Mau Mau Uprising 1952-60 - Anti-British Rebellion in Kenya

Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with a video on the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, which was one of the first anti-colonial rebellions of the Cold War

#ColdWar #Kenya #UK

[---ufzl]

Please, don't spare us the gruesome details, they deserve to be taught as well.

Just add a little warning beforehand so those who eat breakfast can skip forward.

[AlbertM]

I'm a Kenyan and this is part of the history I learned in primary school and high school.
My grandparents grew up during colonial rule and were in their teens- early and mid 20s during the Mau Mau Rebellion.

In Kenyan schools, we learned that both the Mau Mau Rebellion and the peaceful constitutional changes that followed it were instrumental in gaining independence. And the acts of both the political party KANU (that under Jomo Kenyatta formed the first independence government) and the leaders of the Mau Mau are a source of pride to my native ethnic group (the Kikuyu) as well as the entire country as a whole. We say that even though the Rebellion failed, it showed the British Empire that Kenya was sick and tired of colonial rule and all its injustices.

(And also it is said that many Mau Mau soldiers were ex-World War II veterans who were denied renumeration and retirement)

[OutcastWriter]

Normally you guys are very thorough in your historical research, but as a student of the Mau Mau Uprising I have to say you grossly understated the horrifying war crimes that the Mau Mau committed on their fellow Kikuyu and Kenyans.

It was these actions: the forced oathing, the kidnapping/conscription of unwilling individuals, and of course the mutilating murders (including women and children) and occasional massacres (especially at Lari); that were key components in the Mau Mau never gaining support among Kenyans at large and even for large portions of the Kikuyu people.

Yes, the British committed war crimes. There were gross miscarriages of the justice system throughout the uprising. The concentration camps were compared to Nazi and Soviet camps by contemporaries. And the routine beating and assaulting of suspects in order to get "information" makes a mockery of any regime that claims to be for "law and order" (As the colonial government claimed).

But to basically brush over the influence of the Mau Mau war crimes on the Kenyan peoples to both not support the uprising and how it actively moved many into the colonial camp does this topic, your viewers, and your channel a major disservice.

There were no "good guys" in this conflict, both sides were equally capable of getting bloody and dirty to advance their cause; it's just that the magnitude of British war crimes was larger and thus more easily spotted and (rightfully) condemned.

To anyone interested in the era I would recommend "Histories of the Hanged" by David Anderson. It remains mostly neutral when many books on the topic are decidedly in one camp or the other.

[popbeatscj]

No matter the injustices the African has faced, when you meet them they always have a smiling face and good hearted people

[hadithi]

As a Kenyan, I appreciate this excellent video on our struggle against oppression. I look forward to more content on Sub-Saharan Africa's turbulent history during the Cold War. Zimbabwe, Congo and Angola have very compelling stories that could be explored in future videos.

[petrpalecka]

Great video! The British were not the only power to commit mass atrocities in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Cameroon, the French were waging an atrocious war against the UPC since 1954. Not many people mention it today. As someone who had come through the French school system, I can confirm sadly no single mention of this brutal uprising appeared in the textbooks. Maybe it is time for France to come to terms with its Françafrique policy.

[jeseitotiano]

Imagine this. You are from Yorkshire. Very proud of your heritage. A Kenyan comes to your region and declares the whole of Yorkshire " black highlands ". He brings his fellow kenyans and forcibly take the land from you. They banish you to concentrated villages where due to lack of income you are forced to work in the farms they establish. You are not allowed to open any business. You are given an ID Which you must produce at anytime and if you want to move about you require special permission. Now tell me would you just sit back and accept this? Or would you rise up against the oppressor? What would you call such a person? A terrorist or freedom fighter? Now the occupier best chance is to use divide and rule tactics. He rewards loyalists and punishes those who rebel. So if the one who is rising up attacks those who supports the oppressive regime is that wrong? Am a child of those who were dispossessed. My grandmother had bottles pushed up her secret parts by the British soldiers. They took our land and killed many people. This is my history. You can spin it anyway you want. After all, until the lion tells his side of the story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. The British did exactly as I described. They called it white highlands and invited other leeches like them to come and settle. Sorry for the language. They tortured and killed alot of people. So there is no moral equivalence here. In our eyes they are the African nazis.

[lawrencemccollam]

Hi, i was born in Kenya in 1950, grew up during the Mau Mau era, as a child it was very bad for me to grow up in such tense and cruel circumstances, we were farming 7miles out of Nairobi on the way to Kiambu. One of the last murders of two young boys were committed on our farm. They went out with pellet guns to shoot birds, where they came upon a mau mau gang who chopped them up with pangas. However i never knew the true reason behind the mau mau uprising. Now that i do it makes sense to me, who do the British think they are to force their colonial beliefs on people, who have been care free lives for years. Of course it had to back fire. We left in 1961. I miss and love my country, i have never been back. Obviously i don't condone the very cruel murders on the settlers, but it cuts both ways.

[benedictkimanzi]

The British gave us the bible and taught us to close our eyes when we pray. But When we opened our eyes our land was gone.

[fromthe]

They did this to my grandparent's generation. My father was born before this colonialism ended. Racism and imperialist violence is not that far back

[Mutonya]

I am a proud Kenyan and my grandfather and granduncle were in Mau Mau🇰🇪✊🏾.

[ferdinanddaratenas]

When are you going to make a video on de-Stalinization in the Soviet Union? Stalin died in 1953, so it makes sense chronologically to make it now

[kurtvanduran]

Can't wait for the episodes on apartheid and federation of Rhodesia Nyasaland

[drewg]

I'm Kenyan, but grew up in UK. My granda and his brothers were mau mau. My ex girlfriend was from England and at Christmas dinner with her whole family a few years back, her granda told me his brother was killed by mau mau. He was a British colonial soldier in Kenya. Imagine how awkward that conversation went as he cursed out the mau mau, while I explained how my granda and his brothers were heroes.

[carolinenkirotebongo]

Thanks for this. I am writing my grandmas biography and a big part of her story is the Mau Mau concentration camps. in 1952 she had just been married and in 19554 she and her mother and sis in law were taken to concentration camps with their babies, the youngest being months old. I need to understand what happened from the British side, why there was so much cruelty, loss of land, etc. A once wealthy family lost everything including their homes to be put in slum areas with no land of their own. A decision by a power-hungry that changed the lives of families for generations. This is very nformative!

[ibrahimcoskun]

Thank you for not ruining my lunch with those details. Good job!

[ambientspecials]

I read an account where a British former soldier said they rounded up people they thought were supporting the Mau Mau, but they torture this one guy so bad that his left eye dangled out of his eye socket and he shortly after died. Some of these crimes were unthinkable. But today British want to act like arbiters of righteousness

[limingtree]

I believe those that are oppressing others are the Vilains and those that are fighting for liberation are the heroes.

[Khaylus]

As a proud Englishman, I’m so devastated we lost these wonderful lands and opportunity.

[walterfielding]

My great uncle served as an officer in the British Army in the later phase of the Mau Mau Rebellion. He was stationed in Kenya after the British pulled out of Malaya in 1957, he fought in the Malayan Emergency before he was moved to Kenya. Before he was in Malaya he served in India and Burma during World War II.