The 40 Minute War

Harem of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash after the bombardment

A Day in History - 27th August 1896

The shortest war in history began and ended within the timeframe of 38 minutes. In the fallout of the Scramble for Africa, the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty of 1890 was signed, which gave control of Zanzibar and Tanganyika (now Tanzania) to Britain and Germany respectively. After a supposed poisoning of the previous sultan ruler, Khalid bin Barghash installed himself as sultan in August 1896 in Zanzibar.

He refuted the governance of the British powers, resulting in an ultimatum from diplomat Basil Cave. A local Yorkshire paper read that Khalid 'has been given notice that unless he surrenders at discretion early this morning, the guns of the vessels now in the port will be trained on the palace'. A response from the palace posed that 'we have no intention of hauling down our flag and we do not believe you would open fire on us.'

Despite Khalid playing for bluff, the Royal British Navy commenced fire on the palace at 9am on the 27th August, kicking off the Anglo-Zanzibar war of 1896. The Yorkshire Evening Post recorded that it took 'rather less than an hour...to reduce the palace in Zanzibar to ashes and the false sultan to subjection'. Only 1 British soldier was injured whilst around 500 Zanzibari palace staff and soldiers were wounded or killed in the conflict. The war has since been described by scholars as a insurgency, a rebellion and even a massacre. Arguably, since the events in Zanzibar were used as a 'continuation of politics intercourse... by any other means' it constituted a war. In any case and whatever it may be called, it was certainly short-lived.

Sultan Khalid bin Barghash

https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2015/08/27/the-anglo-zanzibar-war/

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/worlds-shortest-war