The war between the United Kingdom and the Sultanate of Zanzibar took place on August 27, 1896 and entered the annals of history. This conflict between the two countries is the shortest war that has been recorded by historians. The article will tell about this military conflict, which claimed many lives, despite its short duration. The reader will also learn how long the shortest war in the world lasted.
Zanzibar is an African colony
Zanzibar is an island country in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanganyika. At the present moment, the state is part of Tanzania.
The main island, Unguja (or the island of Zanzibar), has been under the nominal control of the Sultans of Oman since 1698, after the Portuguese settlers who settled there in 1499 were expelled. Sultan Majid bin Said declared the island independent from Oman in 1858, independence was recognized by Great Britain, as was the separation of the Sultanate from Oman. Barhash bin Said, the second sultan and father of Sultan Khalid, was forced under British pressure and the threat of a blockade to abolish the slave trade in June 1873. But the slave trade still took place, because it brought a lot of income to the treasury. Subsequent sultans settled in the city of Zanzibar, where a palace complex was built on the sea coast. By 1896it consisted of the Beit al-Hukm Palace itself, a huge harem, as well as the Beit al-Ajaib, or "House of Miracles" - a ceremonial palace, called the first building in East Africa supplied with electricity. The complex was mainly built from local timber. All three main buildings were adjacent to each other along the same line and connected by wooden bridges.
Cause of military conflict
The immediate cause of the war was the death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Tuwaini on August 25, 1896 and the subsequent ascension to the throne of Sultan Khalid bin Bargash. The British authorities wanted to see Hamud bin Mohammed as the leader of this African country, who was a more profitable person for the British authorities and the royal court. In accordance with the treaty signed in 1886, the condition for the inauguration of the sultanate was to obtain the permission of the British consul, Khalid did not comply with this requirement. The British considered this act casus belli, that is, a reason for declaring war, and sent an ultimatum to Khalid, demanding that he order his troops to leave the palace. In response, Khalid called his palace guards and barricaded himself in the palace.
Side Forces
The ultimatum expired at 09:00 ET on August 27th. By this point, the British had amassed three war cruisers, two gunboats, 150 marines and sailors, and 900 soldiers of Zanzibar origin in the port area. The Royal Navy contingent was under the command of Rear Admiral Harry Rawson, while their Zanzibar troops were commanded by BrigadierGeneral Lloyd Matthews of the Zanzibar Army (who was also the First Minister of Zanzibar). On the opposite side, about 2,800 soldiers defended the Sultan's palace. Mostly it was the civilian population, but among the defenders were the palace guards of the Sultan, and several hundred of his servants and slaves. The Sultan's defenders had several artillery pieces and machine guns that were placed in front of the palace.
Negotiations between Sultan and Consul
At 08:00 am on August 27, after Khalid sent an envoy asking for negotiations, the consul replied that no military action would be taken against the Sultan if he agreed to the terms of the ultimatum. However, the Sultan did not accept the conditions of the British, believing that they would not open fire. At 08:55, without receiving any further news from the palace, Admiral Rawson gave the signal aboard the cruiser St. George to prepare for action. Thus began the shortest war in history, resulting in many casu alties.
Progress of the military operation
At 09:00 sharp, General Lloyd Matthews ordered the British ships to fire. The shelling of the Sultan's palace began at 09:02. Three ships of Her Majesty - "Raccoon", "Sparrow", "Thrush" - simultaneously began to shell the palace. The first shot of the Drozd immediately destroyed the Arab 12-pounder.
The warship also sank two steam boats from which the Zanzibaris fired back with rifles. Some of the fighting also took place on land: Khalid's men fired onto Lord Raik's soldiers as they approached the palace, however, this was an ineffective action.
Escape of the Sultan
The palace caught fire and all the Zanzibar artillery was disabled. Three thousand defenders, servants and slaves were in the main palace, built of wood. Among them were many victims who died and suffered from explosive shells. Despite initial reports that the Sultan had been captured and was to be exiled to India, Khalid was able to escape from the palace. A Reuters correspondent reported that the Sultan "ran away after the first shot with his entourage, and left his slaves and associates to continue fighting."
