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Authors: Cate Lineberry
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their homeland, which they affectionately called “the land of the eagle.”
Just two months earlier, thousands of German troops had occupied the country after Italy surrendered to the Allies, adding to a long list of foreign powers that had ruled Albania for most of its history. During the Ottoman Empire, which lasted for some five hundred years, much of the population had converted to Islam, though the country also included members of the Greek Orthodox Church, mostly in the south, and the Catholic Church, predominantly in the north. The country broke away from the Ottoman Empire in 1912 and declared its independence. The Great Powers of Europe—Austria-Hungary, Britain, Germany, Italy, France, and Russia—formally recognized an independent Albania the following year, but they refused to acknowledge the provisional government and appointed a German prince as its ruler. Prince Wilhem of Wied arrived in March 1914, but after just six months and with the outbreak of World War I, his regime collapsed, and chaos erupted throughout the country as local leaders fought for power.
European powers tried to divide Albania among its neighbors at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, but in March 1920, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson blocked the plan, ensuring the country’s territorial integrity. The United States also recognized an official Albanian representative to Washington; and later that year, Albania was admitted to the newly formed League of Nations, further cementing its independence.
Fighting within the country, however, continued until a clan chief named Ahmet Zogu officially became president in January 1925. He rewrote the constitution, eliminated his opponents, and, by 1928, had crowned himself King Zog. In the meantime, Mussolini had made himself dictator in Italy. When Albania needed economic aid and was refused a loan by the League of Nations, Zog turned to Mussolini, whose help came with substantial political and economic strings. Over the next decade, Italy’s influence in the country grew, and on Good Friday, April 7, 1939, more than twenty thousand Italian troops invaded and occupied the country with almost no resistance. King Zog, his wife, and two-day-old son fled to Greece.
Albania remained under Italy’s control until Italy’s surrender to the Allies in September 1943. Germany, Italy’s former partner, immediately invaded the country with little resistance from the Italian divisions still stationed there or from the Albanian people. To curry favor with the ruling elite, the Germans quickly set up a regency council made up of prominent Albanians from the country’s major religions and offered Albania a level of self-governance much greater than it had under the Italians.
With the arrival of the Germans, tensions between the two main resistance factions, both of which had developed within the country during the Italian occupation, escalated quickly. Communists such as former schoolteacher Enver Hoxha, the country’s future ruthless dictator, and Mehmet Shehu, who had bragged that he had “personally cut the throats of seventy Italian [military police] who had been taken prisoner,” had created the partisan movement known as the Lëvizja Nacional Çlirimtarë, or National Liberation Movement. They were estimated to have a force of up to five thousand troops and could rally up to ten thousand. Those who were anticommunist and antimonarchist, many of whom were part of the ruling class, had created the Balli Kombëtar (BK, or Ballists), or National Front, in response and were thought to be able to muster about three thousand soldiers. The BK fought for a return to a Greater Albania, which would bring together all ethnic Albanians. A newly formed third group, the Legality Party, wanted to reinstate King Zog, but only numbered between one thousand and two thousand forces.
In early November, the differences between the partisans and the BK had erupted into a bloody battle—largely to see who would control
Just two months earlier, thousands of German troops had occupied the country after Italy surrendered to the Allies, adding to a long list of foreign powers that had ruled Albania for most of its history. During the Ottoman Empire, which lasted for some five hundred years, much of the population had converted to Islam, though the country also included members of the Greek Orthodox Church, mostly in the south, and the Catholic Church, predominantly in the north. The country broke away from the Ottoman Empire in 1912 and declared its independence. The Great Powers of Europe—Austria-Hungary, Britain, Germany, Italy, France, and Russia—formally recognized an independent Albania the following year, but they refused to acknowledge the provisional government and appointed a German prince as its ruler. Prince Wilhem of Wied arrived in March 1914, but after just six months and with the outbreak of World War I, his regime collapsed, and chaos erupted throughout the country as local leaders fought for power.
European powers tried to divide Albania among its neighbors at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, but in March 1920, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson blocked the plan, ensuring the country’s territorial integrity. The United States also recognized an official Albanian representative to Washington; and later that year, Albania was admitted to the newly formed League of Nations, further cementing its independence.
Fighting within the country, however, continued until a clan chief named Ahmet Zogu officially became president in January 1925. He rewrote the constitution, eliminated his opponents, and, by 1928, had crowned himself King Zog. In the meantime, Mussolini had made himself dictator in Italy. When Albania needed economic aid and was refused a loan by the League of Nations, Zog turned to Mussolini, whose help came with substantial political and economic strings. Over the next decade, Italy’s influence in the country grew, and on Good Friday, April 7, 1939, more than twenty thousand Italian troops invaded and occupied the country with almost no resistance. King Zog, his wife, and two-day-old son fled to Greece.
Albania remained under Italy’s control until Italy’s surrender to the Allies in September 1943. Germany, Italy’s former partner, immediately invaded the country with little resistance from the Italian divisions still stationed there or from the Albanian people. To curry favor with the ruling elite, the Germans quickly set up a regency council made up of prominent Albanians from the country’s major religions and offered Albania a level of self-governance much greater than it had under the Italians.
With the arrival of the Germans, tensions between the two main resistance factions, both of which had developed within the country during the Italian occupation, escalated quickly. Communists such as former schoolteacher Enver Hoxha, the country’s future ruthless dictator, and Mehmet Shehu, who had bragged that he had “personally cut the throats of seventy Italian [military police] who had been taken prisoner,” had created the partisan movement known as the Lëvizja Nacional Çlirimtarë, or National Liberation Movement. They were estimated to have a force of up to five thousand troops and could rally up to ten thousand. Those who were anticommunist and antimonarchist, many of whom were part of the ruling class, had created the Balli Kombëtar (BK, or Ballists), or National Front, in response and were thought to be able to muster about three thousand soldiers. The BK fought for a return to a Greater Albania, which would bring together all ethnic Albanians. A newly formed third group, the Legality Party, wanted to reinstate King Zog, but only numbered between one thousand and two thousand forces.
In early November, the differences between the partisans and the BK had erupted into a bloody battle—largely to see who would control
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