If it weren't for Gandhi, India might have fought and won its independence during or after WW-I. A significant portion of India and its major political party (Congress) wanted to help Britain in its continental European war against Austro-Hungarians and others but at a price: free India. Gandhi put a kaibosh to that, and said in time of need, Indians should help the Brits without quid pro quo. Dumb dumb dumb move. Hundreds of thousands of Indians laid down their lives during Britain's misadventures in Afghanistan, in various battlefields of WW-I and also WW-II. There are war memorials in Flanders and elsewhere that commemorate Indian soldiers alongside the European ones. But what did India gain from all this? Nothing but scorn from guys like Churchill and Gen Dyer. Even after WW-II, India might not have won its independence were it not for worldwide (especially American) pressure on the Brits to start giving up their colonies, and also of course the bankrupt nature of British economy and inability to continue the supply chain for its administration at long distances. Yet, many African colonies weren't freed as late as into the 1960s. Asian colonies were simply bigger and better organized politically against the British.