The shortest war in history lasted less than a meal

There was a war that began and ended the same morning. Depending on how you measure it, it lasted around forty minutes: less than an unhurried meal.

It was in 1896, in the sultanate of Zanzibar, off the coast of East Africa. After the sultan's death, one of his relatives took power without the blessing of the British Empire. The British warships anchored in the harbour issued an ultimatum. When the deadline ran out, they opened fire on the palace.

Little more than half an hour of shelling was enough for the flag to come down. It went down in history as the Anglo-Zanzibar War, and it remains the shortest armed conflict on record.