In the middle of the twentieth centaury, the two biggest countries in the world, India and China, underwent significant changes in the structure of their governments. Both countries were rural where the majority of population was poor. As they were not yet industrialized, Western countries looked down upon them and took advantage of them. The majority of the immense population of these countries resented their governments because they felt suppressed under each regime. The people of India and China were tired of the terrible conditions that they were living under and were ready for a change. Mahatma Gandhi and Mao Tse-Tung became leaders who guided their people to that change. Mao created a Red Army to fight the Kuomintang while Gandhi led the people to fight for their independence. They both had a goal to overthrow the current government in their countries. However, while Mao simply wanted to become the ruler of China, Gandhi wanted India to become independent from Britain and become a self-supporting country. They achieved their goals very differently: Mao fought with force and Gandhi employed peace. Although each leader eventually achieved his goal, India improved significantly more than China. At the beginning of Mao's rule, China was improving thanks to Mao's Five Year Plan. India, on the other hand, was dealing with internal conflicts of a civil war between Muslims and Hindus. Gandhi managed to put an end to the bloodshed and steer India to focus on becoming a self-supporting country. Over time however, India gradually became industrialized while China worsened due to Mao's strict totalitarian government. That was a result of Gandhi never loosing sight of his goal of an industrialized, independent India while Mao became obsessed with his power and lost sight of his goal of making China into a dominant world player. Gandhi and Mao are two examples of how peace and a non-violent approach resulted in India improving ...