The Anglo-Zanzibar War is recognized as the the shortest war in Human history. Beginning at 9:00 AM on the twenty-seventh of August in the year 1896 and concluding at 9:37 AM the 38 minute war was an overwhelming victory for the British and a crushing defeat for the Zanzibari. One British sailor was wounded and over five hundred Zanzibari (including civilians) where killed. Said civilians largely being civil supporters of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash who holed up with the Sultan at the palace and remained there even after the Sultan himself fled at 9:05 AM during the initial shelling of the palace by British forces.
The War[]
Prelude[]
The British Empire had abolished slavery de jure in all of its colonies. In 1873, as a requirement to become a British protectorate Zanzibar was issued an ultimatum to abolish slavery and it accepted those terms. However, the in the days leading up to the Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 the British were convinced that the ban was not being enforced by the Sultanate of Zanizibar. It was from Zanzibar that a number of slave trade ships and slaver parties made their way to the illicit slave trade in British colonial holdings of mainland Africa. Having encountered this problem for some time during Britian's war on Slavery in Africa the British finally sent a demand that Zanzibar enforce the ban it agreed to. Rear Admiral Harry Rawson was sent to Zanzibar to display a strong arm to back the British government's demand with implied threat of force by simply being present. Before Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini could put into motion a response he was most certainly poisoned by Khalid bin Barghash, the son of a previous Sultan. Hamad's sudden death put diplomatic efforts at a disadvantage. When the British refused to acknowledge Khalid as the new Sultan and instead supported the anti-slavery candidate of Hamound Bin Mohamaid, Khalid holed himself up into the palace until being talked into leaving. When he found out that Hamound was poised to be installed as, in his mind, a British puppet - Khalid and hundreds of supporters stormed the palace.
Rear Admiral Harry Rawson informed the British consulate which requested he intervene. The consulate then notified all British citizens and merchant vessels in Zanzibar that they should leave the capital port in anticipation for action the following day.
The War (Overview)[]
At 8 AM Rear Admiral Harry Rawson informed Khalid that if he did not leave the palace he would open fire on the city. Khalid responded by informing Rawson that he did not believe the man would do so. Rawson gave him until 9 to leave. As the hour passed a shoreline gun was manned by Zanzibar's armed forces and the HHS Glasgow, the Sultan's armed royal yacht where positioned into a defensive posture. When nine struck the HMS Sparrow and other ships under Rawson's command opened fire on the capital city. The shoreline defense gun was quickly terminated. The HHS Glasgow opened fire upon Rawson's command ship only to be sunk after four shots. Two steam powered single person vessels of Zanzibar approached firing rifles and where quickly dealt with. The palace shelling resulted in the death of around five hundred persons with the Sultan leaving in the first five minutes of the war. Eventually a Zanzibari soldier braved the shelling to lower the national flag in surrender ending the war after only thirty-eight minutes of action.
Aftermath[]
Hamound bin Mohamad was installed as Sultan following the war and the ban on slavery enforced in Zanzibar. Khalid fled with help from the German Empire into its colonial holdings only to be captured years latter during the first world war. He was then sent to exile on a European island before being sent to Kenya where he would die.