It was August 27th 1896 at 9:02am when war came to the tiny island of Zanzibar. The pro-British Sultan Hamad Bin Thuwaini died on August 25th and the new leadership of Sultan Khalid Bin Barghash began. The British wanted Hamud bin Muhammed in charge instead and sent an ultimatum to Khalid to stand down and leave the palace. Instead of leaving, he barricaded himself in the palace and summoned his guards to protect him. At 9:00 East Africa Time, the ultimatum expired and Khalid was still in the palace.
The British had amassed a small army, three cruisers, two gunships, 150 marines and sailors, and 900 Zanzibaris. Two minutes after 9 they opened fire. There was an outdated ship that attempted to attack the British, but it was sunk effortlessly by superior firepower. At 9:40 the flag was shot down over the palace and the war was over. Khalid and forty of his followers fled to the German Consulate for protection. The British quickly placed their own people in charge and hence began a long period of British rule through a puppet government for the country of Zanzibar.
The Sultan's forces suffered approximately five hundred casualties in the war, while the British suffered just one. That is more than eight people per minute dying to protect the Sultan in the Anglo-Zanzibar War that only lasted forty minutes.
-Professor Walter
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