Is Your Lunchbreak Longer Than Histories Shortest War?

It was the shortest war in history, and was over in the same amount of time that most of us have our lunch. The Anglo-Zanzibar War was between Zanzibar (a small island nation) and the might of the British Empire.

(bin Thuwainii of Zanzibar)

In 1890 during the height of British influence, the empire was running trade routes through areas of East Africa. In order to make this much easier they assisted the rise of one Hamad bin Thuwainii to became the Sultan of the island nation of Zanzibar. All was running well for the little island, until the untimely death of bin Thuwainii. It was widely believed that the Sultan had been poisoned by his cousin Khalid bin Barghash who assumed power almost immediately after his death. With news reaching the Brits of the subsequent rise of the new ruler, a fleet of ships were dispatched to relieve the Sultan of his post with diplomacy.

(St George and Philomel)

Khalid bin Barghash, who declared himself the new Sultan of Zanzibar. To to say the inexperienced Ruler was unaware of the power of the British Empire was an understatement. bin Barghash made a decision to barricade himself in his newly acquired palace, gathering his forces around him. Nearly 3,000 people supported the self-proclaimed Sultan and were determined to help him in his struggle against the British influence in Zanzibar.
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(bin Barghash )

With warships HMS Philomel, the HMS Rush, and the HMS St George, still hoping that they might resolve the conflict with a diplomatic outcome. The Sultan was convinced, even though he had refused to relinquish power, that the British would not open fire. The rebels gravely underestimated the might of the Empire (sorry little Star Wars joke). Just as they had declared, precisely 9 AM local time on August 27 the British opened fire. The warships didn’t take long before obliterating both the Zanzibari royal harbour and the entire palace, killing over 500 people.

(British ship position during attack)
Khalid bin Barghash, however, was not among the dead and and managed to flee to the German consulate, where he was granted asylum. From the start of the bombing at 9am, it was 38 minutes before the Sultan’s flag was pulled down, meaning that the shortest war in recorded history was officially over.

(German/English Border)

(Palace after the bombing)

(The Sultans Harem after the bombing)

“The written history of the world is largely a history of warfare because the states within which we live came into existence largely through conquest, civil strife, or struggles for independence.” This is what the renowned military historian John Keegan wrote in the final pages of his sweeping study A History of Warfare.

Cheers for reading Steemians.

PEACE.

All images courtesy of Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War