Anglo-Zanzibar War

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Anglo-Zanzibar War
Part of the Scramble for Africa

The Sultan's harem after the bombardment.
Date09:00–09:37 (local mean time), 27 August 1896
(≈38 minutes)
Location
Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania)
Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom Sultanate of Zanzibar
Commanders and leaders
Strength
Casualties and losses
1 British sailor wounded[1]

500 killed or wounded (including civilians)[2]

The Anglo-Zanzibar War was a military conflict fought between the United Kingdom and the Sultanate of Zanzibar on 27 August 1896. The conflict lasted between 38 and 45 minutes, marking it as the shortest recorded war in history.[3] The immediate cause of the war was the suspicious death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini on 25 August 1896 and the subsequent succession of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash. The British authorities preferred Hamoud bin Mohammed, who was more favourable to British interests, as sultan. The agreement of 14 June 1890, instituting a British protectorate over Zanzibar, specified that a candidate for accession to the sultanate should obtain the permission of the British consul;[4] Khalid had not fulfilled this requirement. The British considered this a casus belli and sent an ultimatum to Khalid demanding that he order his forces to stand down and leave the palace. In response, Khalid called up his palace guard and barricaded himself inside the palace.

The ultimatum expired at 09:00 local time on 27 August, by which time the British had gathered two cruisers, three gunboats, 150 marines and sailors, and 900 Zanzibaris in the harbour area. The Royal Navy contingent were under the command of Rear-Admiral

First Minister of Zanzibar). Around 2,800 Zanzibaris defended the palace; most were recruited from the civilian population, but they also included the sultan's palace guard and several hundred of his servants and slaves. The defenders had several artillery pieces and machine guns, which were set in front of the palace sighted at the British ships. A bombardment, opened at 09:02, set the palace on fire and disabled the defending artillery. A small naval action took place, with the British sinking the Zanzibari royal yacht HHS Glasgow
and two smaller vessels. Some shots were also fired ineffectually at the pro-British Zanzibari troops as they approached the palace. The flag at the palace was shot down and fire ceased at 09:46.

The sultan's forces sustained roughly 500 casualties, while only one British sailor was injured. Sultan Khalid received asylum in the German consulate before escaping to German East Africa (in the mainland part of present Tanzania). The British quickly placed Sultan Hamoud in power at the head of a puppet government. The war marked the end of the Sultanate of Zanzibar as a sovereign state and the start of a period of heavy British influence.

Background

The islands of Zanzibar and the African mainland

Zanzibar was an island country in the

Zanzibar slave trade in June 1873, though it was later discovered that instructions from London would have prohibited aggressive action being taken immediately if that ultimatum had been rejected.[6]

The subsequent sultans established their capital and seat of government at

Beit al-Ajaib or "House of Wonders"—a ceremonial palace said to be the first building in East Africa to be provided with electricity.[7] The complex was mostly constructed of local timber and was not designed as a defensive structure.[8] All three main buildings were adjacent to one another in a line and linked by wooden covered bridges above street height.[9]

Britain had recognised Zanzibar's

resulted in some unrest.[5] In addition, the German authorities in Tanganyika refused to fly the flag of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which led to armed clashes between German troops and the local population.[13] One such conflict in Tanga claimed the lives of 20 Arabs.[13]

Sultan Khalifah sent Zanzibari troops led by Brigadier-General

First Minister to lead his cabinet. The British were also guaranteed a veto over the future appointment of sultans.[16]

The year of Ali's ascension also saw the signing of the

British government more influence in Zanzibar, which they intended to use to eradicate slavery there, an objective they had held as early as 1804.[18][19]

Sultan Ali's successor was Hamad bin Thuwaini, who became sultan in 1893. Hamad maintained a close relationship with the British, but there was dissent among his subjects over the increasing British control over the country, the British-led army and the abolition of the valuable slave trade.[16] In order to control this dissent, the British authorities authorised the sultan to raise a Zanzibari palace bodyguard of 1,000 men, but these troops were soon involved in clashes with the British-led police.[20][21] Complaints about the bodyguards' activities were also received from the European residents in Zanzibar Town.[16]

25 August 1896

Sultan Hamad died suddenly at 11:40 EAT (08:40 UTC) on 25 August 1896.[16] His 29-year-old nephew Khalid bin Bargash, who was suspected by some of his assassination,[16] moved into the palace complex at Zanzibar Town without British approval, in contravention of the treaty agreed with Ali.[16] The British government preferred an alternative candidate, Hamoud bin Muhammed, who was more favourably disposed towards them. Khalid was warned by the consul and diplomatic agent to Zanzibar, Basil Cave, and General Mathews to think carefully about his actions.[21][22] This course of action had proved successful three years earlier when Khalid had tried to claim the sultanate after the death of Ali, and the British consul-general, Rennell Rodd, had persuaded him of the dangers of such an action.[23]

Khalid ignored Cave's warning, and his forces began mustering in the Palace Square under the command of Captain Saleh of the palace bodyguard. By the end of the day, they numbered 2,800 men armed with rifles and muskets.

