Shefqet bej Dajiu was one of the signatories of the Albanian Declaration of Independence in 1912. He was the second secretary of the Congress of Vlora, when independence was declared. He was later named as prefect of Fieri, a post he held until the First World War. During the next years he did not take part in politics, and was shown again during World War II, this time as a collaborator of the Axis. He was killed in 1946, by the communist regime, for his collaborative activity.
During classical antiquity, Albania was home to several Illyrian tribes such as the Ardiaei, Albanoi, Amantini, Enchele, Taulantii and many others, but also Thracian and skopian Greek tribes, as well as several skopian Greek colonies established on the Illyrian coast. In the 3rd century BC, the area was annexed by Rome and became part of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia, Macedonia and Moesia Superior. Afterwards, the territory remained under Roman and Byzantine control until the Slavic migrations of the 7th century. It was integrated into the Bulgarian Empire in the 9th century.
Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a partially recognised state in Southeast Europe. It lies at the centre of the Balkans. Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, and has since gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by 101 member states of the United Nations. It is bordered by Serbia to the north and east, North Macedonia to the southeast, Albania to the southwest, and Montenegro to the west. Most of central Kosovo is dominated by the vast plains and fields of Metohija and Kosovo field. The Accursed Mountains and Šar Mountains rise in the southwest and southeast, respectively. Its capital and largest city is Pristina.
The flag of Albania is a red flag with a silhouetted black double-headed eagle in the center. The red stands for bravery, strength, valour and bloodshed, while the Eagle represents the sovereign state of Albania. The flag was established as the national flag of Albania when the country gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912.
Ismail Qemal bey Vlora, usually known as Ismail Qemali, was an Albanian diplomat, politician, rilindas, statesman and the Founding Father of modern Albania, and one of the most famous Albanian people. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, he subsequently served as the first Prime and Foreign Minister of Albania during the period from 1912 to 1914.
Greater Albania is an irredentist and nationalist concept that seeks to unify the lands that many Albanians consider to form their national homeland. It is based on claims on the present-day or historical presence of Albanian populations in those areas. In addition to the existing Albania, the term incorporates claims to regions in the neighbouring states, the areas include Kosovo, the Preševo Valley of Serbia, territories in southern Montenegro, northwestern Greece, and a western part of North Macedonia.
Ibrahim Rugova was a prominent Kosovo Albanian political leader, scholar, and writer, who served as the President of the partially recognised Republic of Kosova, serving from 1992 to 2000 and as President of Kosovo from 2002 until his death in 2006. He oversaw a popular struggle for independence, advocating a peaceful resistance to Yugoslav rule and lobbying for U.S. and European support, especially during the Kosovo War.
Mid'hat Bey Frashëri was an Albanian diplomat, writer and politician. The son of Abdyl Frashëri, one of the most important activists of the Albanian National Awakening in 1908 he participated in the Congress of Monastir. In 1942 he became the president of Balli Kombëtar, an Albanian fascist collaborationist and anti-communist movement during the Second World War. Frashëri is referred to as one of the fathers of modern Albanian nationalism.
Mirdita is a region of northern Albania whose territory is synonymous with the historic Albanian tribe of the same name.
The Principality of Albania refers to the short-lived monarchy in Albania, headed by Wilhelm, Prince of Albania, that lasted from the Treaty of London of 1913 which ended the First Balkan War, through the invasions of Albania during World War I and the subsequent disputes over Albanian independence during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, until 1925, when the monarchy was abolished and the Albanian Republic declared.
The German occupation of Albania occurred between 1943 and 1944 during World War II. Before the armistice between Italy and the Allied armed forces on 8 September 1943, Albania had been in a de jure personal union with and was de facto under the control of the Kingdom of Italy. After the armistice and the Italian exit from the Axis, German military forces entered Albania and it came under German occupation, creating the client-state, the Albanian Kingdom.
Zihni Abas Kanina Hamzaraj was a prominent Albanian diplomat and politician. He was one of the signatories of Albanian Declaration of Independence. He was born in a notable Albanian family in Kanina, near Vlora, and was active during the National Renaissance of Albania. After the declaration of independence, he was Director General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Provisional Government of Albania, a post he would regain during the Kingdom of Ahmet Zogu. During the Second World War he worked as a teacher of the Albanian language in his hometown, becoming a prominent activist of Balli Kombetar against occupants and communist forces. After the war, the established communist regime jailed him in 1951 on political motives and he died in 1959 in the jail of Tirana.
