1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:03,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 1: I'm editor kand Skinner, joined by staff writer Jane McGrath. Hey, 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: they're Candice. Hey, Jane. You know, a couple of months ago, 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:23,920 Speaker 1: we did a podcast about the civil rights movement, and 6 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: what's interesting about Martin Luther King Jr's ideals is that 7 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: they weren't entirely unique to him. He actually got a 8 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: lot of his inspiration from Gandhi. And we really should 9 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: have honored Gandhi as as being the man who planned 10 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: at the seed of non violent protest in King's mind, 11 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: but we didn't. So we're going to backtrack a little 12 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:48,920 Speaker 1: bit and talk about Gandhi and one of his most 13 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 1: successful campaigns and really one of the most successful campaigns 14 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: in history because it served to incite what would be 15 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,880 Speaker 1: the tail end of the Indian revolt against British lighting overall. Yeah, 16 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: and we started talking about that a little bit with 17 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: the podcast on the East India Company. We mentioned the 18 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: Sepoy rebellion, uh, and we also said that the fight 19 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: for Indian independence probably deserves its own podcast, and I'm 20 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 1: starting to think it deserves many podcasts, because um, what 21 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:17,040 Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about today is only a small fraction 22 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: of that fight. But going back a little bit to 23 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: the Sepoy rebellion that happened in eighteen fifty seven, and 24 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: it was sort of a revolt against the East India Company, 25 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 1: which was sort of Britain's sanctioned monopoly over the trade 26 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: in that area, and it had by this time gotten 27 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:39,119 Speaker 1: a very oppressive rule over India, and the Sepoys, who 28 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: were soldiers in the army for the East India Company, 29 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,399 Speaker 1: their Indian soldiers revolted at that time, but unfortunately that 30 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: revolt failed. More than that. Afterwards, the British decided to 31 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:55,520 Speaker 1: dissolve the East India Company and instead would rule India directly, 32 00:01:55,720 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: and this started the raj and direct British governance of 33 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 1: the Indian subcontinent created very very much a hostile environment 34 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:10,360 Speaker 1: between the Indians and the British because their own culture 35 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: was essentially oppressed by these new administrative policies that the 36 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,919 Speaker 1: British brought in, and the British instilled all sorts of 37 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:20,800 Speaker 1: taxes and laws to govern these people and keep them 38 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: under their thumb. And one of the items that they 39 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:28,120 Speaker 1: taxed was salt. And it may sound irrelevant to us today, 40 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: this idea of taxing salt, because many of our doctors 41 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:34,800 Speaker 1: tell us to reduce our salt intake eight low sodium 42 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: versions of our favorite foods. But um in India, especially 43 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 1: the climate being so hot and humid and contributing to 44 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: so much sweating, salt was incredibly necessary as an additive. 45 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: So a long time ago, when people used to hunt animals, 46 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:53,640 Speaker 1: they would get most of their salt from raw meat. 47 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:56,760 Speaker 1: And then as people shunned the sort of hunter gatherer 48 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 1: lifestyle for more permanent establishments on farms and turned to 49 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: a diet of meat and plants, they had to add 50 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 1: salt to their diets. Because salt is very necessary in 51 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 1: our bodies in order to orchestrate electrical impulses of fire 52 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:14,240 Speaker 1: among our nerves, and it's considered a great way to 53 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: generate revenue for governments throughout the course of history to 54 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: tax salt because people need it not only for sustenance, 55 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: but also is a preservative. And this is before at 56 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 1: the dawn of refrigeration. Of course, um people have just 57 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: been using salt for years, and so the idea of 58 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:35,280 Speaker 1: the British coming into India and taxing salt, which is 59 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: so necessary to the culture, was seen as a great 60 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,839 Speaker 1: tool of oppression over the people. Yeah, because their their 61 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: diet is chiefly vegetarian. There's part of religious rules as well, 62 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: so so obviously they needed supplementary salt. In particular, like 63 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 1: you said, the government's historically taxed it. If you remember 64 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: back to our podcast on the Front Revolution, this was 65 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:58,000 Speaker 1: