. Mau Mau rebellion was defeated due to the following political, social and economic reasons:
The British were militarily superior compared to the Africans. They had modern weapons compared to the Africans who had old fashioned weapons such as spears, pangas, stones, sticks, and clubs among others.
The British applied divide and rule policy against the Africans and this completely put off their unity against their common enemies,
the British.
The Africans had been hit hard by disease like malaria and small pox. This weakened their resistance the more.
Some Africans in Kenya collaborated with the British against their fellow Africans hence their defeat. There were therefore some acts of betrayal from the sides of Africans.
The people of Kenya had poor military organization compared to the British whom they were fighting against.
The British were also so determined to make Kenya remain under their control despite the wave of the quest for independence in most developing countries.
There was serious lack of Nationalism among most Kenyans. Other tribes in Kenya believed the war was a Kikuyu issue. They did not actively join in, hence Mau Mau defeat.
The Kenyan local leaders who were behind Mau Mau rebellion lacked strong economic support to meet the war cost. There was even no food supply to the Mau Mau fighters.
The arrest and imprisonment of the ring leaders of Mau Mau dealt a big blow to the fighters. They were discouraged from serious fighting.
Too much belief in superstition and traditional religion also undermined their resistance. The belief did not help them in any way because they proved to be just misleading.
Besides the Christian missionaries preaching did not also favour African beliefs instead it weakened them. It made the Africans to believe that African traditional religion and beliefs were satanic.
The military tactics of hit and run that the Kenyans later resorted to was not effective, hence their defeat.
14. The Kenyans were also not well organised militarily in their war against the British.
Many tribes in Kenya had inter-tribal conflicts and this also limited their unity against the British.
There were some chiefs among the Kenyan communities that supported the British yet they were not aware of their intentions.
The British also used scorch earth policy. They destroyed all means of survival for the Africans. Buildings, forests, foodstuffs and animals at sight were all killed. This forced the Kenyan nationalists to surrender.
The Mau Mau fighters were abandoned by the traditional religious leaders like Gikuyu and Mumbi.
Besides the use of ancestral spirits to bring psychological courage, confidence and determination did not work because many fighters perished in large number. The few who had remained later surrendered.
The terrain also did not favour the fighters. They were fighting in a very small area where the British later surrounded them and they surrendered.
Mau Mau rebellion was also defeated because of lack of foreign support. Other African states in addition to the ones in East Africa did not support the fighters. Besides the Africans were still under colonial rule. Therefore no European powers supported the rebels.
Britain was able to defeat the Mau Mau rebels because of re-enforcements given to them from Uganda, Tanganyika, Zanzibar and United Kingdom. These troops later defeated the rebels.