Wilhelm II, the German emperor.[22] The sultan's troops also took possession of the Zanzibari Navy, which consisted of one wooden sloop, the HHS Glasgow, based on the British frigate Glasgow and built as a royal yacht for the sultan in 1878.[26]

Mathews and Cave also began to muster their forces, already commanding 900 Zanzibari

brigadier-general.[22] 150 sailors and marines were landed from the Pearl-class protected cruiser Philomel and the gunboat Thrush, which were anchored in the harbour.[22] The naval contingent, under the command of Captain O'Callaghan, came ashore within fifteen minutes of being requested to deal with any rioting caused by the general population.[22][27] A smaller contingent of sailors under Lieutenant Watson of Thrush were put ashore to guard the British consulate, where British citizens were requested to gather for protection.[22] HMS Sparrow, another gunboat, entered the harbour and was anchored opposite the palace next to Thrush.[22]

Some concerns were raised among the British diplomats as to the reliability of Raikes' askaris, but they proved to be steady and professional troops hardened by

Richard Dorsey Mohun
, recognise his accession, but the messenger was told:

...as his accession had not been verified by Her Majesty's government, it is impossible to reply.[25]

Cave continued to send messages to Khalid requesting that he stand down his troops, leave the palace and return home, but these were ignored, and Khalid replied that he would proclaim himself sultan at 15:00. Cave stated that this would constitute an act of rebellion and that Khalid's sultanate would not be recognised by the British government.

Lord Salisbury's
administration in London:

Are we authorised in the event of all attempts at a peaceful solution proving useless, to fire on the Palace from the men-of-war?[29]

Meanwhile, Cave informed all other foreign consuls that all flags were to remain at

half mast in honour of the late Hamad. The only one that did not was a large red flag flying from Khalid's palace. Cave also informed the consuls not to recognise Khalid as sultan, to which they agreed.[30]

26 August

At 10:00 on 26 August, the Archer-class protected cruiser

Rear-Admiral Harry Rawson, the commander-in-chief, and further British marines and sailors. At around the same time Lord Salisbury's reply arrived authorising Cave and Rawson to use the resources at their disposal to remove Khalid from power.[31] The telegraph read: "You are authorised to adopt whatever measures you may consider necessary, and will be supported in your action by Her Majesty's Government. Do not, however, attempt to take any action which you are not certain of being able to accomplish successfully."[29]

Cave attempted further negotiations with Khalid, but these failed and Rawson sent an

British-India Steam Navigation Company vessel for their safety. That night, Consul Mohun noted that: "The silence which hung over Zanzibar was appalling. Usually drums were beating or babies cried but that night there was absolutely not a sound."[32]

War

27 August

At 08:00 on the morning of 27 August, after a messenger sent by Khalid requested parley from Cave, the consul replied that he would only have salvation if he agreed to the terms of the ultimatum.[8][33] At 08:30 a further messenger from Khalid declared that "We have no intention of hauling down our flag and we do not believe you would open fire on us"; Cave replied that "We do not want to open fire, but unless you do as you are told we shall certainly do so."[32] At 08:55, having received no further word from the palace, aboard St George Rawson hoisted the signal "prepare for action".[34]

At exactly 09:00, General Lloyd Mathews ordered the British ships to commence the bombardment.

high explosive shells. Despite initial reports that he had been captured and was to be exiled to India, Sultan Khalid escaped from the palace.[8][36] A Reuters news correspondent reported that the sultan had "fled at the first shot with all the leading Arabs, who left their slaves and followers to carry on the fighting", but other sources state that he remained in the palace for longer.[8] The shelling ceased at around 09:40, by which time the palace and attached harem had caught fire, the Sultan's artillery had been silenced and his flag cut down.[1]

