When you think of war, it is probably going to be the case that you will automatically think of something that just seems to drag on for what appears to be an eternity. However, it has not always been like that when you look at history.
Of course, if you go back centuries then there are ‘wars’ that lasted a few days, but we do prefer to refer to them as battles rather than anything else. To most, they are something that is completely different. But then, what do you think is the shortest war in history?
The answer is going to be different from what most people think, and to get the answer we need to go back to 1896 and head off to deepest and darkest Africa. The countries in question were Zanzibar and Great Britain, and even though this was just one of many wars that the UK would fight in Africa around this time, there is no doubt that this particular one was not what anybody would have expected.
You see, the war between these two nations lasted a grand total of 38 minutes before Zanzibar started to think better about what they were doing and decided to surrender. It is hard to believe that it was even worth their time and effort getting started with this war considering it was over so quickly. You are going to find it difficult to ever find another war at any point in human history that is ever going to stand a chance of beating this one in the time stakes.