The Modern History of Albania

The National Movement

In the 1870s, the Ottoman Empire had began a campaign of reforms aimed at slowing a loss of power in the Balkans. The reforms could not stop the calls for independence from the Ottoman Empire that spread across southeast Europe. The idea of the “Turkish yoke” or Ottoman oppression had become a common theme amongst national activists who wished to create independent countries. Because of their larger population of Muslims, internal social divisions, and concerns that their newly emerging neighbors (Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece) would receive most of their territory, the Albanians were the last group of people in the Balkans to call for independence. As more and more Albanians began to call for independence, they discussed the idea of statehood. This growing national movement saw the revival of Albanian literature and local revolts against Ottoman rule. This movement was also supported by communities of Albanians who had emigrated during the Ottoman period and now lived across Europe and the United States. With the help and money from these communities, Albanian language newspapers and schools started to pop up in the Albanian territories.

One organization that was born from the Albanian national movement was the League of Prizren. This league was created by 47 beys (Muslim landowners) when they met in the city of Prizren on June 18, 1878. The leaders of the League of Prizren called for the recognition of Albanians but as subjects of the Ottoman Empire, and they stated that they intended to preserve the Ottoman territory of Albania and fight against any attempts by the new countries of Montenegro and Greece to take any of that territory. The League of Prizren, however, was unable to maintain control of all of the territory they claimed as rightfully Albanian. After the Ottoman Empire lost a war with Russia and new independent states emerged in the Balkans, The Great Powers (Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Austria, and Italy) awarded some of the northern territories to Montenegro and southern territories to Greece.

The League of Prizren’s founding figure, Abdyl Frashëri convinced members to demand autonomy for Albania and began revolts against the Ottoman Empire.  Faced with pressure from the European Powers to calm the league’s activities, the Ottoman Empire intervened and arrested the league’s members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Albanian Independence

More Albanian uprisings against the Ottoman Empire continued to occur, with the largest taking place in 1908 and again in 1910. When Ottoman influence in the Balkans continued to weaken, the Balkan League (Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Montenegro) declared war on the Ottoman Empire, igniting what is known as the First Balkan War in 1912. During the war, northern Albania was occupied by Serbia and Greece occupied the south. The war left only a small region of Albania, called Vlora, free from military occupations.

Because the Ottoman Empire was busy at war and the Albanians feared that Serbia and Greece would permanently take their territory, a prominent group of Albanians under the leadership of Ismail Qemali proclaimed Albanian independence from the Empire. On November 28, 1912, Ismail Qemali waved the Albanian flag to a crowd of people from his balcony in Vlora. The flag used had been sewn over a flag originally owned by Skanderbeg. Ismail Qemali became the first Prime Minister of Albania (only briefly) and, therefore, is considered the “father of Albania” by many.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Great Powers agreed to recognize the independent country of Albania in 1913 at the London Conference. As part of the agreement, the Great Powers stipulated that they would establish the government of the new country as a principality. Further, the Great Powers stated that they would chose a prince to head the government and rule over the Albanian people.

The Principality of Albania

After the Balkan Wars ended, the Great Powers worked to create the new Albanian country as a principality under the leadership of a European prince. A principality is a type of government in which a monarch, a prince in the case of Albania, is the head of the government. The monarch must abide by the constitution but has the authority to create and select governmental cabinet positions to assist with internal and foreign affairs.

The Principality of Albania was established on February 21, 1914. The Great Powers installed Prince William of Wied on the throne. Wied was from Germany and practiced Protestant Christianity; a religion not very reflective of the Albanian population. Because, of this, Wied became a very unpopular ruler in Albania. While Wied was recognized as a prince by the Great Powers, he was referred to as a king inside Albania so that he would not appear weak compared to the monarchs ruling the countries that bordered Albania.

Because the new country of Albania had no military, the Great Powers installed a Dutch military contingent to help protect the country and train the emerging Albanian police force and small military.

When World War I erupted in August 1914, Albania was plagued with internal divisions, as Prince Wied’s government began to fail. The country split into regions with different leaders competing for control of the government. Ultimately, after a revolt against his authority, Prince Wied abdicated from his role as the ruler on September 3 1914, ending the Principality of Albania. This failure of the government caused religious divisions within Albania, as many Muslims demanded a new Muslim prince and looked back to the Ottoman Empire for support. The most notable result of this division was the Peasant Revolt of 1914 led by Haxhi Qamili. This revolt called for Albania to return to the Ottoman Empire.

During World War I, Albania had no formally recognized government and the entirety of the country was occupied by foreign military forces. By 1916, Austrian and Bulgarian troops occupied and controlled the northern territory of Albania, while Italian troops maintained an occupation in the south. Moreover, under the secretive London Treaty, signed by the Triple Entente and Italy in April 1915, the Allied Powers promised to give Italy control of central Albania under its protection once the war was over, and promised Serbia the northern territories and Greece the southern portions. This agreement was an exchange for Italy promising to join the war on the side of the Allies.