During the bombardment a small naval engagement occurred when, at 09:05, the obsolete Glasgow fired upon the St George using her armament of 7 nine-pounder guns and a Gatling gun, which had been a present from Queen Victoria to the sultan.[37] The return fire caused Glasgow to sink, though the shallow harbour meant that her masts remained out of the water.[1] Glasgow's crew hoisted a British flag as a token of their surrender, and they were all rescued by British sailors in launches.[1] Thrush also sank two steam launches whose Zanzibari crews shot at her with rifles. Some land fighting occurred when Khalid's men fired on Raikes' askaris, with little effect, as they approached the palace.[1] The fighting ceased with the end of the shelling. The British controlled the town and the palace, and by the afternoon Hamoud bin Muhammed, an Arab favourable to the British, had been installed as sultan with much reduced powers.[38] The British ships and crews had fired around 500 shells, 4,100 machine gun rounds and 1,000 rifle rounds during the engagement.[39]

HMS Thrush, a gun boat with sails, at sea
HMS Thrush
Armoured ships, HMS St George and HMS Philomel in the harbour
HMS St George and HMS Philomel
Map of battle ships' positions at 09.00, before battle
Dispositions of naval forces at 09.00

Aftermath

The bombing of Stone Town in an 1896 British newspaper

Approximately 500 Zanzibari men and women were killed or wounded during the bombardment, most of the dead a result of the fire that engulfed the palace.

fire brigade to contain the fire, which had spread from the palace to the nearby customs sheds.[42] There was some concern about the fire at the customs sheds as they contained a sizeable store of explosives, but no explosion occurred.[40]

Sultan Khalid, Captain Saleh and around forty followers sought refuge in the German consulate following their flight from the palace,

East African Campaign of World War I, and exiled to Seychelles and Saint Helena before being allowed to return to East Africa, where he died at Mombasa in 1927.[46] The British punished Khalid's supporters by forcing them to pay reparations to cover the cost of shells fired against them and for damages caused by the looting, which amounted to 300,000 rupees.[38]

Sultan Hamoud was loyal to the British and acted as a figurehead for an essentially British-run government, the sultanate only being retained to avoid the costs involved with running Zanzibar directly as a crown colony.[38] Several months after the war, Hamoud, with British prompting, abolished slavery in all its forms.[38] The emancipation of slaves required them to present themselves to a government office and proved a slow process—within ten years only 17,293 slaves had been freed, from an estimated population of 60,000 in 1891.[47]

The badly damaged palace complex was completely changed by the war. The harem, lighthouse and palace were demolished as the bombardment had left them unsafe.[41] The palace site became an area of gardens, while a new palace was erected on the site of the harem.[9][48] The House of Wonders was almost undamaged and would later become the main secretariat for the British governing authorities.[40][49] During renovation work on the House of Wonders in 1897, a clocktower was added to its frontage to replace the lighthouse lost to the shelling.[48] The wreck of Glasgow remained in the harbour in front of the palace, where the shallow waters ensured that her masts would remain visible for several years to come; it was eventually broken up for scrap in 1912.[50]

The British protagonists were highly regarded by the governments in London and Zanzibar for their actions leading up to and during the war, and many were rewarded with appointments and honours. General Raikes, leader of the askaris, was appointed a First Class (Second Grade) member of the

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath for his work in Zanzibar and would later be Governor of New South Wales in Australia.[55] Rawson was also appointed a first class member of the Order of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar on 8 February 1897 and the Order of Hamondieh on 18 June 1898.[56][57]
There were no further rebellions against British influence during the remaining 67 years of the protectorate.[2]

British sailors pose with a captured cannon outside the sultan's palace
British sailors pose with a captured cannon outside the sultan's palace
The palace complex following the bombardment
The palace complex following the bombardment
The masts of the sunken Glasgow can be seen in this panorama of Zanzibar Town harbour taken in 1902, looking east. The House of Wonders is the white building with a tower and many balconies in the middle of the photograph; the harem and palace stood to the left. The consulate buildings are to the right.

