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Wars are times of turmoil, where countries spend years, and sometimes even decades, locked in a position of conflict between one another. The destruction and trauma they leave in their wake is unimaginable, although that is if they last enough to be felt. What we mean by that is, there are wars in recorded history that barely lasted at all.
That doesn’t mean these wars were harmless. Several produced significant casualties or permanently changed borders despite their short durations. These are some of history’s shortest wars, proving that a conflict doesn’t need to last long to leave a lasting mark.
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The Anglo-Zanzibar War, 38 Minutes
The Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 is widely recognized as the shortest recorded war. British forces bombarded the Sultan’s palace after an ultimatum expired, and Zanzibar surrendered after roughly 38 to 45 minutes of fighting.
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The Kettle War, One Shot
The Kettle War of 1784 was barely a war at all, but it was a real military confrontation between Austria and the Dutch Republic. A single cannon shot reportedly hit a soup kettle, making the name wonderfully literal.
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The War of the Stray Dog, Six Days
The 1925 conflict between Greece and Bulgaria supposedly began after a Greek soldier was shot near the border while pursuing a stray dog. Fighting lasted only several days before League of Nations mediation stopped the escalation.
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The Six-Day War
Israel’s 1967 war against Egypt, Jordan, and Syria lasted exactly six days, yet dramatically redrew the Middle Eastern map. Israeli forces captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Golan Heights during the conflict.
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The Ten-Day War
Slovenia’s 1991 independence conflict against Yugoslavia lasted just ten days. Yugoslav forces attempted to reassert federal control, but resistance and international pressure contributed to a settlement that effectively ended major fighting surprisingly quickly.
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The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
The 1971 war between India and Pakistan lasted only 13 days after Pakistan launched airstrikes against Indian airfields. India’s intervention in the Bangladesh Liberation War ended with Pakistan’s surrender in East Pakistan and Bangladesh’s emergence as an independent country.
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The Serbo-Bulgarian War
The Serbo-Bulgarian War lasted just 14 days in November 1885. Bulgaria defeated Serbia despite being attacked by its neighbor, while Austria-Hungary’s threat to intervene helped push the combatants toward a rapid ceasefire.
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The Yom Kippur War
The 1973 Yom Kippur War lasted 18 days, beginning with a surprise Egyptian and Syrian attack on Israel. After initial Arab gains, Israeli forces counterattacked, and a ceasefire brought the fighting to an end on October 24.
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The Iraq War’s Initial Invasion
The 2003 invasion of Iraq is sometimes described separately from the much longer occupation and insurgency that followed. The initial conventional campaign reached Baghdad in roughly three weeks, with the capital falling on April 9.
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The Georgian-Armenian War
The Georgian-Armenian War of 1918 lasted only 24 days and centered on disputed territories in the Caucasus. Fighting ended with a ceasefire and international mediation, leaving the contested regions under temporary arrangements rather than producing a decisive military solution.
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The Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War lasted about a month in 1913. Bulgaria attacked its former allies Serbia and Greece over territorial disputes, only to face Romania and the Ottoman Empire as additional enemies and rapidly find itself overwhelmed.
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The Persian Gulf War
The 1991 Gulf War lasted 42 days, beginning with a massive coalition air campaign before a remarkably short ground offensive liberated Kuwait. Iraq’s forces were quickly defeated, with a ceasefire declared on February 28.
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The Russo-Georgian War
The 2008 Russo-Georgian War lasted roughly five days. Fighting erupted over South Ossetia before Russia intervened on a much larger scale, eventually pushing Georgian forces back and establishing Russian troops deep inside Georgia.
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The Football War
The 1969 conflict between El Salvador and Honduras lasted roughly 100 hours, earning the nickname “Football War.” World Cup qualifying matches helped inflame existing political and social tensions, but the underlying dispute involved migration, land, and economic issues.
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