The shortest war in history lasted only for 38 minutes
Nobody loves wars. But the stories behind them do intrigue most of us. If you are curious about the stories of battles fought in history, then we have an interesting story for you. Here, we are going to talk about the shortest war in history, the Anglo-Zanzibar War. It lasted for only 38 minutes! Read on to know why the war took place and the reason behind its brief duration.
Anglo-Zanzibar War: The backstory
Not too many history books talk about the Anglo-Zanzibar War that had happened in 1896. Though short in duration, this war too has an intriguing backstory. In 1890, a treaty named Heligoland-Zanzibar treaty was signed between Britain and Germany. According to the terms and conditions of this treaty, these imperial powers with influences in East Africa were given specific territories to rule over. While Zanzibar was offered to the British, the adjoining region of mainland Tanzania was given away to the Germans.
Following this, the British declared Zanzibar as a direct protectorate of the British Empire. They chose Hamad bin Thuwaini, the 5th Sultan of Zanzibar to rule over the region. Needless to say, he was completely under the control of the British. However, his peaceful rule came to a sudden end when he passed away in August 1896. Within hours of his death, Thuwaini’s brother Khalid bin Barghash ascended the throne, without validation of the British. In fact, rumours would have us believe that he was the one who poisoned Thuwaini.
Quite naturally, this didn’t go well with the British diplomat stationed in Zanzibar, and one of the chiefs named Basil Cave even ordered Khalid to stand down. But Khalid had some other plans in mind. He started gathering his own army and quickly fortified his palace. Within a week, he had acquired as many as 3000 royal soldiers, many artillery guns and even bought a royal yacht at the nearby harbour.
The sign was clear. Khalid wanted a war. The British, too, weren’t going to give up so easily. So, they too brought in their warships and troops. The goal was not only to overthrow Khalid but also stop the common mass from rioting. Now, Cave had to wait was for an order from the British government, as he didn’t have the authority to show open hostility. As it happened, the order came through sooner than expected. In fact, a British commander was also sent to take charge of the ready fleet.
The British had a clear mission in sight: Forcing Khalid to surrender and regain control over Zanzibar. But even after repeated ultimatums to Khalid, he was unwilling to give up. This is when the British rang the final war-bell.
Why did the war last for only 38 minutes?
When Khalid refused to respond to the final ultimatum of the British government, they ordered their ships to open fire at the palace. Within two minutes, more than half of Khalid’s weapons had been destroyed, and soon the wooden palace started to collapse, with 3000 defenders struggling to stay alive inside. In fact, within a few moments of the bombardment, Khalid was believed to have fled through the back exit, leaving all his loyal subjects alone to defend his honour. Within a span of less than 40 minutes, the Sultan’s flag was pulled down, and the shortest war in history ended only within minutes after it began. Unfortunately, even such a short war had as many as 500 casualties.