In the 1920’s, Viceroy Lord Reading attempted to put India under British rule.

Indian’s opposed
this British Imperialism and led to a chain of events that led to the 1930 Salt March. The Salt
March was the Indian attempt to end the British rule in India.

The Indian Independence movement was a political revolution from 1857 to 1947. These were
the efforts of Indians to become independent from Britain, Portugal and France. Mohandas
Gandhi was one of the major political and spiritual leader of this movement during the 1920s and
30s. After years of campaigning and non-violent protest, he came up the ultimate idea to gain
liberation from Britain.

During this time, India was being taxed for salt. Because New Delhi had recently abolished the
cotton tax, Britain had lost some income and made up for it by doubling the salt tax in India. This
resulted in the inability of Indians to use one of India’s most prosperous resources. The tax was
especially hard on the poor people of the nation. Gandhi understood the difficulty for them and
used his philosophical ways to lead a chain of non-violent protests to free his country from British
rule.

On March 2, 1930, Gandhi wrote a letter to the Viceroy, Lord Edward Irwin. It stated that if nothing
was done about India’s position in trying to gain freedom, he would lead a march to bring
awareness and power to the situation. Lord Irwin, unwilling to settle, ignored Gandhi’s warning
and on March 5, 1930, Gandhi kept his word and announced his plans to march from Ashram
Ahmedabad to Dandi. He planned to march 240 miles to the coast with 78 satyagrahis, soldiers of
civil disobedience, where he would lift a small amount of mud and salt from the beach. By doing
this, he said he was “shaking the foundations of the British Empire” and breaking British law by
then boiling it in seawater and producing the very substance he was marching for.

He told his thousands of followers to make salt, along the seashore. A war on the salt tax was be
continued up to April thirteenth. During that time, salt was sold, illegally, all over India. A pinch of
salt from Gandhi himself sold for about $750 dollars. In reaction to this, the British government
had arrested over sixty thousand people by the end of the month.

On the night of May, 4 Gandhi was sleeping in a cot under a mango tree, at a village near Dandi.
Several of Gandhi’s followers slept near him. Soon after midnight the District Magistrate of Surat
drove up with two Indian officers and thirty heavily-armed constables. He woke Gandhi by
shining a torch in his face, and arrested him under a regulation of 1827.

This march led to similar non-violent movements around India, the boycott of British made cloth
and goods and the arrest of Gandhi. India’s independence was not immediately gained, however,
the impact of the march on the movement brought it to a more approachable place. The march
brought many new followers from all of Indian society. After Gandhi's release from prison he
continued to work towards Indian independence, which was achieved in August, 1947.

This march was important in the Indian fight for independence because it proved to the British
that the people of India weren’t going to allow them to take over their country and impose unfair
taxes on their people. Gandhi was inspirational to the people of India and brought more followers
to the march because of his non-violent tactics and unwillingness to give in to British demands.
He stood up for what he believed was right and used methods that were unharmful but effective
and they eventually led to the abolishment of the unjust taxes of India.

The salt march was a demonstration of how imperialism was fought in India through non-violent
marches and demonstrations that eventually led to the independence of the country. Without
Gandhi and the salt march the taxes would have economically killed India’s people and prevented
them from becoming a prosperous nation.