00:00the shortest war in history was over before most people finished their morning coffee
00:04on august 27 1896 the british navy gave an ultimatum to a single man surrender by 9 a.m
00:11or we destroy your entire kingdom he laughed at exactly 9 a.m the british opened fire
00:20the war lasted just 38 minutes the british deployed five modern warships including the
00:27hms philomel and hms sparrow armed with heavy quick-firing guns the sultan of zanzibar
00:34khalid bin bargash had seized power two days earlier without british permission
00:39and that was the one thing the british empire would not tolerate in east africa
00:43khalid barricaded himself inside the palace with 2 800 men a few artillery pieces and a single royal
00:50yacht called the hhs glasgow when the british opened fire the first shell blew the palace's
00:56single artillery cannon to pieces the second shell set the entire palace roof on fire
01:02within 10 minutes the hhs glasgow was struck and sank straight to the bottom of the harbor
01:07the sultan's soldiers panicked and fled over 500 men were killed or drowned the british just one
01:15sailor was wounded no deaths at 9 38 a.m the palace flag was shot down the sultan climbed out
01:22a back window
01:23and fled straight to the german consulate he spent the rest of his life in exile in dar es salam
01:29the
01:30british immediately installed a puppet sultan who agreed to every single imperial demand the entire
01:36war lasted less time than an average tv commercial break and that is exactly why you never laugh at a
01:42naval ultimatum
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