The War That Lasted 38 Minutes

When we think of the word “war”, we typically think of large-scale and long-lasting conflicts spread over months or years. However, wars throughout history have both far exceeded this definition as well as fallen far below it. On the high end, centuries-long conflicts such as the Reconquista and the Anglo-French Wars spanned almost a dozen human lifespans and drastically impacted the societies that took part in them. However, in terms of how short war can get, many have been as short as a few days, while one in particular reins as the shortest of them all, clocking in at only 38 minutes of fighting.

The war took place between Great Britain and the Sultanate of Zanzibar on August 27, 1896. Prior to the war, Zanzibar was an island country in the Indian Ocean, controlled by a Sultanate that had split from Oman in 1858. Great Britain recognized Zanzibar’s sovereignty in 1886, and they soon became close. Following this, a series of pro-British sultans rose to power in Zanzibar, who granted trade rights to British companies, banned the domestic slave trade, and granted the British the ability to veto the appointment of future sultans. This is important for later.

In 1893, Hamad bin Thuwaini became the sultan and maintained close relations with Great Britain. However, his subjects began to become frustrated with the power that Great Britain was beginning to have over the nation, especially in regard to the army and slave trade abolition. British authorities then made the sultan raise a palace bodyguard, consisting of 1,000 Zanzibari men, to lessen the dissent. However, at 11:40 local time on August 25, 1896, the sultan died and was quickly succeeded by his nephew Khalid bin Bargash without British approval. The British instead offered Hamud bin Muhammed as the replacement instead, given Hamud’s pro-British tendencies. Khalid, however, refused to step down and instead of building up his guard within his palace. Civilians, soldiers, machine guns, and cannons were aimed at the British ships in the harbor, with the total manpower reaching 2,800. The British, therefore, planned to commence with war at 09:00 local time on August 27.

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