Contributor(s): Dr Ramachandra Guha | The life of Gandhi is one of the most remarkable and potent in the modern era – yet few know what shaped him in his formative years. Renowned historian and public intellectual, Ramachandra Guha, paints a vivid portrait of a man whose ideas were fundamentally shaped before his return to India in 1915. At the dawn of his international reputation, Guha explains how Gandhi was the sometimes unwilling leader in the midst of race and class, living in a world where he could develop the techniques that would undermine, and ultimately destroy, the British Empire. Dr Ramachandra Guha is author of Gandhi before India and was Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at LSE IDEAS for 2011-2012.