The Anglo-Zanzibar War, fought between the United Kingdom and the Zanzibar Sultanate on 27 August 1896, is the shortest recorded war in history. Lasting between 38 and 45 minutes, this brief but consequential conflict was a dramatic demonstration of Britain‘s imperial might and its determination to secure control over East Africa in the face of growing regional competition.
Zanzibar: The Isle of Cloves
To understand the causes of this flash war, we must first examine the rise of Zanzibar as a key node in the sprawling trade networks of the Indian Ocean. Located just off the coast of present-day Tanzania, Zanzibar had been a major center of commerce for centuries, drawing merchants from as far afield as Arabia, Persia, and India with the monsoon winds.
In the 19th century, the island underwent an economic boom driven by surging global demand for exotic spices, particularly cloves. Zanzibar was the world‘s leading producer of this valued commodity, supplying 75% of the cloves in international trade by the 1840s. The spice trade made the Sultans of Zanzibar fabulously wealthy, allowing them to build grand palaces and maintain a lavish court life. Trade through Zanzibar totaled £1.25 million in 1859, a colossal sum for the era (Sheriff, 1987, p. 81).
"The Key to East Africa"
Zanzibar‘s growing prosperity, along with its commanding position astride trade routes linking Africa, Asia, and Europe, made it an irresistible prize for imperial powers in an age of headlong colonial expansion. Britain had established a consulate on the island in 1841 and worked steadily to increase its sway over the Sultanate through a combination of gunboat diplomacy and advantageous commercial treaties.
Britain viewed Zanzibar as the "key to East Africa," in the words of historian W. David McIntyre (2016, p. 109), a vital stepping stone for controlling the trade of the African interior. Germany also sought a piece of the action, extending its influence down the nearby Swahili Coast on the mainland from the 1880s. As Anglo-German rivalry in East Africa heated up, Britain strong-armed the Sultan into accepting the status of a protectorate in 1890.
The Accidental Sultan
A crisis arose with the sudden death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini on 25 August 1896, allegedly from stroke but rumored to be the result of poison. His 29-year-old nephew Khalid bin Barghash, who was known to be less amenable to British interests, quickly seized power in a palace coup. Khalid was not Britain‘s preferred choice for the throne, but he rallied the palace guards and had himself hastily declared Sultan the next morning (Patience, 2021).
The British consul Basil Cave delivered an ultimatum to Khalid to stand down and leave the palace by 9:00 AM on 27 August or face the consequences. The Sultan, believing that the Germans would back him up, defiantly refused. He mustered a defense force of 2,800 men armed with muskets and a few artillery pieces (Owens, 1963, p. 69).
The Bombardment Begins
As the ultimatum expired, five British warships in the harbor, led by the cruiser HMS St George and two gunboats, opened fire on the palace. A bombardment of 500-pound shells, 4.7-inch rounds, and Maxim machine guns tore through the flimsy palace walls (Hernon, 2003, p. 403). The British ships were equipped with some of the most modern naval artillery of the time, against which the Sultan‘s obsolete defenses stood little chance.
The lopsided barrage went on for 38 minutes, leaving the palace a smoldering ruin and killing an estimated 500 Zanzibari defenders and civilians (Bennett, 1987, p. 179). On the British side, the only casualty was a Petty Officer wounded by a stray bullet. Overwhelmed and with his artillery silenced, Khalid lowered his flag and fled to the German consulate, where he sought asylum.
Pax Britannica
With Khalid out of the picture, the British quickly installed their favored candidate, Sultan Hamoud bin Mohammed, on the throne. Hamoud agreed to a treaty that formalized Zanzibar‘s status as a British protectorate, ceding control of the island‘s foreign affairs and defense to Britain. A permanent British garrison occupied the island to enforce the new arrangement (Ingrams, 2013, p. 150).
This brief but decisive display of military force secured British dominance in Zanzibar for the next six decades. The Sultan became a figurehead, exercising little real power, while the British resident assumed ever greater control of the state and economy. Zanzibar‘s status as a famed spice island faded as clove plantations gave way to less labor-intensive crops and alternative sources in Southeast Asia came to dominate the trade (Triplett, 2017).
The Scramble for Africa
The Anglo-Zanzibar War took place in the context of the "New Imperialism" of the late 19th century and the frenzied "Scramble for Africa" that saw European powers compete to stake out colonies and spheres of influence across the continent. In East Africa, Britain and Germany engaged in a tense rivalry for control of key trade routes and territories, with Zanzibar a flashpoint of contention.
The war‘s outcome marked a decisive victory for Britain in this contest and set the stage for the eventual establishment of British East Africa (later Kenya) and German East Africa (later Tanganyika, Rwanda, and Burundi) as colonial territories. The conflict demonstrated the lengths to which the imperial powers were prepared to go in pursuit of their African ambitions and the overwhelming force they could bring to bear against local rulers.
The Shortest War‘s Long Shadow
Although lasting less than an hour, the Anglo-Zanzibar War had far-reaching and enduring consequences. It extinguished the last ember of Zanzibari independence and paved the way for more than 60 years of British colonial rule on the island. Zanzibar remained a British protectorate until merging with Tanganyika to form Tanzania upon independence in 1963.
The war was emblematic of the new era of unbridled European imperialism, marked by a voracious scramble for colonies and a readiness to use overwhelming military superiority to coerce and subjugate weaker states. It set a pattern that would be repeated across Africa and Asia as the Western powers raced to carve up the world.
For Zanzibar, the war‘s legacy was profound and paradoxical. British rule brought stability and infrastructure development but at the cost of political autonomy. The rise and fall of the clove trade left a lasting imprint on the island‘s economy and society. Today, Zanzibar thrives as a tourist destination, trading on its fabled past while embracing a cosmopolitan, outward-looking future.
Over a century later, the memory of those fateful 38 minutes in August 1896 endures as a turning point in the island‘s tumultuous history and a revealing case study in the workings of empire. The Anglo-Zanzibar War, though brief in duration, casts a long shadow indeed.
References
Bennett, N. R. (1987). A history of the Arab state of Zanzibar. Methuen & Co.
Hernon, I. (2003). Britain‘s forgotten wars: Colonial campaigns of the 19th century. Sutton.
Ingrams, W. H. (2013). Zanzibar: Its history and its people. Routledge. (Original work published 1931)
McIntyre, W. D. (2016). British decolonization, 1946-1997: When, why and how did the British empire fall? Palgrave.
Owens, G. R. (1963). Conquest in East Africa, 1884-1965. Current History, 44(258), 69-70.
Patience, M. (2021, March 18). Khalid bin Barghash: The Sultan who ruled Zanzibar for two days. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56281933
Sheriff, A. (1987). Slaves, spices, & ivory in Zanzibar: Integration of an East African commercial empire into the world economy, 1770-1873. Ohio University Press.
Triplett, W. (2017, June 14). The rise and fall of Zanzibar‘s clove dynasty. Roads & Kingdoms. https://roadsandkingdoms.com/2017/the-rise-and-fall-of-zanzibars-clove-dynasty/