Territorial Promises

After World War I ended, Albania was still under the occupation of Serbian (soon to be Yugoslavian) and Italian forces. However, local populations in the north and the south rebelled against the occupations, eventually pushing back the Serbians behind the recognized borders of Albania.

Albania’s political turmoil continued after the war. The country had no official government, and this allowed Italy to maintain control of Albania’s political affairs. To make matters worse, Albania was denied representation at the Paris Peace Conference. Diplomatic and peace negotiators from France, Britain, and Greece agreed to allow Albania to fall under Yugoslav, Italian, and Greek spheres of influence as a way to honor the secret London Treaty and to appease ongoing territorial disputes between the countries who were victorious after the war.

Unhappy with the current state of affairs in Albania and the negotiations in Paris, members of a second Albanian National Assembly met in the town of Lushnjë in January 1920 to reject the plans to carve up Albania. The Lushnjë National Assembly appointed a four-man regency (governmental body) to rule the country. In February 1920, the government moved to Tirana and declared that city as Albania’s capital.

One month later, in March 1920, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson stepped in to block the agreement to divide Albania between Italy, Yugoslavia, and Greece. Because of his actions. President Wilson holds a special place with Albanians and their history. The United States continued its support for a new independent Albania by installing an official Albanian representative in Washington. Then, in December 1920, the League of Nations recognized Albania’s sovereignty and admitted it as a member of the organization.

Albania achieved statehood after World War I because of the diplomatic intervention of the United States government. However, the country continued to suffer from a weak economy and its history of political instability. The Italian occupation of Albania ended after a brief war in the city of Vlora in the summer of 1920. With its renewed independence, Albania now needed a leader.

The First Republic of Albania

In the immediate aftermath of WWI and the Paris Peace, numerous Albanian governments developed and disappeared quickly. Between July and December 1921, the leadership of Albania changed five times. A political group called the Popular Party’s Head, formed a government in December 1921 with Fan Noli as foreign minister and Ahmed Zogu as internal affairs minister. Noli soon after resigned his position, Zogu rose to power and began a campaign of repression against tribal elements within Albania.

When enemies of the government attacked Tirana in early 1922, Zogu successfully repelled the attack and then made himself the Premier (leader of the government). Zogu faced heavy opposition, especially from Christian Albanians who believed the Premier’s policies favored historically wealthy landowning Muslims.

Due to Zogu’s unpopularity among sectors of the Albanian public and threats of armed conflict, Fan Noli was able to seize control of the government. Zogu, however was not willing to give up his power. With support from Yugoslavia and members of its army, Zogu entered Tirana and once again seized control of the government on Christmas Eve 1924. Noli and his government officials were forced to flee to Italy.

Zogu reconvened the Albanian government, had a new constitution written, and created the Albanian Republic. When elections were held in January 1925, Zogu managed to win the Presidency, which was a seven year term. During his rule as President, Zogu became like a dictator and engaged in the elimination of his political opponents through arrests and even murder. Zogu also developed a political relationship with Benito Mussolini of Italy.

Kingdom of Albania

In 1928, Zogu dissolved the Albanian parliament and declared Albania a monarchy with himself king: the Kingdom of Albania. As the King of Albania, Zogu continued to rule as a dictator. He was never seen in public without being surrounded by armed guards, and he attempted to disarm the Albanian population to prevent any opposition and revolution during his rule. He also began to sever his ties with Mussolini and Italy.

During Zogu’s reign as king, Albania faced one financial crisis after another and was unable to pay foreign loans. When king Zogu created trade agreements with Yugoslavia and Greece, Benito Mussolini became angered that Italian influence in Albania was weakening. Mussolini was able to gain favor with members of Zogu’s government and promised money and building projects in Albania in return. Eventually, Italian nationals began to settle in Albania and many gained positions in local governments.

On the eve of World War II, Italy launched an invasion of Albania in April 1939. The Italians removed king Zogu from his position and took over control of the Albanian government.

World War II

After Italy = successfully invaded Albania on April 7, 1939 and took control of the country. Mussolini declared the Italian King (only a figurehead of the Italian government), Victor Emmanuel III as the King of Albania. Thus, Albania became one of the first countries to be occupied by the Axis Powers during World War II. 

As Hitler began to expand his war efforts during World War II, Mussolini decided to occupy Albania as a way to compete with Hitler’s territorial gains. Mussolini and the Italian Fascist party viewed Albania as a historical part of the Roman Empire to justify the Italian occupation. For Mussolini, control of Albania was part of his ambition to create an Italian empire. During the Italian occupation, Albanians were subjected to a policy of forced Italianization in which the use of the Albanian language was discouraged and the Italian language was promoted in schools. Additionally, Mussolini encouraged Italians to colonize Albania to make the population more Italian.

When the Allies invaded Italy and ended Mussolini’s government, Germany took over the occupation of Albania in 1943. Germany did not exercise the same aggressive tactics as Italy. Instead Germany agreed to recognize Albanian independence and sought to gain support from the Albanian population.

