Editing Epirus (section)

===20th-century Epirus===
{{POV section|date=June 2023}}

While the [[Treaty of Berlin (1878)]] awarded large parts of Epirus to Greece, opposition by the Ottomans and the [[League of Prizren]] resulted in only the region of [[Arta (regional unit)|Arta]] being ceded to Greece in 1881.<ref name="Gawrych2006">{{harvnb|Gawrych|2006|pp=68–69}}.</ref> It was only following the [[First Balkan War]] of 1912–1913 and the [[Treaty of London (1913)|Treaty of London]] that the rest of southern Epirus, including [[Ioannina]], was incorporated into Greece.<ref>{{harvnb|Clogg|2002|p=105}}: "In February 1913 the Greek Army seized Ioannina, the capital of Epirus. The Turks recognized the gains of the Balkan allies by the Treaty of London, in May 1913."</ref> Greece had also seized northern Epirus during the [[Balkan Wars]], but the [[Treaty of Bucharest (1913)|Treaty of Bucharest]], which concluded the [[Second Balkan War]], assigned [[Northern Epirus]] to Albania.{{sfn|Clogg|2002|loc=p. 105 "The Second Balkan War had short duration and the Bulgarians were soon dragged to the table of negotiations. By the Treaty of Bucharest (August 1913) Bulgaria was forced to accept a little favourable regulation of the borders, even if she kept a way to the Aegean, in Degeagatch (modern Alexandroupolis). The sovereignty of Greece over Crete was now recognised, but her ambition to annex Northern Epirus with its large Greek population was stopped by the annexation of the area to an independent Albania"}}

This outcome was unpopular among local Greeks, as a substantial Greek population existed on the Albanian side of the border.<ref>{{harvnb|Pettifer|2001|p=4}}.</ref> Among Greeks, [[northern Epirus]] was henceforth regarded as ''[[irredentism|terra irredenta]]''.<ref name="Konidaris">{{harvnb|Konidaris|2013||pp=64–92}}.</ref> Local Greeks in northern Epirus revolted, declared [[Northern Epirote Declaration of Independence|their independence]] and proclaimed the [[Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus]] in February 1914.{{sfn|Winnifrith|2002|p=130}} After fierce guerrilla fighting, they managed to gain full autonomy under the terms of the [[Protocol of Corfu]], signed by Albanian and Northern Epirote representatives and approved by the Great Powers. The signing of the Protocol ensured that the region would have its own administration, recognized the rights of the local Greeks and provided self-government under nominal Albanian sovereignty.<ref name="Triadafilopoulos">{{harvnb|Triadafilopoulos|2000|p=152}}.</ref> The Republic, however, was short-lived, as when [[World War I]] broke out, Albania collapsed, and northern Epirus was alternately controlled by Greece, Italy and France at various intervals.<ref name="Konidaris"/><ref name="TuckerRoberts2005">{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=77}}.</ref>

Although the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] of 1919 awarded Northern Epirus to Greece, developments such as the Greek defeat in the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)|Greco-Turkish War]] and, crucially, Italian lobbying in favor of Albania meant that Greece would not keep Northern Epirus. In 1924, the area was again ceded to Albania.<ref name="Miller">{{harvnb|Miller|1966|pp=543–544}}.</ref>

In 1939, Italy [[Italian invasion of Albania|occupied Albania]], and in 1940 [[Greco-Italian War|invaded Greece]]. The Italians were driven back into Albania, however, and Greek forces again took control of northern Epirus. The conflict marked the first tactical victory of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] in [[World War II]]. [[Benito Mussolini]] himself supervised the spring counter-offensive of his divisions in spring 1941, only to be repulsed again by the poorly equipped, but determined, Greeks. [[Nazi Germany]] then [[Battle of Greece|intervened]] in April 1941 to avert an Italian defeat. The German military performed rapid military maneuvers through [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] and forced the encircled Greek forces of the Epirus front to surrender.

The whole of Epirus was then placed under Italian [[Axis Occupation of Greece|occupation]] until 1943, when the Germans took over following the [[Italian armistice|Italian surrender]] to the Allies. Due to the extensive activity of the anti-Nazi Greek resistance (mainly under [[EDES]]), the Germans carried out large scaled anti-partisan sweeps, making wide use of [[Axis-Cham Albanian collaboration|Nazi-collaborationist bands]] of [[Cham Albanians]], who committed numerous atrocities against the civilian population.{{sfn|Konidaris|2013|p=67}} They fought fiercely against the Greek partisans of the EDES, the latter being ordered by the Allied command to push them out of Greece into Albania. The violent clashes and the reprisals that followed by the Greek guerillas resulted in the [[Expulsion of Cham Albanians|expulsion]] to Albania of almost the entire Cham population.{{sfn|Konidaris|2013|p=67}}

With the liberation of Greece and the start of the first round of the [[Greek Civil War]] at the end of 1944, the highlands of Epirus became a major theater of guerrilla warfare between the leftist [[Greek People's Liberation Army]] (ELAS) and the right-wing [[National Republican Greek League]] (EDES). In subsequent years (1945–1949), the mountains of Epirus also became the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the second and bloodier round of the Greek Civil War. The final episode of the war took place on [[Gramos|Mount Grammos]] in 1949, ending with the defeat of the Communists. Peace returned to the region in 1949, although because of official Albanian active involvement in the civil war on the side of the communists, the formal state of war between Greece and Albania remained in effect until 1987. Another reason for the continuation of the state of war until 1987 was that during the entire period of Communist rule in Albania, the Greek population of [[Northern Epirus]] experienced forced [[Albanisation]].{{sfn|Pettifer|2001|p=7}} Although a Greek minority was recognized by the [[Hoxha]] regime, this recognition only applied to an "official minority zone" consisting of 99 villages, leaving out important areas of Greek settlement, such as [[Himara]].<ref name="Konidaris"/> People outside the official minority zone received no education in the Greek language, which was prohibited in public.<ref name="Konidaris"/> The Hoxha regime also diluted the ethnic demographics of the region by relocating Greeks living there and settling in their stead Albanians from other parts of the country.<ref name="Konidaris"/> Relations began to improve in the 1980s with Greece's abandonment of any territorial claims over Northern Epirus and the lifting of the official state of war between the two countries.<ref name="Konidaris"/>