[Points: Aggressive wars—defensive wars—victories of peace against ignorance, disease, injustice, etc.—victories of religious leaders—victories of peace—more enduring—political victory by peaceful means.]
We generally honour a victorious general. The more countries he conquers, the greater the fame he wins. The names of Alexander the Great, Chengiz Khan, Napoleon have become immortal because of their military conquests. But the victories they won were aggressive victories inspired by their lust for conquest. So from the moral and spiritual points of view, there was nothing to be proud of in these victories.
There were also military victories of a different kind, deciding very important issues and sometimes even the fate of nations for a long time to come. Waterloo and Trafalgar decided the fate of Europe during the war with Napoleon. Charles Martel saved Europe at the battle of Tours from the Saracens. Miltiades of Greece has become immortal in the history of his country by his great victory at Marathon against the Persians. There is real glory in all these victories because they were won against aggression.
But there have been victories of a different kind altogether, nobler and more enduring than these military victories. They were victories against evils-evils of darkness, ignorance, disease, injustice, etc. and were won by peaceful means. Just think of the difficulties that explorers like Columbus and Livingstone, scientists like Galileo, Faraday, Zenner, Pasteur, etc. had to overcome before they could make their glorious discoveries, resulting in the material, intellectual and physical wellbeing of the entire human race. Consider also the glory of religious teachers like Buddha and Christ, poets like Kalidas and Shakespeare. They have conquered the minds of men all the world over, leading them from darkness and disquiet to the way of light and peace. The empires built up by the military conquerors were limited in time and space. Even these limited empires melted away shortly after their death. But the heroes of peace will continue to rule the minds of men everywhere for all time to come. So their achievements are more glorious than those of the warriors.
So long political independence could be won only through rivers of blood. It generally left behind a feeling of bitterness between the contending parties. But Mahatma Gandhi has shown how victory can be achieved by peaceful means even in the political field without leaving any ill-feeling on any side.
