History is filled with accounts on wars and battles. From the history that we have read, it is obvious that great wars spanned over many years and took countless lives while affecting other billions of people. However, it is not necessary that wars which include multiple countries and which stretch over decades are the only significant conflicts. There have been numerous small wars that have proved to be quite substantial in their impact. This article is going to shed some light on 10 of shortest yet important wars in history.
1. Anglo-Zanzibar War
Undoubtedly, the Anglo-Zanzibar War was by far the shortest in the history. The war lasted from 9:02 PM to 9:40 PM on August 27, 1896; which means that it only took almost 40 minutes for the war to start and end between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar. The war commenced because the Sultan who had been friends with the British Colonial administration died and the new self-proclaimed Sultan held a grudge against this administration because of which he was given an ultimatum to leave his position. This led to the war which caused 500 casualties.
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2. 6 Day War
The 6-day war is also called the Arab-Israeli War. Although the war only lasted for 6 days from June 5th to June 10th in 1967, it has left long lasting effects on that area; in fact to this day there hasn’t been complete peace in that area. Egypt had lined up 1000 tanks and around 100,000 soldiers when it sensed Israeli threats. However the surprise attack that Israel launched on June 5th gave it the edge over other Arab states and in the end Israel was a victor that increased its territory many miles in the north, south and east. The 6 day war resulted in 24,483 casualties and Israel too over the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and the West Bank.
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3. Indo-Pakistan War
After the 6-day war, we have the Indo-Pak War which lasted for 13 days. The fight commenced on December 3rd 1971 and progressed till the 16th of the same month. This was a major conflict that took place between Pakistan and India after Pakistan got liberated from the Indian Sub-Continent. What started out as an election between East and West Pakistan led to tumultuous situation between the two parts of Pakistan. India opened its gates to East Pakistan refugees and this had caused the war which resulted in 12,843 casualties.
4. Slovenian Independence War
The Slovenian Independence War is also known as the 10-Day War and the Weekend War. The war only lasted from 27th June 1991 to the 7th of July of the same year. This civil war in Yugoslavia started out after Slovenia declared its independence. The war was between the Yugoslav People’s Army and the Slovenian Territorial Defence which resulted in 62 casualties. This war resulted in Slovenia being recognized as an independent state.
5. Serbo-Bulgarian War
The Serbo-Bulgarian war lasted exactly two weeks between Serbia and Bulgaria. The War started on November 14, 1885 and went on till the 28th of the same month. The two countries started fighting because Bulgaria had decided to team up with a nation that was enemies with Serbia. Bulgaria finally won the war. There were around 1,546 casualties and thousands more were injured.
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6. Georgian-Armenian War
The Georgian-Armenian War is another battle that took place across the borders between two states – Democratic Republic of Armenia and Democratic Republic of Georgia. The whole war lasted for a duration of 24 days and the dispute was over the little piece of land between Georgia and Armenia that was once occupied by the Ottoman forces during World War I. Finally Britain came in to help them out. The war that started on December 3rd, 1918 and ended on December 31st resulted in joint ruling over the border.
7. Sino-Vietnamese War
Next, we have the Sino-Vietnamese War which lasted for 27 days. This bloody war was between the People’s Republic of China and Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The war started on February 17, 1979 and ended on the 16th of the following month and resulted in the death of 26,000 Chinese troops and 20,000 Vietnamese troops. But these were not the only casualties as many civilians were also killed.
8. Greco-Turkish War
The Greco-Turkish War, also called the 30 Days’ War and Black ’97, was between the Ottoman Empire and Greece. The Greco-Turkish War started on January 21st 1897. Some of the Greek population was under the control of Ottoman in Crete. In an attempt to reunite this island with Greece, the Greek army came to Crete. The result was the defeat of the Greeks and Crete being proclaimed as an international protectorate and the loss of 1,783 lives.
9. Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War started because Bulgaria was not satisfied with the outcome of the first Balkan war in which it was allies with Greece and Serbia. Therefore, Bulgaria went against these two states in the Second Balkan War which commenced on June 16th, 1913 and lasted for 32 days ending on July 18th of the same year. There were 157,000 casualties in this war.
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10. Polish-Lithuanian War
There are some doubts as to the dates of this war; however it is more generally believed that it is one of the shortest wars that lasted 37 days from September 1st, 1920 to October 7th of the same year.
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You should also consider 1965 war in between india and pakistaan that should also be in this list
Hi Ankit, The 1965 war between India and Pakistan was not one of the shortest, hence its not included in the list 🙂
The war between Serbia and Slovenia in 1991 lasted 7 days.
Hi, Actually The Slovenian Independence War lasted for 10 days but its a very nice input so I have included it in the list. Thanks for the tip 🙂
Finally a list that doesn’t ignore The Ten-Day War