As I mentioned in my introduction post (go check it out), I am a history lover and fanatic. I will be sharing a post everyday here on Steemit highlighting what happened today in History. I am a history teacher and I do this everyday with my students, they love it and I hope this community will to and choose to follow me for more interesting historical based news and events!

My posts will begin with a lead story, this will be the most (in my opinion) significant historical event that has happened on the present day in the past.

I will then mention other historical events I feel are worth mentioning, I will also encourage you to leave your thoughts in the comments as well as any historic stories or memories that you would like to share about the present day.

Lead Historical Event: The Assassination of Ghandi

"Your health is your real wealth" - Mahatma Ghandi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the spiritual and political leader of the Indian independence movement, on this day in 1948 he assassinated in New Delhi by a Hindu fanatic.

Ghandi was the son of an Indian official, born in 1869, Gandhi’s Vaishnava mother was a very religious woman and she exposed her son to Jainism, a morally methodical Indian religion that promoted nonviolence.

Gandhi led India to independence and was responsible for inspiring movements for freedom and civil rights across the world!

Gandhi famously led and inspired many Indians in challenging the British imposed salt tax with a 250 mile 'Dandi Salt March' in 1930, and later in 1942 he called for the British to 'Quit India'.

He was imprisoned for many years, on many occasions, both in India and South Africa. He lived humbly in a self-sufficient residential community. He wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn hand-spun on a charkha (a spinning wheel designed to spin yarn or thread from synthetic or natural fibres). He ate a simple vegetarian diet, and also undertook long fasts as a means of both political protest and self-purification.

In August 1947, Britain granted India independence, but the British Indian Empire was sectioned into two dominions, a Muslim-majority Pakistan and a Hindu-majority India . As many displaced Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs made their way to their new lands, religious violence broke out, especially in the Bengal and Punjab.

Foregoing the official celebration of independence in Delhi, Gandhi instead visited the affected areas, attempting to provide support. In the months following, he undertook several fasts to stop religious violence. The last of these, undertaken on 12 January 1948 when he was 78 also had the indirect goal of pressuring India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan.

Some Indians thought Gandhi was too amenable. Among them was Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, who assassinated Gandhi on 30 January 1948 by firing three bullets into his chest. Godse was found guilty and executed the following year.

Gandhi's birthday, 2 October, is commemorated in India as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Nonviolence

Other Notable Historic Events On This Day:

1649 - King Charles I executed for treason

1835 - Shots fired in the House of Representatives

1835 - American President Andrew Jackson narrowly escapes assassination
(Fun Fact: President Jackson is the first American president to experience an assassination attempt)

1933 - Adolf Hitler is named chancellor of Germany

2000 - Plane crashes off Ivory Coast

Please leave a comment letting me know your thoughts on today's lead story and also let me know if I missed any historical events that happened today in the past personal or otherwise! Thanks for reading!

Sources:
Wikipedia
History.com