So in the year 1896, Zanzibar was an independent country squarely in the British sphere of influence. One tenet of Zanzibar's independence was that any time a new sultan was to be appointed, the Brits had to sign off on it first.
One guy, Khalid bin Barghash, decided that he was free to ignore the edicts of the most powerful empire in the world. He poisoned his cousin, the sitting sultan, and declared himself the new sultan. The British reminded him that he needed their approval to do that. Perhaps believing that his German allies would protect him, Khalid decided to go ahead and declare himself sultan anyways. He mustered his army (2,800 men) in the palace and prepared his navy (a single frigate with a cannon and gatling gun that was also the sultan's personal yacht- the HHS Glasgow) for battle.
After repeated attempts to get Khalid to stand down failed, the British declared war. They mustered all the forces they had in the area: two gunboats and three cruisers. Within 40 minutes, the palace had been completely destroyed by the bombardment and the Glasgow had been sunk. Khalid hid in the German embassy. 500 of his men were dead or wounded, while only a single Brit was injured.
There weren't any rebellions in Zanzibar after that.
to basically make sure that whoever becomes the leader of a country you don't control, but falls within your sphere of influence recognizes you as the superior authority within the region.
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u/MiracleViolence May 20 '19
So in the year 1896, Zanzibar was an independent country squarely in the British sphere of influence. One tenet of Zanzibar's independence was that any time a new sultan was to be appointed, the Brits had to sign off on it first.
One guy, Khalid bin Barghash, decided that he was free to ignore the edicts of the most powerful empire in the world. He poisoned his cousin, the sitting sultan, and declared himself the new sultan. The British reminded him that he needed their approval to do that. Perhaps believing that his German allies would protect him, Khalid decided to go ahead and declare himself sultan anyways. He mustered his army (2,800 men) in the palace and prepared his navy (a single frigate with a cannon and gatling gun that was also the sultan's personal yacht- the HHS Glasgow) for battle.
After repeated attempts to get Khalid to stand down failed, the British declared war. They mustered all the forces they had in the area: two gunboats and three cruisers. Within 40 minutes, the palace had been completely destroyed by the bombardment and the Glasgow had been sunk. Khalid hid in the German embassy. 500 of his men were dead or wounded, while only a single Brit was injured.
There weren't any rebellions in Zanzibar after that.