actually one of the biggest things that caused that as well. 66 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: The salt tax there was known as a good bell 67 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: and people actually tried to get rid of it for 68 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: a while during the French Revolution. After that um took place, 69 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: but by Napoleon's time they actually had to reinstitute it, 70 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: and so most countries by that time we're still using 71 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: the salt tax. Ironically, however, the UK was one of 72 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:19,440 Speaker 1: the first countries to get rid of their own salt 73 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 1: tax um, not really because of protests against it, but 74 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: because it became assault became an important mineral in the 75 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: Industrial Revolution for economic reasons. So at this time a 76 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: very important historical figure emerges Gandhi, and he was born 77 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: Mohandas Gandhi, but he became so revered by the people 78 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 1: that they called him Mahatma Gandhi, and essentially a mahatma 79 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: means great soul, and he did have a really great soul. 80 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:53,039 Speaker 1: He preached nonviolence and peaceful protests, and he believed and 81 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:57,000 Speaker 1: the idea of civil disobedience. And we mentioned that Martin 82 00:04:57,080 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: Luther King got a lot of his ideas from Gandhi, 83 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: and Andy in turn got many of his ideas from 84 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:08,000 Speaker 1: Leo Tolstoy and Henry David Thorreau. Thorreau, of course, is 85 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,039 Speaker 1: very famous for his essay on civil disobedience. But you 86 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: could also say that, um, even though you can see 87 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 1: these roots, like Gandhi was really the first one to 88 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: to really put it in play, and he he promoted 89 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,120 Speaker 1: what was at that time a very revolutionary idea. I mean, 90 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:27,400 Speaker 1: you never have a country overthrowing its government through peaceful 91 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:31,360 Speaker 1: uh means only. I mean, that's just incredible to think about. 92 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: And so accounts of his protests, you can see that 93 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: the way that the British forces respond to these non 94 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,919 Speaker 1: violent campaigners who are doing sit ins or hunger strikes, 95 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: it's it's really horrifying the idea of them being beaten 96 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: into submission. But they're already pretty submissive because they're protesting 97 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,359 Speaker 1: by peaceful means. Anyway, it was just astounding, and Gandhi 98 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: really thought that this could work. So um, as we mentioned, 99 00:05:56,640 --> 00:05:58,279 Speaker 1: the salt text was a major issue and it became 100 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,920 Speaker 1: a major symbol of British Prussian and Ghandi himself saw 101 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 1: it as a particularly hurtful for the poor man. And 102 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,719 Speaker 1: so these were the reasons why he set out on 103 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:13,240 Speaker 1: a salt march. And he set out from a place 104 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:18,359 Speaker 1: called Sabermadi Ashram, which was one of his dwellings, and 105 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:21,719 Speaker 1: he uh he set out with about seventy eight other people, 106 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:24,839 Speaker 1: although more joined along the way because the the whole 107 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,880 Speaker 1: trip was about two and forty miles, and uh covered 108 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 1: between ten and fifteen miles a day. Uh So that 109 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 1: makes it um about twenty four a day march. And 110 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 1: it's it's pretty incredible to think Gandhi was sixty one 111 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:41,600 Speaker 1: years old by this time and he was not in 112 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,680 Speaker 1: the best of health. But I've read historians say that 113 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:48,200 Speaker 1: like he was actually walking so fast that some other people, 114 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:51,320 Speaker 1: younger people were actually um having trouble keeping up with him. 115 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 1: He was such like an energetic and devoted man, obviously, 116 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:57,599 Speaker 1: and so as he passed through different villages on his 117 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:00,719 Speaker 1: way to the Arabian Sea. He would incur edge officials 118 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: to resign from their posts, and he would encourage other 119 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: people to join him in his march. So, after his 120 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 1: two forty mile trek, when he reached the Arabian Sea, 121 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: he did something that by government standards was criminal and 122 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: incredibly insolent. He actually gathered as salt from the ground, 123 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: and he encouraged everyone else to do the same. Yeah, 124 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:23,400 Speaker 1: and that's one thing that's amazing about the salt text 125 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: we should mention is that you couldn't buy salt without 126 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: the text, but you couldn't gather your own salt from 127 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: the sea water from a natural deposit along the sea 128 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 1: that was that was an illegal act. So Indian laborers 129 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:38,239 Speaker 1: who worked on the coast, especially sometimes they would labor 130 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:41,400 Speaker 1: near huge natural deposits of salt, and at the end 131 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:43,400 Speaker 1: of the day they would have to go into town 132 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:47,040 Speaker 1: and actually pay for something that they could have gotten 133 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: on their own from the land that was surrounding them. 134 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: So the idea of collecting your own salt was incredibly 135 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: revolutionary and it led to thousands of arrests for Gandhi's followers. 