In World War I, Albania had been an independent state, having gained independence from the Ottoman Empire on 28 November 1912, during 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.[1] Being a fledgling new country, it quickly unravelled and just a few months after taking power, its German ruler, Prince Wilhelm, 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.[1] 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.
Albania was a country that declared its independence only two years before World War I. In the aftermath of the Balkan WarsSerbia, Montenegro and Greece all occupied and claimed parts of Albania. It was decided that Wilhelm of Wied, a German prince, would become the leader of the new Principality of Albania.[2] The principality under Wilhelm was established on 21 February 1914 and Prince Wilhelm arrived in Albania at his provisional capital of Durrës on 7 March 1914 along with the royal family. The security of Albania was to be provided by a gendarmerie commanded by Dutch officers. Inside Albania he was called King Wilhelm; outside Albania, Prince Wilhelm.
The southern part of the country, Northern Epirus, which had a large Greek population, grated at being part of Albania and when the Greek soldiers left, it rose up against William. Under pressure from the great powers the Greeks backed down on independence demands and negotiations were carried out on the island of Corfu, where on 17 May 1914 Albanian and Epirote representatives signed an agreement known as the Protocol of Corfu. According to its terms, Northern Epirus would acquire complete autonomous existence (as a corpus separatum) under the nominal Albanian sovereignty of Prince William.[3] The agreement of the Protocol was ratified by the representatives of the Great Powers at Athens on 18 June and by the Albanian government on 23 June.[4]
Just one month after Protocol of Corfu was signed by the Albanians on June 23, 1914, war broke out in Europe. Officially starting on July 28, 1914, the war threw Albania into disarray. Throughout the war, occupying forces, of both Central and Allied powers, massacred the Albanian population on multiple occasions.
One month after accepting the throne on 7 March, King William arrived in his provisional capital of Durrës and started to organise his government, appointing Turhan Pasha Përmeti to form the first Albanian cabinet.[5] The Muslim uprising in central Albania was one of the factors that led to the Prince's withdrawal from the country and the fall of the so-called six-month kingdom on the eve of the First World War. This first cabinet was dominated by members of the nobility (prince Essad Pasha Toptani, defence and foreign affairs, prince George Adamidi bey Frachery, finances, and prince Aziz pacha Vrioni, agriculture).
His brief reign proved a turbulent one. Immediately following his arrival revolts of Muslims broke out in central Albania against his Chief Minister, Essad Pasha, and against foreign domination. Meanwhile, Greece encouraged the formation of a "provisional government of North Epirus" in the southern part of the country. Although an agreement was made to grant extra rights to the Greek minority, the Hellenic Army occupied Southern Albania excluding Berat and Korçë. William's position was also undermined by his own officials, notably Essad Pasha himself, who accepted money from Italy to finance a revolt and to stage a coup against William. Pasha was arrested on 19 May 1914 and tried for treason and sentenced to death. Only the intervention of Italy saved his life and he escaped to Italy in exile.[6] The outbreak of World War I presented more problems for Prince William as Austria-Hungary demanded that he send Albanian soldiers to fight alongside them. When he refused, citing the neutrality of Albania in the Treaty of London, the remuneration that he had been receiving was cut off.[7] Various tribal chiefs and self-styled warlords took control of central and northern Albania. In the Greek south, local leaders renounced the Protocol of Corfu and seized control. Prince William left the country on 3 September 1914.
Greek occupation of Northern Epirus (October 1914)
Sporadic armed conflicts continued to occur in spite of the Protocol of Corfu's ratification, and on September 3, 1914, Prince Wilhelm departed the country.[8] In the following days, an Epirote unit launched an attack on the Albanian garrison in Berat without approval from the provisional government, managing to capture its citadel for several days, while Albanian troops loyal to Essad Pasha initiated small-scale armed operations.[9] These events worried Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos, as well as the possibility that the unstable situation could spill over outside Albania, triggering a wider conflict. On October 27, 1914, after receiving the approval of the Great Powers the Greek Army's V Army Corps entered the area for a second time. The provisional government of Northern Epirus formally ceased to exist, declaring that it had accomplished its objectives. Greek troops crossed the southern Albanian border at the end of October 1914, officially reoccupying southern Albania, exclusive of Vlorë, and establishing a military administration by 27 October 1914.[10] The Italians were not happy with the Greek occupation and sent in Italian marines to occupy Vlorë, or Avlona, or Valona, as they called it.[11] On October 31 the Italians seized the strategic island of Saseno or Sazan Island.[12] In December Italy reiterated that Albania would remain neutral as stated at the London Conference and that Italian bluejackets were landed at Avlona with this objective.[13]
Serbian retreat and Austrian occupation (winter 1915)
As anarchy grew in Northern Albania and the Greeks moved into the South, Italy sent its troops to occupy Vlorë while Serbia and Montenegro occupied parts of northern Albania. Successful defensive moves during the Serbian Campaign of World War I kept the Central Powers out of Albania until 1915. Bulgaria was finally coaxed into entering the War on the side of the Central Powers and the Austro-Hungarians and Germans began their attack against Serbia on October 7 while on October 14, 1915, the Bulgarian Army attacked from two directions sending the Serbian armies into disarray.
