. They elected to follow the recommendations of the Rowlatt Committee, which advocated the retention of wartime restrictions in India–including curfews and the suppression of free speech. Gandhi, reading the soon-to-be-passed Rowlatt Act in his sickbed, was too weak to mount a protest, but his loyalty to the Empire, which he had long viewed as the guarantor of Indian liberties, suffered a major blow. 2)Gandhi learned through the Sedition Committee Report that the government of India was going to introduce legislation to curb civil liberties. All of the Indian soldiers lost their lives in vain because the British Empire had absolutely no plans to give India its freedom. 3)Heartbroken, India grew more and more restless. When General Dryer heartlessly slaughtered 379 people at Jallianwala Bagh, the country could take no more. Awhile later, Gandhi launched a nation-wide struggle. And finally, on August 15th, 1947, India finally won its independence. 1)Charlie Andrews confirms, â€Å"Personally I have never been able to reconcile this with his own conduct in other respects, and it is one of the points where I have found myself in painful disagreement.†[46] Gandhi’s private secretary also had acknowledged that â€Å"The question of the consistency between his creed of ‘Ahimsa’` (non-violence) and his recruiting campaign was raised not only then but has been discussed ever since. 2)They wondered, could the apostle of peace ask them to take up arms in defense of the Raj? About 1.3 million Indian soldiers fought in the war. 47, 746 soldiers died and 65, 126 were wounded from the Indian army. This doesn’t seem like something Gandhi would want, right? Many people wonder why Gandhi wanted Indians to fight, since he always strictly adhered to non-violence. His support for India’s involvement in World War One causes us to question his consistency and perhaps even his belief in ahimsa. 3)He did, however, stipulate in a letter to the Viceroy’s private secretary that he â€Å"personally will not kill or injure anybody, friend or foe