Page 27 - The Sandbag Times Issue No:58

Historical Tommy Atkins

The Shortest War in History

The Anglo-Zanzibar War 1896

The little known Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 is generally considered
to be the shortest war in history, lasting for a grand total of 38 minutes.

The story begins with the signing of the Heligoland-Zanzibar treaty
between Britain and Germany in 1890. This treaty effectively drew
up spheres of influence between the imperial powers in East Africa;
Zanzibar was ceded to British influence, whilst Germany was given
control over mainland Tanzania.

With this new found influence, Britain declared Zanzibar a
protectorate of the British Empire and moved to install their own
‘puppet’ Sultan to look after the region. Hamad bin Thuwaini, who had
been a supporter of the British in the area, was given the position in
1893.
Hamad ruled over this relatively peaceful protectorate for just over
3 years until, on August 25, 1896, he died suddenly in his palace.
Although the truth will never be fully known about the causes for
his death, it is widely believed that his cousin, Khalid bin Barghash
(pictured to the right), had him poisoned.
Cave also demanded that all non-military boats leave the harbour in
This belief is compounded by the fact that within a few hours of preparation for war.
Hamad’s death, Khalid had already moved into the palace and assumed
the position of Sultan, all without British approval. At 8am the next morning, only one hour before the ultimatum expired,
Khalid sent a reply to Cave stating:
Needless to say the local British diplomats were not at all happy with
this turn of events, and the chief diplomat in the area, Basil Cave, “We have no intention of hauling down our flag and we do not believe
quickly declared that Khalid should stand down. Khalid ignored these you would open fire on us.”
warnings and instead starting gathering his forces around the Palace.
Cave replied in true 19th century British diplomatic style, stating that
These forces were surprisingly well armed, although it’s worth noting he had no desire to fire upon the palace “but unless you do as you are
that quite a few of their guns and cannons were actually diplomatic told, we shall certainly do so.”
gifts that had been presented to the former Sultan over the years! By The conflict
the end of 25th August, Khalid had his palace secured with almost
3,000 men, several artillery guns and even a modestly armed Royal That was the last Cave heard from Khalid, and at 9am the order was
Yacht in the nearby harbour. given for the British ships in the harbour to begin bombarding the
palace. By 09:02 the majority of Khalid’s artillery had been destroyed,
At the same time, the British already had two warships anchored in and the palaces wooden structure had started to collapse with 3,000
the harbour, the HMS Philomel and the HMS Rush, and troops were defenders inside. It is also around this time, two minutes after the
quickly being sent ashore to protect the British Consulate and to keep bombardment started, that Khalid is said to have escaped through a
the local population from rioting. Cave (pictured to the right) also back exit of the palace, leaving his servants and fighters to defend the
requested backup from another nearby British ship, the HMS Sparrow, palace alone.
which entered the harbour on the evening of the 25th August.
By 09:40 the shelling had ceased, the Sultan’s flag pulled down, and the
Even though Cave had a significant armed presence in the harbour, shortest war in history had officially ended after only 38 minutes.
he knew that he did not have the authority to open hostilities without
express approval of the British government. To prepare for all For such a short war, the casualty rate was surprisingly high with over
eventualities, he sent a telegram to the Foreign Office that evening 500 of Khalid’s fighters killed or wounded, mainly due to the high
stating: “Are we authorised in the event of all attempts at a peaceful explosive shells exploding on the palace’s flimsy structure. One British
solution proving useless, to fire on the Palace from the men-of-war?” petty officer was also severely injured, but later recovered in hospital.
Whilst waiting for a reply from Whitehall, Cave continued issuing
ultimatums to Khalid but to no avail. With Khalid out of the way, the UK was free to place the pro-British
Sultan Hamud on the throne of Zanzibar, and he ruled on behalf of
The next day, two more British warships entered the harbour, the HMS Her Majesty’s Government for the next six years.
Racoon and the HMS St George, the latter carrying Rear-Admiral
Harry Rawson, commander of the British fleet in the area At the same As for Khalid, he managed to escape with a small group of loyal
time, Cave had received a telegraph from Whitehall stating: followers to the local German Consulate. Despite repeated calls from
the British for his extradition, he was smuggled out of the country on
“You are authorised to adopt whatever measures you may consider October 2nd by the German navy and taken to modern day Tanzania.
necessary, and will be supported in your action by Her Majesty’s It was not until British forces invaded East Africa in 1916 that Khalid
Government. Do not, however, attempt to take any action which you was finally captured and subsequently taken to Saint Helena for exile.
are not certain of being able to accomplish successfully.” After ‘serving time’, he was later allowed to return to East Africa where
he died in 1927.
The final ultimatum to Khalid was issued on the 26th August,
demanding that he leave the palace by 9am the next day. That night, Article from www.historic-uk.com

www.sandbagtimes.co.uk 27 |