After attacks from both Bulgaria and Austria, Serbian army leader Marshal Putnik ordered a full retreat, south and west through Montenegro and into Albania. The weather was terrible, the roads poor, and the army had to help the tens of thousands of civilians who retreated with them with almost no supplies or food left. But the bad weather and poor roads worked for the refugees as well, as the Central Powers forces could not press them hard enough, and so they evaded capture. Many of the fleeing soldiers and civilians did not make it to the coast, though – they were lost to hunger, disease, attacks by enemy forces and Albanian tribal bands.[14] The circumstances of the retreat were disastrous, and all told, only some 155,000 Serbs, mostly soldiers, reached the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and embarked on Italian transport ships that carried the army to various Greek islands (many to Corfu) before being sent to Salonika. The evacuation of the Serbian army from Albania was completed on 10 February 1916. In the Serb's wake came the armies of Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. They would occupy most of Albania until the Vardar Offensive of September 1918.
Austro-Hungarian occupation of Albania (1916–1918)
Occupation of Albania in 1916.
The largest part of Albania was occupied by Austria-Hungary. Albania was considered a Besetztes Freundesland (Friendly Occupied Country). The Austro-Hungarians left the local administration in place, formed an Albanian gendarmerie and opened schools. The development of a proper Albanian language and orthography was promoted to reduce Italian influences. They also built roads and other infrastructure. Less popular was their attempt to confiscate weapons, which were all-present amongst the civilian population.[15] Nevertheless, several thousand Albanians fought on the side of the Austro-Hungarians against the Allies, including when the Italian Army landed at Durazzo.
The Military Administration was established at Scutari.
In September 1917 the French troops commanded by general Maurice Sarrail undertook an action against the armies of Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria in Albania. Although the armies of Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary were joined by Albanians, led by Hysejn Nikolica,[16] French troops captured Pogradec, ending the Bulgarian occupation of Albania.[16]
French and Italian protectorate over Southern Albania (Autumn 1916)
In May 1916, the Italian XVI Corps, some 100,000 men under the command of General Settimio Piacentini, returned and occupied the region of southern Albania by the autumn 1916,[17] while the French army occupied Korçë and its surrounding areas on November 29, 1916. The Italian (in Gjirokastër) and French forces (in Korçë), according mainly to the development of the Balkan Front, entered the area of former Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus (controlled by the Greek minority) in autumn 1916, after approval of the Triple Entente.
The establishment of the Autonomous Albanian Republic of Korçë was done on December 10, 1916, by French authorities with a protocol, according to which an autonomous province would be established on the territories of Korçë, Bilishti, Kolonja, Opar and Gora in eastern Albania.
On December 12, 1916, Italy asked for explanations from the Quai d'Orsay, through its ambassador, because the establishment of the Autonomous Albanian Republic of Korçë violated the Treaty of London.[18]Austria-Hungary used French precedent in Korçë to justify the proclamation of independence of Albania under its protectorate on January 3, 1917, in Shkodra.
The Kingdom of Italy did the same when proclaiming independence of Albania under its protectorate on June 23, 1917, in Gjirokastra.[19] General Giacinto Ferrero proclaimed on that day the Italian Protectorate and the next weeks entered Greece and occupied Ioannina in Epirus.[20] Neither Great Britain nor France had been consulted beforehand, and they did not give any official recognition to the Italian Protectorate.[21] This Albanian republic under the leadership of Turhan Përmeti, protected by 100,000 soldiers of the Italian Army, adopted officially a red flag with a black eagle in the middle, but raised a storm of protests, even in the Italian Parliament.[22]
In autumn 1918, the Italians expanded their Protectorate (without adding anything officially to Albania) to areas of northern Greece (around Kastoria) and western Macedonia (around Bitola), conquered from the Bulgarians and Ottomans. On September 25 the Italian 35th Division reached and occupied Krusevo deep inside western Macedonia.[23]
The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonika Front, of World War I was formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia. The Allies were able to move the Serbian Army from Corfu to regions of Greece and Albania where eventually, a stable front was established, running from the AlbanianAdriatic coast to the Struma River, pitting a multinational Allied force against the Bulgarian Army, which was at various times bolstered with smaller units from the remaining Central Powers. The Macedonian Front remained quite stable, despite local actions, until the great Allied offensive in September 1918.
