Mau Mau Uprising to them as "the White Mau Mau". Second, the brutality of Mau Mau attacks on civilians made it easy for the movement's opponents—including native Kenyan and loyalist security forces—to adopt a totally dehumanised view of Mau Mau adherents. A variety of persuasive techniques were initiated by the colonial authorities to punish and break Mau Mau's support: Baring ordered punitive communal-labour, collective fines and other collective punishments, and further confiscation of land and property. By early 1954, tens of thousands of head of livestock had been taken, and were allegedly never returned. Detailed accounts of the policy of seizing livestock from
Mau Mau Uprising conflict, postulates that the British preferred to use the term "Mau Mau" instead of "KLFA" in an attempt to deny the Mau Mau rebellion international legitimacy. Kariuki also wrote that the term "Mau Mau" was adopted by the rebellion in order to counter what they regarded as colonial propaganda. Another possible origin is a mishearing of the Kikuyu word for oath "muuma". The armed rebellion of the Mau Mau was the culminating response to colonial rule. Although there had been previous instances of violent resistance to colonialism, the Mau Mau revolt was the most prolonged and violent anti-colonial warfare in