38minaccording to Guinness World Records
The story behind it
The shortest war in history lasted less than an hour.
On 25 August 1896 Zanzibar's sultan died. Khalid bin Barghash took over without British permission and barricaded himself in the palace. When an ultimatum expired at 9 a.m. on 27 August, British ships opened fire on the palace. About 500 people were killed or wounded.