In September 1918, Entente forces finally broke through the Central Powers' lines north of Thessaloniki and within days Austro-Hungarian forces began to withdraw from Albania. On October 2, 1918, the city of Durrës was shelled on the orders of Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, during the Battle of Durazzo. According to d'Espèrey, the Port of Durrës, if not destroyed, would have served the evacuation of the Bulgarian and German armies, involved in World War I.[24] When the war ended on 11 November 1918, Italy's army had occupied most of Albania; Serbia held much of the country's northern mountains; Greece occupied a sliver of land within Albania's 1913 borders; and French forces occupied Korçë and Shkodër as well as other regions with sizeable Albanian populations.
Under the secret Treaty of London signed in April 1915, Triple Entente powers promised Italy that it would gain Vlorë (Valona) and nearby lands and a protectorate over Albania in exchange for entering the war against Austria-Hungary. Serbia and Montenegro were promised much of northern Albania, and Greece was promised much of the country's southern half. The treaty left a tiny Albanian state that would be represented by Italy in its relations with the other major powers.
Albania's political confusion continued in the wake of World War I. The country lacked a single recognised government, and Albanians had reasonable fears that Italy, Yugoslavia, and Greece would extinguish Albania's independence and carve up the country. Italian forces controlled Albanian political activity in the areas that they occupied. The Serbs, who largely dictated Yugoslavia's foreign policy after World War I, strove to take over northern Albania, and the Greeks sought to control southern Albania.
In 1918, the Serbian army devastated 150 villages in the Drin valley in northern Albania.[25] There were series of massacres carried out in the regions of Podgor, Rozaj, Gjakova, Rugova, and Gusinje and Plav with the goal of suppressing the local resistance movement.[26]
US President Woodrow Wilson intervened to block the Paris agreement. The United States underscored its support for Albania's independence by recognising an official Albanian representative to Washington, DC, and on December 17, 1920, the League of Nations recognised Albania's sovereignty by admitting it as a full member. The country's borders, however, remained unsettled.
In the meantime, the Italian army had been chased out of Albania by an Albanian volunteer force during the Vlora War (June–September 1920). Instability in the country came to an end when the Parliament abolished the Principality of Albania and proclaimed the Republic, vesting dictatorial powers into the new President Ahmet Zogu.
Related Research Articles
Wilhelm, Prince of Albania was sovereign of the Principality of Albania from 7 March to 3 September 1914. His reign officially came to an end on 31 January 1925, when the country was declared an Albanian Republic.
Essad Toptani was an Albanian politician who served as prime minister of Albania from 1914 to 1916. He previously established the Republic of Central Albania based in Durrës. An Ottoman army officer, he served as the Albanian deputy in the Ottoman Parliament and later cooperated with the Balkan League after the Balkan Wars.
The Treaty of London (1913) was signed on 30 May following the London Conference of 1912–1913. It dealt with the territorial adjustments arising out of the conclusion of the First Balkan War. The London Conference had ended on 23 January 1913, when the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état took place and Ottoman Grand Vizier Kâmil Pasha was forced to resign. Coup leader Enver Pasha withdrew the Ottoman Empire from the Conference, and the Treaty of London was signed without the presence of the Ottoman delegation.
The Serbian First Army was a Serbian field army that fought during World War I.
The Balkans theatre or Balkan campaign was a theatre of World War I fought between the Central Powers and the Allies.
The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front, was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. The expedition came too late and with insufficient force to prevent the fall of Serbia and was complicated by the internal political crisis in Greece. Eventually, a stable front was established, running from the Albanian Adriatic coast to the Struma River, pitting a multinational Allied force against the Bulgarian army, which was at various times bolstered with smaller units from the other Central Powers. The Macedonian front remained stable, despite local actions, until the Allied offensive in September 1918 resulted in Bulgaria capitulating and the liberation of Serbia.
The Principality of Albania was a 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 siege of Scutari, also referred to as the siege of Shkodër, known in Turkish as İşkodra Müdafaası(in Turkish) or İşkodra Savunması, took place from 28 October 1912 to 23 April 1913 when the army of the Kingdom of Montenegro defeated the forces of the Ottoman Empire and invaded Shkodër.
The Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus was a short-lived, self-governing entity founded in the aftermath of the Balkan Wars on 28 February 1914, by the local Greek population in southern Albania.
