1. Many Africans from Kenya involved into the second world war of 1939- 1945. While there, the Africans leant military experiences and so on. 19 | P a g e 2. From 1946 on wards several ex-soldiers came back from World War II. The Coming of exservice men revealed that the British were oppressing Africans to the maximum. 3. Therefore by 1950, the Mau-Mau fighters started mobilizing their friends which worried the British. 4. From 1950 -52, Kenyans carried out brutal acts like murdering those supporting the colonial system. In fact in 1952, the Mau-Mau fighter murdered a chief by the name of Waruhiu. Such activities greatly upset the British. 5. The first three years when Mau Mau broke out were worst. The British government failed to put off the rebellion. The Mau Mau fighters were getting some information from government agents. They were also getting food supplies and guns from government agents. 6. On 20th October 1952, the British governor Sir Evelyn Baring declared a state of emergency in Kenya. 7. Sir Evelyn Baring therefore called on the “KAR”, the King’s African Rifles, the colonial soldiers to contain the movement; soldiers from London were also called in to join the operation. 8. The police and the government troops raided Nairobi town and Kikuyu highlands where it was believed to be the hiding places for Mau Mau fighters. 9. Many Kenyans were rounded and kept in emergency villages for their own security and to stop them from being in contact with the Mau Mau fighters. 10. Even Jomo Kenyatta was arrested although he had openly condemned the militaristic approach by the Mau Mau fighters. In April 1953 he was imprisoned for seven years in jail but fighting went on. 11. In January 1954, General China one of the freedom fighters and the key commander of the rebellion was captured and sentenced to death by the British. 12. Dedani Kimathi, another key commander continued to fight on in the Aberdare forest but he was captured in 1956 and also sentenced to death. 13. In April 1954, 26000 Kikuyu who could not give a reason for being in Nairobi were rounded up. 14. From 1955 -1957 serious fighting took place between the British forces and those of the Africans, several arrests of natives were conducted especially those suspected to be linked to the Mau-Mau. 20 | P a g e 15. By 1957, the Mau-Mau had been considerably crushed though this serious rebellion reached l960. 16. The state of emergency which had been declared was uplifted by the British government.
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