Anglo-Zanzibar War
| Anglo-Zanzibar War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Sultan's harem after the bombardment | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| British Empire | Zanzibar | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 900 soldiers of the Zanzibar regular army; a detachment of Royal Marines of unknown strength; HMS Philomel; HMS Thrush; HMS Sparrow; HMS Racoon; HMS St George | 2,800; HHS Glasgow | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Approximately 100 | Approximately 500 | ||||||
The Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar on 27 August 1896. With a duration of only 45 minutes, it holds the record of being the shortest war in recorded history.
The war broke out after Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini, who had willingly co-operated with the British colonial administration, died on 25 August, and his nephew, Khalid bin Bargash, seized power in what amounted to a coup d'état. As the British favoured another candidate, Hamud bin Muhammed, whom they believed it would be easier to work with, they ordered Bargash to abdicate. Bargash refused, and instead assembled an army that consisted of about 2,800 men and the Sultan's former armed yacht H.H.S. Glasgow anchored in the harbour. While Bargash's troops set to fortifying the palace, the Royal Navy assembled five warships in the harbour in front of the palace (three modern cruisers, the Edgar class armoured cruiser HMS St George, the Pearl class protected cruiser HMS Philomel, the Archer class cruiser HMS Racoon, and two gunboats HMS Thrush; HMS Sparrow). The British also landed parties of Royal Marines to support the "loyalist" regular army of Zanzibar, numbering 900 men in two battalions led by General Lloyd Mathews, formerly a Royal Navy lieutenant.
Despite the Sultan's last-minute efforts to negotiate for peace via the U.S. representative on the island, the Royal Navy ships opened fire on the palace at 9am on 27 August as soon as the British ultimatum ran out. With the palace falling down around him and escalating casualties, he beat a hasty retreat to the German consulate where he was granted asylum. The shelling stopped after 45 minutes during which the Glasgow was sunk and the conflict became known as The Shortest War in History.
The British demanded that the Germans surrended the erstwhile Sultan to them, but he escaped to sea on 2 October and lived in exile in Dar es Salaam until captured by the British in 1916. He was later allowed to live in Mombasa where he died in 1925.
See also
- Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War: perhaps the world's longest war.