Mau Mau emergency

Mau Mau Uprising
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
Mau Mau rebels	British Empire Kenya
Commanders and leaders
Dedan Kimathi Musa Mwariama Waruhiu Itote Stanley Mathenge	Evelyn Baring George Erskine Kenneth O'Connor Idi Amin Dada
Strength
Unknown	10,000 regular troops 21,000 police 25,000 Kikuyu Home Guard
Casualties and losses
Killed: 12,000 officially; perhaps 20,000+ unofficially Captured: 2,633 Surrendered: 2,714	Killed: 200 Wounded: 579
Civilian Victims of Mau Mau: Native Kenyans killed: 1,819 Native Kenyans wounded: 916 Asians killed: 26 Asians wounded: 36 Europeans killed: 32 Europeans wounded: 26

 British Empire

Civilian Victims of Mau Mau:

The Mau Mau Uprising (1952–60), also the Mau Mau Rebellion, the Kenya Emergency, and the Mau Mau Revolt, was a war in British Kenya. The Mau Mau groups of people, politically dominated by the Kikuyu people, fought against the white European settlers in Kenya and the British Army, e.g. the local Kenya Regiment (British, auxiliaries, and pro–British Kikuyu people).

The capture of rebel leader Dedan Kimathi on 21 October 1956 signalled the defeat of the Mau Mau, and ended the British military campaign. The Mau Mau failed to capture widespread public support, partly due to the British policy of divide and rule, and the movement remained internally divided, despite attempts to unify its various strands. The British, meanwhile, could draw upon the strategy and tactics they developed in putting down another rebellion in Malaya.

The uprising created a rift between the European colonial community in Kenya and the metropole, but also resulted in violent divisions within the Kikuyu community. The financial cost of the uprising to the former colony amounted to £55 million.

The origin of the term Mau Mau is uncertain. According to some members of Mau Mau, they never referred to themselves as such, instead preferring the military title Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA). Some publications, such as Fred Majdalany's State of Emergency: The Full Story of Mau Mau, claim it was an anagram of Uma Uma (which means "get out get out") and was a military codeword based on a secret language-game Kikuyu boys used to play at the time of their circumcision. Majdalany goes on to state that the British simply used the name as a label for the Kikuyu ethnic community without assigning any specific definition.

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