The Shortest War in History Lasted 38 Minutes. Here's What Really Happened

On 27 August 1896, five British warships opened fire on the Sultan's palace in Zanzibar. Thirty-eight minutes later the red flag was down and the war was over. But how did it come to this? A map table in Berlin, a sultan's sudden death, a prince who broke into the palace, and a bluff that nobody believed. Here's the real story behind the shortest war ever recorded. Chapters: 0:00 Guns at the Window 1:33 A Map Table in Berlin 3:05 The Sultan Dies 4:58 Calling the Bluff 7:34 Thirty-Eight Minutes 8:44 What Really Happened Was it really a war, or just a bluff that got called? Tell me in the comments. Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): "Lord of the Land", "Desert City", "Smoking Gun", "Interloper", "Sneaky Snitch", "Despair and Triumph" #history #zanzibar #shortestwar