War is definitely something that would occur for a long period of time. This is because both parties in a particular war cannot resolve the problems that they have between each other for a short amount of time. Surprisingly, there is indeed one specific war that just lasted for less than 1 hour and it’s actually none other than the Anglo-Zanzibar War.
For those who might not know, the Anglo-Zanzibar War was actually a military conflict fought that existed between the United Kingdom and also the Zanzibar Sultanate on the 27th of August 1896. It became the shortest war ever recorded in history because it just lasted between 38 and 45 minutes. Everything happened right after the death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini and then the subsequent succession of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash.
On the 14th of June 1890, an agreement had been made instituting a British protectorate over Zanzibar. According to the agreement, a candidate for accession to the sultanate should obtain the permission of the British consul, and Khalid had not fulfilled this requirement. Due to that, Khalid got demanded that he order his own forces to stand down and leave the palace. In response, Khalid called up his palace guard and barricaded himself inside the palace.
A bombardment opened and had set the palace on fire and also disabled the defending artillery. Some shots were also fired ineffectually at the pro-British Zanzibari troops as they approached the palace. The flag at the palace was shot down and then the fire ceased and it happened so fast. The sultan’s forces sustained roughly 500 casualties, while only one British sailor was injured. Asylum was received by Sultan Khalid exactly in the German consulate. Then, he managed to escape to German East Africa. The British quickly placed Sultan Hamoud in power at the head.
Sources: YouTube The Infographics Show, Historic UK.
