The Anglo-Zanzibar1 War

Fought between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar on 27 August 1896， the conflict lasted approximately 40 minutes， making it the shortest war in history. The immediate cause of the war was the death of the pro-British Sultan2 Hamad bin Thuwaini and the succession3 of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash. The British authorities preferred Hamud bin Muhammed as Sultan.

The ultimatum4 expired5 at 9：00 on 27 August， by which time the British had gathered three cruisers， two gunships， 150 marines and sailors， and 900 Zanzibaris in the harbor area. A bombardment6， which was opened at 9：02， set the palace on fire and disabled the defending artillery. The flag at the palace was shot down and fire ceased at 9：40. The Sultan’s forces received roughly 500 casualties， while only one British sailor was injured.

英桑戰(zhàn)爭

1896年8月27日，英國和桑給巴爾開戰(zhàn)，戰(zhàn)爭持續(xù)了大約四十分鐘，堪稱史上最短的戰(zhàn)爭。引發(fā)戰(zhàn)爭的直接原因在于，親英蘇丹哈馬德·本·杜威尼辭世后，哈立德·本·巴伽什繼任蘇丹，而英國當(dāng)局則傾向于讓哈茂德·本·穆罕穆德接任蘇丹。

最后通牒的截止時間是8月27日上午9：00，當(dāng)時英國軍隊已經(jīng)在港口區(qū)集結(jié)了三艘巡洋艦、兩艘炮艦、150名海軍陸戰(zhàn)隊員和水兵，以及900名桑給巴爾雇傭兵。轟炸始于9：02，使皇宮著火，并瓦解了防御炮兵部隊的抵抗。9：40，皇宮上懸掛的國旗被擊落，轟炸停止。蘇丹軍隊大約有五百人傷亡，而英軍只有一名水兵受傷。

The Pig War

The Pig War was a fight in 1859 between American and British authorities over the boundary between the United States and British North America. The specific area in dispute was the San Juan Islands7， which lie between Vancouver Island and the North American mainland. The Pig War is so called because it was triggered by the shooting of a pig， who was the only “casualty” of the war， making the conflict basically bloodless.

豬之戰(zhàn)

豬之戰(zhàn)指的是1859年美國和英國當(dāng)局針對美國和英屬北美殖民地之間的邊界問題而爆發(fā)的戰(zhàn)爭。存在爭議的具體地區(qū)是位于溫哥華島和北美大陸之間的圣胡安群島。之所以稱這場戰(zhàn)爭為“豬之戰(zhàn)”，是因為這是由一頭豬被射殺而引發(fā)的戰(zhàn)爭。這頭豬是這場戰(zhàn)爭中唯一的“傷亡者”，因而從根本上說，這是一次沒有流血的沖突。

Thirty-Five Years’ War

The Three Hundred and Thirty-Five Years’ War （1651～1986） was a war between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly8. Although no shots were fired during the entire conflict， the lack of peace treaty extended the official war to 335 years—making it both the longest war in history as well as the war with the fewest casualties. Despite the uncertain validity9 of the declaration of war， peace was finally declared in 1986.

持續(xù)335年的戰(zhàn)爭

荷蘭和錫利群島曾爆發(fā)過一場耗時335年（1651～1986）的戰(zhàn)爭。盡管整個沖突期間未開過一槍一炮，但由于沒有簽訂和平條約，這場名義上的戰(zhàn)爭延續(xù)了335年，使其成為歷史上歷時最長且傷亡最少的戰(zhàn)爭。雖然宣戰(zhàn)的合法性不能確定，但雙方最終于1986年宣告和好。

The Drunken War

The Drunken War refers to the Moldovan-Transdniestrian War， which ran from 1900 through to 1992. After the Soviet Union collapsed， two-thirds of Moldova wanted closer ties with the west. But the area of the country to the east of the Dniester River10 wanted to stay close to the Ukraine and Russia. War broke out， and the east split to form Transdniestria， which remains unrecognized by the world.

It was a weird war， as officers from both sides met every night to have a drink together. They went away in the morning and opened fire on each other. At night， they got together again to drink in honor of those they met the previous night and killed.

酗酒之戰(zhàn)

酗酒之戰(zhàn)指的是1900～1992年間爆發(fā)的摩爾多瓦內(nèi)戰(zhàn)。前蘇聯(lián)解體后，有三分之二的摩爾多瓦人想要和西方國家走得更近。但是該國德涅斯特河以東地區(qū)卻想要與烏克蘭和俄羅斯靠攏。戰(zhàn)爭爆發(fā)后，東部地區(qū)獨立出來，成立了德涅斯特河沿岸共和國，但至今仍未得到世界各國的承認(rèn)。

該戰(zhàn)十分離奇：交戰(zhàn)雙方的軍官每晚都會碰面，在一起喝酒，早上又各自離去，兵戎相見。到了晚上，他們又會聚在一起，為紀(jì)念那些前一晚他們遇見并死在他們手下的人而干杯。

Emu11 War

The Emu War， also known as the Great Emu War， was a week-long military operation undertaken in Australia in November 1932 to deal with public concern over the number of emus said to be running amuck12 in the Campion district of Western Australia. The “war” was conducted under the command of Major Meredith of the Royal Australian Artillery， commanding a force of soldiers armed with two Lewis machine guns13 and 10，000 rounds14 of ammunition15. But shooting blindly into a group of birds which can run up to 50 km/h did not bring about the expected results.