Sea battle
At 09:05, the obsolete yacht Glasgow fired at the British cruiser St. George using seven 9-pounder guns and a Gatling gun, which was a gift from Queen Victoria to the Sultan. In response, the British Navy attacked the Glasgow yacht, which was the only one in service with the Sultan. The Sultan's yacht was sunk along with two small boats. The Glasgow crew raised the British flag in surrender and the entire crew was rescued by British sailors.
Result of the shortest war
Most attacks by Zanzibar troops against pro-British troops were ineffective. The operation ended at 09:40 with a complete victory for the British forces. Thus the shortest warin the world lasted no longer than 38 minutes.
By that time, the palace and the adjacent harem had burned down, the Sultan's artillery was completely disabled, and the Zanzibar flag was shot down. The British took control of both the city and the palace, and by noon Hamud bin Mohammed, an Arab by birth, was declared as sultan, with considerably limited powers. It was an ideal candidate for the British crown. The main result of the shortest war was a violent change of power. British ships and crews fired about 500 shells and 4,100 machine gun rounds.
Although most of Zanzibar's residents joined the British, the city's Indian quarter suffered from looting, and about twenty residents died in the chaos. To restore order, 150 British Sikh troops were transferred from Mombasa to patrol the streets. Sailors from the cruisers St. George and Philomel left their ships to form a fire brigade to put out a fire that had spread from the palace to neighboring customs sheds.
Victims and consequences
About 500 Zanzibar men and women were killed or wounded during the shortest war - 38 minutes. Most of the people died from the fire that engulfed the palace. It is not known how many of these casu alties were military. For Zanzibar, this was a colossal loss. The shortest war in history lasted only thirty-eight minutes, but claimed many lives. On the British side, there was only one badly wounded officer aboard the Drozd,who later recovered.
Duration of conflict
Expert historians are still debating how long the shortest war in history lasted. Some experts claim that the conflict lasted thirty-eight minutes, others are of the view that the war lasted a little more than fifty minutes. However, most historians adhere to the classical version of the duration of the conflict, stating that it began at 09:02 am and ended at 09:40 East African time. This military clash was included in the Guinness Book of Records due to its transience. By the way, another short war is considered the Portuguese-Indian war, the bone of contention for which was the island of Goa. It only lasted 2 days. On the night of October 17-18, Indian troops attacked the island. The Portuguese military failed to provide adequate resistance and surrendered on October 19, and Goa passed into the possession of India. Also, the military operation "Danube" lasted 2 days. On August 21, 1968, the troops of the allied countries of the Warsaw Pact entered Czechoslovakia.
The fate of the fugitive Sultan Khalid
Sultan Khalid, Captain Saleh and about forty of his followers, after escaping from the palace, took refuge in the German consulate. They were guarded by ten armed German sailors and marines, while Matthews posted men outside to arrest the Sultan and his associates if they attempted to leave the consulate. Despite requests for extradition, the German consul refused to surrender Khalid to the British, as the German extradition treaty with Britain specifically excludedpolitical prisoners.
Instead, the German consul promised to send Khalid to East Africa so that he "does not set foot on the soil of Zanzibar." At 10:00 on October 2, a ship of the German fleet arrived at the port. At high tide, one of the ships sailed to the garden gate of the consulate, and Khalid from the consular base boarded directly on board the German warship and was consequently released from arrest. Then he was transported to Dar es Salaam in German East Africa. Khalid was captured by British forces in 1916 during the East African Campaign in World War I and exiled to the Seychelles and Saint Helena before being allowed to return to East Africa. The British punished Khalid's supporters by forcing them to pay reparations to cover the costs of the shells fired against them and for the damage caused by the looting, which amounted to 300,000 rupees.
New leadership of Zanzibar
Sultan Hamud was loyal to the British, for this reason he was appointed as a figurehead. Zanzibar finally lost any independence, completely subject to the British Crown. The British completely controlled all spheres of public life of this African state, the country lost its independence. A few months after the war, Hamud abolished slavery in all its forms. But the emancipation of the slaves was rather slow. Within ten years, only 17,293 slaves were freed, and the actual number of slaves was over 60,000 in 1891.
The war greatly changed the ruined palacecomplex. The harem, the lighthouse and the palace were destroyed by shelling. The palace plot became a garden, and a new palace was erected on the site of the harem. One of the rooms of the palace complex remained almost intact and later became the main secretariat of the British authorities.
