TRUTH.
On the morning of August 27, 1896, the British Royal Navy opened fire on the Sultan's palace in Zanzibar at approximately 9:02 a.m. By 9:40 a.m., the Sultan's flag had been pulled down and the fighting was over. The Anglo-Zanzibar War — the shortest recorded war in history — had lasted somewhere between 38 and 45 minutes, depending on which clock you trust.
The conflict began two days earlier when the pro-British Sultan of Zanzibar died suddenly. His cousin, Khalid bin Barghash, immediately occupied the palace and declared himself sultan without British approval — which, under the terms of a treaty establishing Zanzibar as a British protectorate, he was required to obtain. The British issued an ultimatum. Khalid refused to stand down.HowStuffWorks notesthat by the morning of the 27th, Khalid had assembled roughly 2,800 fighters and positioned the royal yacht as a gunboat in the harbor. Britain had five warships.
The outcome was not in question.Approximately 500 Zanzibari fighters were killed or wounded in the shelling; one British sailor was injured and later recovered.Khalid fled to the German consulate during the bombardment, was eventually smuggled out of the country by the German navy, and lived in exile for decades before being captured in World War I and eventually allowed to return to Zanzibar, where he died in 1927.
Britain installed a new sultan immediately and the territory remained under British influence until Zanzibar's independence in 1963.Historic UK notesthat the new sultan's first act was to begin abolishing the slave trade — an outcome the British had been pressing for years.
Thirty-eight minutes. Five warships. One palace. History moved quickly that morning.
The conflict began two days earlier when the pro-British Sultan of Zanzibar died suddenly. His cousin, Khalid bin Barghash, immediately occupied the palace and declared himself sultan without British approval — which, under the terms of a treaty establishing Zanzibar as a British protectorate, he was required to obtain. The British issued an ultimatum. Khalid refused to stand down.HowStuffWorks notesthat by the morning of the 27th, Khalid had assembled roughly 2,800 fighters and positioned the royal yacht as a gunboat in the harbor. Britain had five warships.
The outcome was not in question.Approximately 500 Zanzibari fighters were killed or wounded in the shelling; one British sailor was injured and later recovered.Khalid fled to the German consulate during the bombardment, was eventually smuggled out of the country by the German navy, and lived in exile for decades before being captured in World War I and eventually allowed to return to Zanzibar, where he died in 1927.
Britain installed a new sultan immediately and the territory remained under British influence until Zanzibar's independence in 1963.Historic UK notesthat the new sultan's first act was to begin abolishing the slave trade — an outcome the British had been pressing for years.
Thirty-eight minutes. Five warships. One palace. History moved quickly that morning.