Despite Germany’s promise to support a new Albanian government, Albanian resistance against the occupation grew. Armed Albanian liberation groups developed consisting of communist partisans (members of the Albanian Communist Party) and others. As German power began to weaken towards the end of World War II, the Liberation groups successfully pushed the Germans out of Albania, ending the occupation in November 1944.

The person who rose to power in Albania after the German occupation was a member of the Communist Party named Enver Hoxha. After becoming the leading power in the Albanian government, the Communist Party began a campaign of violence and repression to eliminate political opposition. Many intellectuals and individuals who opposed the Communist Party were arrested, tortured, and killed.

Socialist People’s Republic of Albania

As Enver Hoxha emerged as the Communist leader of Albania, he began many policies aimed at altering the Albanian economy and society. The practice of religion was discouraged and even punished. The wealthy landowning class in Albania was eliminated and the government redistributed lands for projects and collectivized agricultural production. Many social traditions and traditional gender roles were abolished in the name of making the country more egalitarian. Further, many Albanians were prohibited from owning cars.

In the initial years of the Hoxha government, Albania was aligned with Stalin and the Soviet Union, but after Stalin’s death, Hoxha cut ties with the Soviets and instead formed an alliance with China. China pumped millions and millions of dollars into Albania and helped the country grow its struggling economy. However, after the death of the Chinese leader, Mao Zedong, the Chinese government stopped its flow of money into Albania. This caused Hoxha to end the relationship with China and he made Albania more isolationist in the 1970s. Hoxha continued his repressive rule over Albania. In the late 1970s Hoxha became increasingly distrustful of foreign governments and even developed a paranoia that a neighboring country would invade Albania. This paranoia resulted in Hoxha constructing thousands of small military bunkers throughout Albania. Hoxha remained the leader of Albania until the early 1980s, but a new communist constitution was written that created the Third Republic of Albania. With his health failing, Hoxha went into retirement in 1983, though he still maintained a hold on Albanian politics. Hoxha died in 1985.

Becoming a Democracy

After Hoxha’s death in 1985, a new leader followed in his footsteps named Ramiz Alia. Although Alia tried to run Albania the same way Hoxha did, the communist regimes across Eastern Europe were becoming increasingly weaker. Faced with internal and international pressure to institute democratic reforms, Alia had no choice but to do so. A new Albanian government was established in 1991, the Fourth Republic in the wake of the communist collapse. Ali was able to maintain power until 1992, when Albania’s Democratic Party rose to prominence.

The Democratic Party won a majority in the 1992 elections and Sali Berisha became the second president of Albania to be rightfully elected, ending 53 years of communist rule. Under Berisha, Albania began a campaign of “westernization” to integrate its economy into the capitalist system, and Albanian leadership created the goal to join the European Union and NATO. The Albanian government’s inexperience with the capitalist system led to the prominence of pyramid schemes that resulted in many Albanians selling their assets to invest in the system.

In 1996, the pyramid schemes collapsed and many Albanians lost their savings and even properties. This resulted in widespread unrest and protests. The protests became increasingly violent and the Albanian police were called in to end the protests. This instigated what is known as the Albanian Civil War in January 1997, which was a conflict between civilians and the police and military. This so-called “civil war” lasted until August 1997 when peacekeeping organizations intervened to end the unrest. It is estimated that there were a total of 3,800 casualties by the time the conflict ended.

After the civil unrest subsided, Albania had a series of leaders who came to power for short periods. Ultimately, Albania adopted a new constitution in November 1998, revamping the Fourth Republic. This new government ended over a century of shifting and collapsing governments and serves as the current government of the country.

2000’s – Today

The social and economic conditions in Albania began to stabilize in the 2000s and the country saw continued economic growth. The Socialist Party of Albania grew to become a dominant force in politics.

In 2005, Sali Berisha reemerged in Albanian politics and challenged the dominance of the Socialist Party. Berisha became the Prime Minister of Albania in 2005 and maintained that position until 2013, when the Socialist party once again began to dominate the political arena.

In April 2014 Albania became a full member of the NATO. Albania was one of the first Balkan countries to join the Partnership for Peace program, which is a NATO program aimed at promoting cooperation between its members. Albania then applied to become a member of the European Union and became a candidate for accession to the EU in June 2014.

In 2013, the leader of the Socialist Party, Edi Rama, became the Prime Minister of Albania. Rama became a very popular leader. Under Rama, Albania experienced a period of revitalization and expansion of social programs. He began construction in the capital of Tirana to redevelop public buildings and parks.

As of today (2024), Rama is still Albania’s Prime Minister.  On 19 July 2022, Albania began negotiations with the European Union for becoming a member country and in December 2022, Albania hosted the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tirana.

Despite a sometimes troubled past, Albania’s history is rich and worthy of exploration. Though Albania is a country that has often been relegated to the periphery of Europe, it appears that one day soon it will become integrated into the European Union.