History of the British Army as Irgun and the Stern Gang after the British attempted to limit Jewish immigration into Palestine. British military and other forces eventually withdrew in 1948 and the State of Israel was established on 14 May. Elsewhere, within British territories, Communist guerrillas launched an uprising in Malaya, starting the Malayan Emergency. In the early 1950s, trouble began in Cyprus, and in Kenya—the Mau Mau uprising. In Cyprus, an organisation known as EOKA sought unity with Greece, the situation being stabilised just before Cyprus was given independence in 1960. Kenya was one of many deployments for the Army in Africa during the
Mau Mau Uprising operations against Mau Mau fighters in the forests, the British attempt to defeat the movement broadly came in two stages: the first, relatively limited in scope, came during the period in which they had still failed to accept the seriousness of the revolt; the second came afterwards. During the first stage, the British tried to decapitate the movement by declaring a State of Emergency before arresting 180 alleged Mau Mau leaders (see "Operation Jock Scott" below) and subjecting six of them to a show trial (the Kapenguria Six); the second stage began in earnest in 1954, when they undertook a