1893 Gandhi thrown out of first-class compartment
Mahatma Gandhi, travelling with a first-class ticket, is forcibly ejected from the carriage at Pietermaritzburg because of his colour

1906 Gandhi develops passive resistance in Natal
Mahatma Gandhi, confronted by racial discrimination in South Africa, launches a programme of passive resistance (satyagraha)

1909 Gandhi publishes Hind Swaraj
Mahatma Gandhi, on a visit to India, publishes a pamphlet entitled Hind Swaraj ("Indian Home Rule")

1915 Gandhi returns to India
Mahatma Gandhi returns to India after more than twenty years in South Africa

1922 Gandhi given six-year sentence
Mahatma Gandhi is arrested by the British in India as an agitator and is sentenced to six years in prison

1930 Gandhi leads salt march
Mahatma Gandhi leads a 240-mile march from Ahmedabad to the sea to defy the British salt tax, thus launching a campaign of civil disobedience

1942 Gandhi launches Quit India movement
Mahatma Gandhi launches the Quit India Movement, calling on a large crowd in Bombay to 'do or die' in the struggle to expel the British

1942 Gandhi imprisoned
Mahatma Gandhi and nearly all the leaders of India's Congress party are arrested and will remain in prison until the end of the war

1948 Gandhi assassinated
Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated at a Delhi prayer meeting by a Hindu extremist, Nathuram Godse

1966 Indira Gandhi is prime minister
Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, becomes India's prime minister as leader of the Congress party

1982 Gandhi
British director Richard Attenborough creates an epic film, Gandhi, from the life of the pacifist Indian leader

1984 Troops invade Golden Temple
Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi uses the army to dislodge militant Sikhs occupying the Golden Temple in Amritsar

1984 Mrs Gandhi assassinated
Indira Gandhi is assassinated in Delhi by members of her Sikh bodyguard, in retaliation for the desecration of the Golden Temple

1984 Rajiv Gandhi is prime minister
Rajiv Gandhi succeeds his mother as leader of the Congress party and prime minister of India

1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassinated
Rajiv Gandhi is killed near Chennai, during an election campaign, by a suicide bomber on behalf of Tamil militants