Over the course of a week or so， only a handful of the estimated 20，000 birds were actually killed. Major Meredith was astonished. After a few days the Defense Minister ordered a withdrawal， with the “Emu War” ending in a military defeat for Australia.

鴯鹋之戰(zhàn)

鴯鹋之戰(zhàn)，也被稱為鴯鹋大戰(zhàn)，是1932年11月澳大利亞采取的一項為期一周的軍事行動，目的是應(yīng)對公眾關(guān)心的鴯鹋數(shù)量問題。據(jù)說澳大利亞西部堪培森地區(qū)的鴯鹋已經(jīng)多得失去了控制。這場“戰(zhàn)爭”由澳大利亞皇家炮兵少校梅瑞迪斯指揮，裝備有兩挺劉易斯式機槍和一萬發(fā)彈藥的一隊士兵在他的指揮下作戰(zhàn)。但是對著奔跑時速可達(dá)50公里的鳥群盲目射擊并沒有達(dá)到預(yù)期的結(jié)果。

經(jīng)過一周左右的奮戰(zhàn)，只有少量的約兩萬只鳥被真正擊斃，梅瑞迪斯少校對此感到非常吃驚。幾天之后，國防部長下令撤軍，這場鴯鹋之戰(zhàn)以澳方戰(zhàn)敗收場。

War of 1812

The War of 1812 was in many ways the strangest war in the history of the United States. It could well be named the War of Faulty Communication. Two days before the war was declared， the British government stated that it would put an end to the laws which were the chief reason for fighting. If there had been telegraphic communication with Europe， the war might well have been avoided. The chief complaint of the United States against the British was interference with shipping. But New England， the great shipping section of the United States， bitterly opposed the idea of going to war.

It is strange also that the war， fought for freedom of the seas， began with the invasion of Canada. In addition， the treaty of peace that ended the war settled none of the issues over which it had supposedly been fought. Finally， both sides claimed victory in the War of 1812， so the whole struggle was a confused mass of contradictions.

1812年戰(zhàn)爭

1812年戰(zhàn)爭（編注：指美國第二次獨立戰(zhàn)爭）從很多方面來講都可謂美國歷史上最為奇怪的戰(zhàn)爭，稱之為“交流不暢之戰(zhàn)”倒是挺合適的。宣戰(zhàn)之前的那兩天，英國政府曾聲明將取消那些成為戰(zhàn)爭主因的法令（編注：指貿(mào)易禁運法令）。如果當(dāng)時能夠通過電報和歐洲取得聯(lián)系，這場戰(zhàn)爭就很有可能避免。美國當(dāng)時主要是不滿英國干涉海上運輸，但是美國重要的海運地區(qū)新英格蘭卻強烈反對開戰(zhàn)。

同樣奇怪的是，這場為爭奪海上運輸自由而戰(zhàn)的戰(zhàn)爭竟以侵占加拿大領(lǐng)土為開端。除此之外，結(jié)束戰(zhàn)爭所簽訂的和平條約并沒有解決任何預(yù)想通過戰(zhàn)爭解決的問題。最終雙方都宣布在1812年戰(zhàn)爭中獲勝。因此，整場戰(zhàn)爭自相矛盾、混亂不堪。

·注釋

1. Zanzibar： 桑給巴爾（坦桑尼亞東北部），曾于1890年淪為英國的保護(hù)地。根據(jù)1886年簽訂的協(xié)議，桑給巴爾蘇丹的繼任必須獲得英國領(lǐng)事的許可，但哈立德·本·巴伽什（Khalid bin Barghash， 1874～1927）拒絕履行承諾，成為1896年英桑之戰(zhàn)的導(dǎo)火索。

2. sultan n. 蘇丹（某些伊斯蘭國家最高統(tǒng)治者的稱號） 3. succession n. 接替，繼任

4. ultimatum n. 最后通牒

5. expire vi. （期限）終止

6. bombardment n. 轟擊；轟炸

7. San Juan Islands： 圣胡安群島，位于美國華盛頓州皮吉特灣北部，臨近加拿大邊界。一個居住在該島上的美國農(nóng)民發(fā)現(xiàn)一頭豬正在啃食他種植的馬鈴薯的塊莖，便開槍打死了這頭豬。豬的主人是愛爾蘭人，對此表示不滿，由此引發(fā)了這場英美之間的戰(zhàn)爭。

8. Isles of Scilly： 錫利群島，英格蘭康沃爾郡西南方島群，由五座有人居住的島嶼和許多無人定居的小島組成。

9. validity n. 合法性

10. Dniester River： 德涅斯特河，位于歐洲境內(nèi)，發(fā)源于東喀爾巴阡山脈羅茲魯契山，流經(jīng)烏克蘭和摩爾多瓦兩國。

11. emu n.【鳥】（澳洲產(chǎn)）鴯鹋

12. run amuck： 失去控制；四處胡作非為

13. Lewis machine gun： 劉易斯式機槍

14. round n. （子彈等的）一發(fā)

15.ammunition n. 彈藥a；炮彈