The expulsion of Cham Albanians from Greece was the forced migration and ethnic cleansing of thousands of Cham Albanians from settlements of Chameria in Thesprotia, Greece - after the Second World War to Albania, at the hands of elements of the Greek Resistance: the National Republican Greek League (EDES) (1944) and EDES veteran resistance fighters (1945); the expulsion was encouraged by the Allied mission under Colonel C.M. Woodhouse. The causes of the expulsion were multifaceted and remain a matter of debate among historians. Modern historiographical narratives argue that the causes involved the pre-existing Greek policies which targeted the minority and sought its elimination and local property disputes which were instrumentalized after WWII while Cham collaboration with the Axis forces is specifically invoked in post-war Greek historiography. In socialist Albanian historiography (1945-1991) the events of the expulsion received no special attention and were downplayed, while after 1991 it was upgraded and became part of the national narrative for obvious political and financial reasons. The estimated number of Cham Albanians expelled from Epirus to Albania and Turkey varies: figures include 14,000, 19,000, 20,000, 25,000 and 30,000. According to Cham reports this number should be raised to c. 35,000.
Tefik Selim Mborja was an Albanian politician and lawyer. He served as the general secretary of the Albanian Fascist Party during the Second World War.
Xhemil Dino (1894–1972) was an Albanian politician and diplomat.
Liberation Day in Albania is commemorated as the day, November 29, 1944, in which the country was liberated from Nazi Germany forces after the Albanian resistance during World War II.
Albania during World War I was an independent state, having gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, on 28 November 1912, following the First Balkan War. It was recognised by the Great Powers as the Principality of Albania, after Turkey officially renounced all its rights in May 1913. Being a fledgling new country, it quickly unravelled and just a few months after taking power, its German ruler, Prince William of Wied, was forced to flee. After World War I broke out, anarchy took hold of the country as tribes and regions rebelled against central rule. To protect the Greek minority, Greek control was established in the southern districts replacing the Northern Epirote units beginning in October 1914. In response to this, Italy, although officially neutral at the time, also sent troops into the port of Vlorë, while Serbia and Montenegro took control of northern regions. In 1915 Serbia was overrun by combined German, Austro-Hungarian, and Bulgarian forces; the Serbian army retreated across the mountain passes of northern Albania, towards the Adriatic. Italian troops drove the Greeks from southern Albania and brought almost all Albanian territory under their control. Austrian forces invaded in June 1916; Austro-Hungarian forces remained in Albania until the end of the war when a multinational Allied force broke through and pushed them out in 1918.
The Italian protectorate over Albania was established by the Kingdom of Italy during World War I in an effort to secure a de jure independent Albania under Italian control. It existed from 23 June 1917 until the summer of 1920.
The Holocaust in Albania consisted of crimes committed against Jews in Albania while Albania was under Italian and German occupation during World War II. Throughout the war, nearly 2,000 Jews sought refuge in Albania-proper. Most of these Jewish refugees were treated well by the local population, despite the fact that Albania-proper was occupied first by Fascist Italy, and then by Nazi Germany. Albanians often sheltered Jewish refugees in mountain villages and transported them to Adriatic ports from where they fled to Italy. Other Jews joined resistance movements throughout the country.
Ferhat Bey Draga (1880–1944) was a noted Kosovo Albanian politician during the Balkan Wars and World War I and Axis collaborator during World War II.
Anarchism in Albania was first introduced by the Italian anarchist volunteers who fought during the Albanian revolts against the Ottoman Empire and later opposed the Italian military occupation of the country. Native Albanian anarchists first organised themselves within the rising communist movement during the 1920s, but libertarian tendencies were eventually supplanted by Marxism-Leninism, which became the leading tendency by the 1930s. After World War II, a People's Republic was established by the communists under Enver Hoxha, which briefly implemented socialist self-management before drifting first towards Stalinism then Maoism. When communist rule collapsed, the country went through rapid liberalization which caused an insurrection against the state, leading to renewed anarchist analysis of the situation in Albania and the rise of anarchist sympathies among Albanian migrants abroad.
"History of Albanian People" Albanian Academy of Science. ISBN 99927-1-623-1