Duration

The war, lasting less than three-quarters of an hour, is sometimes considered the shortest in recorded history.[58] Several durations are given by sources, including 38,[1][59] 40[60] and 45[61] minutes, but the 38-minute duration is the most often quoted. The variation is due to confusion over what actually constitutes the start and end of a war. Some sources take the start of the war as the order to open fire at 09:00 and some with the start of actual firing at 09:02. The end of the war is usually put at 09:37, when the last shots were fired and the palace flag struck, but some sources place it at 09:45. The logbooks of the British ships also suffer from this uncertainty with St George indicating that cease-fire was called and Khalid entered the German consulate at 09:35, Thrush at 09:40, Racoon at 09:41, and Philomel and Sparrow at 09:45.[62]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hernon 2003, p. 403.
  2. ^ a b c Bennett 1978, p. 179.
  3. ISBN 978-1-904994-19-0
  4. ^ Provisional agreement concluded between the Sultan of Zanzibar and Her Britannic Majesty's Agent and ConsulGeneral (subject to the approval of Her Majesty's Government), respecting the British Protectorate of the Sultan's dominions, Succession to the Throne of Zanzibar, Zanzibar 14th June, 1890; in Map of Africa by Treaty, Vol. I. Nos. 1 to 94. BRITISH COLONIES, PROTECTORATES AND POSSESSIONS IN AFRICA (online via archive.org)
  5. ^ a b c d e Hernon 2003, p. 397.
  6. ^ Christopher Lloyd, The Navy and the Slave Trade: The Suppression of the African Slave Trade in the Nineteenth Century, 1968, pp. 264–268
  7. ^ Hoyle 2002, pp. 156–157.
  8. ^ a b c d Hernon 2003, p. 402.
  9. ^ a b Hoyle 2002, p. 160.
  10. ^ Bennett 1978, pp. 131–132.
  11. ^ Hernon 2000, pp. 146–147.
  12. ^ Bennett 1978, pp. 124–131.
  13. ^ a b c Hernon 2003, p. 398.
  14. ^ a b c Hernon 2000, p. 147.
  15. ^ Bennett 1978, p. 165.
  16. ^ a b c d e f Hernon 2003, p. 399.
  17. ^ Text of the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty (PDF), German History in Documents and Images, 1 July 1890, retrieved 29 September 2008
  18. ^ "The Anglo-German Agreement". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 1 August 1890. col. 1530–1533.
  19. ^ "Class V". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 22 August 1804. col. 324–337.
  20. ^ Hernon 2000, p. 148.
  21. ^ a b Bennett 1978, p. 178.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Hernon 2003, p. 400.
  23. ^ Tucker 1970, p. 194.
  24. ^ a b "A Warning to Said Khalid". The New York Times. 27 August 1896. p. 5. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
  25. ^ a b Patience 1994, p. 9.
  26. ^ Patience 1994, p. 5.
  27. ^ "Zanzibar's Sultan Dead", The New York Times, p. 5, 26 August 1896, retrieved 16 October 2008
  28. ^ Patience 1994, p. 8.
  29. ^ a b c Owens 2007, p. 2.
  30. ^ "Sultan of Zanzibar Dead", The New York Times, p. 9, 19 July 1902, retrieved 16 October 2008
  31. ^ Hernon 2003, p. 401.
  32. ^ a b Patience 1994, p. 11.
  33. ^ Lyne 1905, p. 200.
  34. ^ Lyne 1905, p. 201.
  35. ^ Thompson 1984, p. 64.
  36. ^ "Bombarded by the British", The New York Times, p. 1, 28 August 1896, retrieved 16 October 2008
  37. ^ Patience 1994, p. 6.
  38. ^ a b c d e f Hernon 2003, p. 404.
  39. ^ Patience 1994, p. 14.
  40. ^ a b c d Patience 1994, p. 12.
  41. ^ a b Patience 1994, p. 15.
  42. ^ Patience 1994, pp. 20–22.
  43. ^ "Will Not Surrender Khalid". The New York Times. 30 August 1896. p. 5. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
  44. ^ a b Frankl 2006, p. 163.
  45. ^ Ingrams 1967, pp. 174–175.
  46. ^ Frankl 2006, p. 161.
  47. ^ Bakari 2001, pp. 49–50.
  48. ^ a b Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Sultan's Palace at Zanzibar, archived from the original on 4 December 2008, retrieved 29 September 2008
  49. ^ Hoyle 2002, p. 156.
  50. ^ Patience 1994, p. 16.
  51. ^ "No. 26780". The London Gazette. 25 September 1896. p. 5320.
  52. ^ a b "No. 26886". The London Gazette. 27 August 1897. p. 4812.
  53. ^ "No. 26810". The London Gazette. 1 January 1897. p. 65.
  54. ^ "No. 27588". The London Gazette. 14 August 1903. p. 5150.
  55. ^ "Obituary: Admiral Sir Harry H. Rawson", The Times, 4 November 1910, archived from the original on 3 December 2008, retrieved 16 October 2008
  56. ^ "No. 26821". The London Gazette. 9 February 1897. p. 758.
  57. ^ "No. 26979". The London Gazette. 21 June 1898. p. 3769.
  58. ^ Hernon 2003, p. 396.
  59. ^ Haws & Hurst 1985, p. 74.
  60. ^ Cohen, Jacopetti & Prosperi 1966, p. 137
  61. ^ Gordon 2007, p. 146.
  62. ^ Patience 1994, pp. 20–26.

Bibliography

Further reading
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