136 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:00,880 Speaker 1: It's really interesting to think about what what was going 137 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:03,480 Speaker 1: on in Gandhi's mind when he came up with this 138 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 1: idea of assault march, because you know, he didn't have 139 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: to walk, you know, and I mentioned he wasn't in 140 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: the best health and he could have just taken a 141 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 1: train or a car to the coast to pick up 142 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: some salt. Really, in crude terms, it was a big 143 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: publicity stunt, really, and he knew what he was doing. 144 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 1: He knew how to work uh publicity in the media 145 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: to to make his point. And this is what was 146 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 1: so effective about it is that, like I mentioned, um, 147 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: he cover tended to fifty miles a day, and this 148 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:31,600 Speaker 1: is a kind of relatively slow, not only because he 149 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:34,240 Speaker 1: stopped in villages like you mentioned, but also because he 150 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:36,839 Speaker 1: wanted to give the media chances to catch up make 151 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 1: their story of the day. And um, the New York 152 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 1: Times actually covered it almost daily. And uh, this is 153 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: one of the things that made it so incredibly effective. 154 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: And long before at the Salt March and N Gandhi 155 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,839 Speaker 1: had had a pretty extensive political career. He started out 156 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:55,960 Speaker 1: with the law practice and what was then Bombay and 157 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:58,800 Speaker 1: it failed and so an Indian firms sent him to 158 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 1: a post in South Africa, and in South Africa, Indians 159 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 1: were so poorly mistreated, especially those of the lowest cast 160 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 1: that he started campaigning for human rights and political rights. 161 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:14,959 Speaker 1: And twenty years he spent in South Africa, and when 162 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:18,840 Speaker 1: he came back to India, he joined the campaign to 163 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 1: get Indian independence from the British government, and the Indian 164 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: National Congress actually appointed him to an executive position in ninete. 165 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: But his tactics didn't really work against the British because 166 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: they were so violent that Gandhi, I think, for a 167 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:42,360 Speaker 1: while started to recollect his ideas and really reevaluate how 168 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: he was going to accomplish his goals. And so after 169 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:47,680 Speaker 1: he was imprisoned by the government, he gave up on 170 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: politics and he said, you know what I'm done. And 171 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:52,679 Speaker 1: you know, it's funny because Thomas Jefferson said the same thing. 172 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:54,440 Speaker 1: He was done with politics, and then he went on 173 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:57,280 Speaker 1: to become the President of the United States. I can't 174 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 1: believe Gandhi and uh so by when Gandhi was released 175 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:06,600 Speaker 1: from prison, he was trying to give up this life 176 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,520 Speaker 1: of politics, but he was so deeply ingrained what was 177 00:10:09,559 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: happening in his country and he cared so much and 178 00:10:12,559 --> 00:10:15,960 Speaker 1: was so innovative in his ideas, and the people revered 179 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:19,280 Speaker 1: him to such a high level that he couldn't not 180 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:22,680 Speaker 1: do anything. And so, like Jane was saying, it's sixty 181 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 1: one years old, it's it's not like this was a 182 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 1: ripe time in his life to launch revolution. But he did. 183 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:32,880 Speaker 1: And he wrote a letter to um a Lord Irwin, 184 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:36,199 Speaker 1: who was the vistroy of India, and he actually asked 185 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:38,800 Speaker 1: Irwin to abolish the salt tax. And he told him 186 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: that if he wouldn't, he was going to go on 187 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: this march because this was part of Gandhi's ideology. He 188 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:45,680 Speaker 1: was going to make his intentions clear. He was going 189 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:48,600 Speaker 1: to do it in a very peaceful way. And um 190 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 1: pretty brave thing it was. And not only that he 191 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 1: actually wrote to Irwin, I regard this tax to be 192 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:58,800 Speaker 1: the most iniquitous