The Protocol of Corfu, signed on May 17, 1914, was an agreement between the representatives of the Albanian Government and the Provisional Government of Northern Epirus, which officially recognized the area of Northern Epirus as an autonomous self-governing region under the sovereignty of the prince of the newly established Principality of Albania. The agreement granted the Greeks of the districts of Korytsa (Korçë) and Argyrokastro (Gjirokastër), which form Northern Epirus, wider religious, educational, cultural and political autonomy, inside the borders of the Albanian state.
The Republic of Central Albania was a short-lived unrecognised state established on 16 October 1913, with its administrative centre in Durrës, today in Albania.
The Autonomous Province of Korçë, sometimes referred to as Republic of Korçë, was an autonomous legal entity established in 27/10 December 1916, by the local French forces after the city of Korçë fell under their control during World War I, and which lasted until 1920.
The Bulgarian occupation of Albania was an occupation of the eastern parts of Albania by the Kingdom of Bulgaria's army during World War I. It lasted from December 10, 1915, when the Bulgarian army after had occupied then Eastern Serbia, crossed the Drin river and entered Albania, until September 9, 1917, when French troops captured Pogradec from the Bulgarian army.
The Peasant Revolt, also known as the Muslim uprising, was an uprising of peasants from central Albania, mostly Muslims against the regime of Wilhelm, Prince of Albania during 1914. It was one of the reasons for the prince's withdrawal from the country which marked the fall of the Principality of Albania. The uprising was led by Muslim leaders Haxhi Qamili, Arif Hiqmeti, Musa Qazimi and Mustafa Ndroqi. Along with a demand of total amnesty, the rebels required the return of Albania to the suzerainty of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
The International Gendarmerie was the first law enforcement agency of the Principality of Albania. It was established by the decision of the ambassadors of the six Great Powers that participated in the London Peace Conference. This decision was made on the basis of the London Treaty signed on May 30, 1913. Since most of the members were from the Netherlands, this force was also known as the Dutch Military Mission.
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 Great Retreat, also known in Serbian historiography as the Albanian Golgotha, refers to the retreat of the Royal Serbian Army through the mountains of Albania during the 1915–16 winter of World War I.
The Pan-Epirotic Assembly of Delvino was a meeting of the representatives of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus, in June–July 1914, that ratified the Protocol of Corfu. The latter agreement granted an autonomous status for Northern Epirus, as well as a number of rights for the local Greek populations, inside the borders of the newly established Principality of Albania.
The Liberation of Serbia, Albania and Montenegro was a military action in the Balkans in the final weeks of World War I. Between 29 September and 11 November 1918, the Allied Army of the Orient liberated these three countries from occupation by the Central Powers.
Menduh Zavalani (1889–1914) was an Albanian revolutionary and political leader active during the last years of the Albanian National Awakening. He formed his own revolutionary band and was one of the leaders that liberated Përmet and the environs from the Ottoman Empire. Menduh was an appointed delegate from his hometown Korça to the Albanian National Congress that proclaimed the Independence of Albania. In the intellectual level Menduh was noted for the translation of Friedrich Schiller's drama Wilhelm Tell into Albanian. He was assassinated at a very young age near Pogradec by a local collaborationist band.
GDF (2014). "War in 1918 Albania" (in Italian). lagrandeguerra.net. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
Guy, Nicola (2007). "The Albanian Question in British Policy and the Italian Intervention, August 1914 – April 1915". Diplomacy & Statecraft. 18 (1): 109–131. doi:10.1080/09592290601163035. S2CID153894515.
Heaton-Armstrong, Duncan (2005). "An Uprising in the Six-Month Kingdom". Gervase Belfield and Bejtullah Destani (IB Tauris, in association with the Centre for Albanian Studies). Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
Leon, George B. (January 1970). "Greece and the Albanian Question at the Outbreak of the First World War". Institute for Balkan Studies. 11–12 (1): 61–80.
Pearson, Owen (2004). Albania in the Twentieth Century, A History: Volume I: Albania and King Zog, 1908–39. I.B. Tauris. ISBN9781845110130.- Total pages: 585
Popescu, Stefan (2014). "Les Français et la République de Kortcha". Guerres Mondiales et Conflits Contemporains. 213: 77–87. doi:10.3917/gmcc.213.0077. La signature de ce Protocole contrevient aux stipulations du traité de Londres ...Par conséquent, l'Italie demanda des explications au quai d'Orsay, par l'intermédiaire de son ambassadeur, le 12 décembre 1916.
Ruches, Pyrrhus J. (1965). Albania's Captives. Argonaut.- Total pages: 213
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Albania 
Serbia 
France 
United Kingdom 
Greece 
Italy 
Austria-Hungary 
Bulgaria 
Germany 
Albanian guerrillas
