Mau Mau rebellion

The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt, or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the Mau Mau, and the British authorities.[5]

Mau Mau rebellion
Part of the decolonisation of Africa
Troops of the King's African Rifles on watch for Mau Mau rebels
Date 1952–1960 Location British Kenya Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom Kenya Uganda  Southern Rhodesia	Mau Mau rebels[A] Kenya Land and Freedom Army
Commanders and leaders
Winston Churchill (1951–1955) Anthony Eden (1955–1957) Harold Macmillan (1957–1960) Ian Henderson George Erskine Kenneth O'Connor Evelyn Baring Terence Gavaghan	Dedan Kimathi  Musa Mwariama Waruhiu Itote Stanley Mathenge (MIA)
Strength
10,000 regular troops 21,000 police 25,000 Kikuyu Home Guard[1][2]	unknown
Casualties and losses
3,000 native Kenyan police and soldiers killed[3]	12,000-20,000+ killed (including 1,090 executed)[4] 2,633 captured 2,714 surrendered

Part of a series on the
History of Kenya
Overview Timeline of Kenya List of years in Kenya
Pleistocene Koobi Fora Hominins Olorgesailie Aechulean hand axe culture Kariandusi prehistoric site Enkapune Ya Muto Nataruk
Neolithic Lothagam North Monumental Cemetery Kalokol Pillar Site Elmenteitan Culture Cushitic expansion Eburran industry Hyrax Hill
African Iron Age Sirikwa culture Bantu expansion Nilotic expansion Urewe culture Thimlich Ohinga stone-built ruins Shungwaya Mijikenda Kayas (Fortified settlements) Indian Ocean trade route
Swahili city-states Periplus of the Erythraean Sea Swahili people Swahili culture Kilwa Sultanate History of Mombasa History of Malindi History of Lamu Ruins of Gedi Jumba la Mtwana
Portuguese and Omani period Vasco da Gama Portuguese Empire Fort Jesus East African slave trade Omani Empire Said bin Sultan
British colonial period Johann Ludwig Krapf Imperial British East Africa Company Wanga Kingdom Nabongo Mumia Kenya-Uganda Railway Nandi Resistance German East Africa British East Africa Kenya-Uganda Railway Mekatilili Wa Menza East African campaign (World War I) Kenya Colony Mumboism Luo Union (Welfare Organisation) Harry Thuku Kenya in World War II Kenya African Union Jomo Kenyatta Mau Mau Rebellion Dedan Kimathi Tom Mboya Oginga Odinga Nairobi People's Convention Party The Kennedy Airlift Kenya African National Union Lancaster House Conferences (Kenya)
Early post-independence Shifta War Pio Gama Pinto Bildad Kaggia Kenya People's Union 'Little general election' Kisumu Massacre Gikuyu, Embu, and Meru Association Josiah Mwangi Kariuki Presidency of Jomo Kenyatta
Moi era Daniel Arap Moi 1982 coup d'état attempt Wagalla massacre 1992 Kenyan general election HIV/AIDS in Kenya 1997 Kenyan general election 1998 United States embassy bombings Terrorism in Kenya Presidency of Daniel Moi
Recent history 2002 Kenyan general election Mwai Kibaki 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum 2007-2008 Kenyan crisis Raila Odinga 2010 Kenyan constitutional referendum Operation Linda Nchi Westgate shopping mall attack 2014 Mpeketoni attacks Presidency of Mwai Kibaki Uhuru Kenyatta William Ruto Garissa University College attack October 2017 Kenyan presidential election 2018 Kenya handshake COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya Presidency of Uhuru Kenyatta
Kenya portal
v t e

Dominated by Kikuyu, Meru and Embu fighters, the KLFA also comprised units of Kamba[6] and Maasai who fought against the European colonists in Kenya, the British Army, and the local Kenya Regiment (British colonists, local auxiliary militia, and pro-British Kikuyu).[7][8]

The capture of rebel leader Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi on 21 October 1956 signalled the defeat of the Mau Mau, and essentially ended the British military campaign.[9] However, the rebellion survived until after Kenya's independence from Britain, driven mainly by the Meru units led by Field Marshal Musa Mwariama. General Baimungi, one of the last Mau Mau leaders, was killed shortly after Kenya attained self-rule.[10]

The KLFA failed to capture widespread public support.[11] Frank Füredi, in The Mau Mau War in Perspective, suggests this was due to a British divide and rule strategy,[12] which they had developed in suppressing the Malayan Emergency (1948–60).[13] The Mau Mau movement remained internally divided, despite attempts to unify the factions. On the colonial side, the uprising created a rift between the European colonial community in Kenya and the metropole,[14] as well as violent divisions within the Kikuyu community:[4] "Much of the struggle tore through the African communities themselves, an internecine war waged between rebels and 'loyalists' – Africans who took the side of the government and opposed Mau Mau."[15] Suppressing the Mau Mau Uprising in the Kenyan colony cost Britain £55 million[16] and caused at least 11,000 deaths among the Mau Mau and other forces, with some estimates considerably higher.[17] This included 1,090 executions by hanging.[17] The rebellion was marked by war crimes and massacres.