A quick one

The flower people of the 1960s were fond of the anti-war slogan "Suppose they gave a war and nobody came?"

That never happened. Wars tend to go on for a long time, because people have their philosophical differences, and for real, there is big money to be made in war, selling guns and ammunition and vehicles and aircraft and uniforms and so forth. Another slogan of the 60s was, "War is good business. Invest your son."

Let me tell you about a war that was over before anyone was killed and no one had a chance to sell anything. It was the Anglo-Zanzibar War, which took place on  August 27, 1896. That was it. Just one day, and it only took 38 minutes to settle everything.

The whole deal was over who would be the next Sultan in Zanzibar. The British won.

On August 25, 1896, the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini died under suspicious circumstances. People of Zanzibar, an island nation off the coast of Tanganyika in the Indian Ocean (today it is part of Tanzania*) tried to install Sultan Khalid bin Barghash. However, British authorities sought to rule the world in those days, and they wanted the job to have Hamoud bin Mohammed placed as sultan. There was an agreement in place that made sure anyone proposed as sultan would get the nod from the British consul. Khalid had not gained this favor and was ordered to step down.

Instead, Khalid got his palace guard to stand back and stand by. In response, the British rounded up two cruisers, three gunboats, 150 marines and sailors, and 900 Zanzibari troops. The palace was set ablaze at 9:02 AM on August 27 after a 9 AM ultimatim was ignored, the British sank three Zanzibari naval vessels, and the whole thing was over at 9:46, just in time for an early lunch.

The palace after the brief war.

We could learn from history, but first, we'd have to read some of it.

*That's pronounced Tan-zan-EE-ah, unless you're Donald Trump, who said "TanZAYNeeah, because he doesn't know better.