of all from the poor man standpoint, 193 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:02,800 Speaker 1: and what it his protest against salt so unique, and 194 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:04,880 Speaker 1: I think what really brought him back into the political 195 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:08,440 Speaker 1: spheres that he attached to this idea and if he 196 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:10,720 Speaker 1: was using the Salt March as a sort of a 197 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: media campaign, as your suggesting, Jane, salt was the perfect 198 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:18,120 Speaker 1: thing to protest because no matter your level in society, 199 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:19,679 Speaker 1: whether you were the richest of the rich or the 200 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:23,240 Speaker 1: poorest of the poor, you had to have salt. And 201 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:25,319 Speaker 1: whether you have the money or you didn't have the money, 202 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:28,480 Speaker 1: certainly you were irritated that you're paying for something that 203 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:31,599 Speaker 1: was growing in natural deposits around you. So thought was 204 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:33,920 Speaker 1: that thought was the word. And like you said, Gandhi 205 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:37,520 Speaker 1: was a pretty important public figure at this time, and 206 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:41,800 Speaker 1: so after he wrote this letter to Irwin, Um, Irwin 207 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 1: pretty much he knew what Gandhi was gonna do. He 208 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:47,200 Speaker 1: could have just gone and arrested him before he started this, 209 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:49,839 Speaker 1: but that in and of itself would have caused such 210 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:53,920 Speaker 1: an uproar um because Gandhi was such an important public figure. 211 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 1: And this is what also made some of Gandhi's other 212 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:00,920 Speaker 1: campaigns so effective as well. Um, you probably heard of 213 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:05,520 Speaker 1: his camp like hunger strikes in prison and during that time, 214 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:07,680 Speaker 1: you know, you might think, well, you know, hunger strike, 215 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 1: what does it matter if? Like what what did the 216 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:12,120 Speaker 1: British care if Gandhi kills himself? You know, but it 217 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:13,959 Speaker 1: was very important to the British because it would have 218 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:17,960 Speaker 1: embarrassed them, Um a lot. If if Gandhi died of 219 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 1: hunger in this in this strike against British oppression, especially since, 220 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:25,439 Speaker 1: like you mentioned, the rest of the world was watching 221 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,520 Speaker 1: at this point. He had everyone's eyes on him. And 222 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:31,520 Speaker 1: you can even see the photographs of his march, and 223 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:34,120 Speaker 1: he's wearing very humble attire. He's wearing all loin cloth 224 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:38,280 Speaker 1: and a shawl and some very cheap looking glasses, and 225 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:42,679 Speaker 1: you know, he's obviously a man who shunned all material possessions, 226 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:48,960 Speaker 1: and with this great sense of peace and purpose, he's marching, 227 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:52,840 Speaker 1: gathering his followers and essentially turning the tides on the 228 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:56,320 Speaker 1: war for Endian independence that had long ago sort of 229 00:12:56,360 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 1: been concluded with the British saying no, this isn't gonna happen. 230 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 1: And and he was able to change a lot of 231 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:03,840 Speaker 1: people's minds and get enough people on board to subvert 232 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:10,640 Speaker 1: um the government and Irwin and Gandhi actually signed a 233 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:15,960 Speaker 1: pact that legalized the collection and manufacturer of salt, and 234 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: then the government later lifted the salt tax after the 235 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:20,920 Speaker 1: pact was signed about a year later. Yeah, So that 236 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:24,240 Speaker 1: made it one of his most successful campaigns known to history, 237 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:28,239 Speaker 1: and it was one stepping stone in the ultimate independence 238 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:33,600 Speaker 1: that India got in so a salty and very rich history. 239 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:37,000 Speaker 1: And if you are enjoying the history you hear on 240 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:40,160 Speaker 1: our podcasts, you can get a daily dose on the 241 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:43,520 Speaker 1: staff you missed in history class blog. Yeah, Candice and 242 00:13:43,559 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 1: I write on this once a day, and uh, we 243 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:51,559 Speaker 1: write about modern history, news going on, and stuff and 244 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:54,600 Speaker 1: in the media that interests us and that has irrelevance 245 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,040 Speaker 1: to history that we think you'd be interested to learn 246 00:13:57,080 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: as well. So when you visit the block be sure 247 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:02,199 Speaker 1: also to you check out this article why did Gandhi 248 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:05,560 Speaker 1: March two forty miles for salt on how stuff works 249 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:10,160 Speaker 1: dot com for more on this and thousands of other topics. 250 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:13,240 Speaker 1: Is it how stuff works dot com. Let us know 251 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:16,200 Speaker 1: what you think. 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