History is filled with wars fought to gain the upper hand, a better land, or to establish a tyrant — each fought with a different purpose and varying durations. Most of the time, however, wars were fought under conflicting situations to conclude. Sometimes the war ended within minutes, and sometimes it took years to determine the winning side. Let’s look at some of the shortest wars in history and why they were fought.
Anglo-Zanzibar War (lasted for 38 minutes)
The shortest war in history, the Anglo-Zanzibar war was fought in 1896. It all started in 1890 when a treaty was signed between Germany and Britain. The treaty held the agreement that the state of Zanzibar was under British dominance while the remaining Tanzanian land was under German control. A few years later in 1893, Hamad bin Thuwaini was the ruler of Zanzibar.
The Six-Day War: The war that lasted for 6 days
Though this war was of a very short duration, it went down as one of history’s bloodiest conflicts. The conflict occurred in June 1967 between Israel and three Arab countries Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. This war erupted due to severe tension between the Arab states and Israel. In 1948, a group of Arab countries led a failed invasion of the Jewish state.
Indo-Pakistani War: The war that lasted for 13 days
One of the biggest yet shortest wars that occurred between India and Pakistan was that of 1971. The most significant outcome of this war was the liberation of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh liberation war happened around the same time and resulted from continuous conflicts between east and west Pakistanis after the 1970 election in Pakistan. India’s western front got involved in the conflict, soon followed by one of the shortest wars in history.
The Georgian-Armenian War: lasted for 24 days
This was one of the shortest war between Georgia and Armenia in 1918 over the Lori, Javerkehti, and Borchalo districts. In 1918, Russia signed a treaty to return these districts, which they occupied during their war against the Ottoman Empire in 1877–78. However, these areas were not under the administrative control of Russia. Instead, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia collectively controlled these areas.
Greeco-Turkish War: The war that lasted for 30 days
The ‘unfortunate war’ was fought in 1897 between the Greek Empire and the Ottoman Empire. The Greeks wanted to take over the island of Crete, which had a Greek majority and was under the Ottomans’ control. Sultan Abdul Hamid was the ruler of the Ottomans during that period.