[3] Enforcing the abolition became the task of the Royal Navy; within three weeks Admiral Arthur Cumming, Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, arrived at Zanzibar.

[3] In 1877 a Royal Navy officer, Lieutenant Lloyd Matthews, serving on HMS London formed a small force of 300 Zanzibaris to combat the slave trade.

In 1878 Lieutenant Matthews was given leave to serve under the Sultan who appointed him Brigadier General in command of the newly established force.

The then British Consul in Zanzibar, Sir Arthur Hardinge, notified the Foreign Office of his intention of taking over East Africa from the company.

In August 1895 the British government sanctioned the establishment of a force composed of 300 Punjabi, 300 Swahili, 100 Sudanese, and 200 soldiers from various ethnic groups in the region.

Before the Second World War, British colonial forces in Kenya, the now-King's African Rifles, in the main, were small:[4] There was no conscription and the army was extremely selective, recruiting soldiers from ethnic groups with supposedly inherent military qualities, the so-called "martial races."

The huge demand for able-bodied and skilled men was met by extending the recruitment pool to communities the British did not consider martial.

In 1941 the pay ranged between 17 and 60 shillings per month for a newly trained private in the East African Military Labour Service and East African Army Service Corps respectively, whereas civil wages for unskilled labor averaged between 8 and 12 shillings.22 The military offered additional pulls such as uniforms, housing, food, professional training, and promotion.As part of the King's African Rifles, indigenous soldiers from Kenya Colony fought in several campaigns during World War II.

6 Brigade was installed on the outskirts of Garissa town after Modika Barracks there was "launched" by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday 13 December 2019.

[9] By 2021, the International Institute for Strategic Studies listed 31 Type-92 wheeled armoured personnel carriers and 105 South African PUMA M26-15 Protected patrol vehicles in service.

That year the United Nations requested Kenya to contribute forces to UNEF II which was to separate Israel and the Arab states after the October War.

In 1989 the Army sent military observers and an infantry battalion to the United Nations Transitional Assistance Group (UNTAG) in Namibia.

Since 1989, Kenya has contributed military observers, staff officers, civilian police monitors, and infantry troops to various missions.

To date, Kenyan United Nations peacekeepers have served in 16 different countries in Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans, and Asia.

After the invasion of Somalia in Operation Linda Nchi in 2011, Kenya Army troops have been involved in heavy fighting against Al-Shabaab since.

He had previous served as the deputy service commander of the Kenya Army under then Kenya army commander, LIEUTENANT GENERAL Peter Mbogo Njiru MGH CBS ‘rcds’ (UK) ‘psc’ (K) who was famed for being a former aide de camp to former president Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta.

[19] In July 2021 Shume became Deputy Commander Kenya Army and Brigadier Stephen Otieno was promoted to major-general and took over as GOC BSC.

[30] The Ukrainian Defence Minister Yury Yekhanurov confirmed 33 Soviet-made T-72 tanks and "a substantial quantity of ammunition" were aboard the captured cargo ship, called the Faina".

[31] The KDF attempted to dispel speculation by publicly showing these tanks (and other hardware) as part of its arsenal on 22 August 2010, during rehearsals for the passing of the new Constitution of Kenya.