Editing History of Albania (section)

== Modern ==

=== National Renaissance ===
{{Main|Albanian National Awakening}}

In the 1870s, the [[Sublime Porte]]'s reforms aimed at checking the [[Ottoman Empire]]'s disintegration had failed. The image of the "Turkish yoke" had become fixed in the nationalist mythologies and psyches of the empire's Balkan peoples and their march toward independence quickened. The [[Albanians]], because of the higher degree of Islamic influence, their internal social divisions, and the fear that they would lose their [[Albanian language|Albanian-speaking]] territories to the emerging [[Kingdom of Serbia|Serbia]], [[Principality of Montenegro|Montenegro]], [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], and [[Greece]], were the last of the Balkan peoples to desire division from the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref name="Birth of Albania">{{cite book| editor1-first= Raymond|editor1-last= Zickel |editor2-first=Walter R.|editor2-last=Iwaskiw |year= 1994 | chapter= National Awakening and the Birth of Albania|chapter-url = http://countrystudies.us/albania/20.htm|title = Albania: A Country Study |publisher = US Library of Congress }}</ref> With the rise of the Albanian National Awakening, [[Albanians]] regained a sense of statehood and engaged in military resistance against the Ottoman Empire as well as instigating a massive literary revival. Albanian émigrés in Bulgaria, Egypt, Italy, Romania and the United States supported the writing and distribution of Albanian textbooks and writings.
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=== League of Prizren ===
{{Main|League of Prizren|League of Peja|Albanian Revolt of 1910}}

[[File:Kompleksi Monumental i Lidhjes Shqiptare të Prizrenit 9384n.jpg|230px|thumb|right|The [[League of Prizren]] building in [[Prizren]] from inside the courtyard.]]

In the second quarter of the 19th century, after the fall of the [[Albanian pashalik]]s and the [[Massacre of the Albanian Beys]], an [[Albanian National Awakening]] took place and many revolts against the Ottoman Empire were organized. These revolts included the [[Albanian Revolts of 1833–1839]], the [[Albanian Revolt of 1843–1844|Revolt of 1843–44]], and the [[Albanian Revolt of 1847|Revolt of 1847]]. A culmination of the Albanian National Awakening was the League of Prizren. The league was formed at a meeting of 47 Ottoman beys in [[Prizren]] on 18 June 1878. An initial position of the league was presented in a document known as [[Kararname (League of Prizren)|Kararname]]. Through this document Albanian leaders emphasized their intention to preserve and maintain the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans by supporting the [[Sublime Porte|porte]], and "to struggle in arms to defend the wholeness of the territories of Albania".  In this early period, the League participated in battles against Montenegro and successfully wrestled control over Plav and Gusinje after brutal warfare with Montenegrin troops.  In August 1878, the [[Congress of Berlin]] ordered a commission to determine the border between the [[Ottoman Empire]] and [[Principality of Montenegro|Montenegro]].  Finally, the [[Great power|Great Powers]] blockaded Ulcinj by sea and pressured the Ottoman authorities to bring the Albanians under control. Albanian diplomatic and military efforts were successful in wresting control of Epirus, however some lands were still ceded to Greece by 1881.

The League's founding figure [[Abdyl Frashëri]] influenced the League to demand autonomy and wage open war against the Ottomans.  Faced with growing international pressure "to pacify" the refractory Albanians, the sultan dispatched a large army under [[Dervish Turgut Pasha]] to suppress the League of Prizren and deliver Ulcinj to Montenegro. The League of Prizren's leaders and their families were arrested and deported. Frashëri, who originally received a death sentence, was imprisoned until 1885 and exiled until his death seven years later.  A similar league was established in 1899 in Peja by former League member [[Haxhi Zeka]]. The league ended its activity in 1900 after an armed conflict with the Ottoman forces. Zeka was assassinated by a Serbian agent Adem Zajmi in 1902.
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=== Independence ===
{{Main|Albania during the Balkan Wars|Albanian Declaration of Independence|Provisional Government of Albania}}
[[File:28nentor.jpg|thumb|right|On 28 November 1913, [[Ismail Qemali|Ismail Kemal]] and his cabinet during the celebration of the first anniversary of independence in [[Vlorë]] on 28 November 1912.|210px]]
[[File:Storalbanien.gif|left|thumb|[[Albania]] as proposed by [[Ismail Qemali|Ismail Kemal]]]]
The initial sparks of the [[First Balkan war]] in 1912 were ignited by the [[Albanian Revolt of 1910|Albanian uprising]] between 1908 and 1910, which had the aim of opposing the [[Young Turk]] policies of consolidation of the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref>Glenny, Misha. ''The Balkans (Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, 1804–1999)''</ref> Following the eventual weakening of the Ottoman Empire in the [[Balkans]], [[Serbia]], [[Greece]], and [[Bulgaria]] declared war, seizing the remaining Ottoman territory in [[Europe]]. The territory of Albania was occupied by Serbia in the north and Greece in the south, leaving only a patch of land around the southern coastal city of [[Vlora]]. The short-lived [[Albanian Control Commission]] (17 October 1912 to 30 May 1913) was set up by them to rule Albania.<ref name="stahn08">{{cite book |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511585937 |title=The Law and Practice of International Territorial Administration |date=2008 |last1=Stahn |first1=Carsten |isbn=978-0-521-87800-5 }}</ref>

The unsuccessful uprising of [[Albanian Revolt of 1910|1910]], [[Albanian Revolt of 1911|1911]] and [[Albanian Revolt of 1912|the successful and final Albanian revolt in 1912]], as well as the Serbian and Greek occupation and attempts to incorporate the land into their respective countries, led to a proclamation of independence by [[Ismail Qemali|Ismail Kemal]] in [[Vlorë]] on 28 November 1912. The same day, Kemal waved the national flag of Albania, from the balcony of the [[Assembly of Vlorë]], in the presence of hundreds of [[Albanians]]. This flag was sewn after [[Skanderbeg]]'s principality flag, which had been used more than 500 years earlier.

Albanian independence was recognized by the [[London Conference of 1912–1913|Conference of London]] on 29 July 1913.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Albania|url=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/albania/history|publisher=Lonely Planet|access-date=5 January 2012|archive-date=12 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120712091951/http://www.lonelyplanet.com/albania/history|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Elsie|first=Robert|title=1913 The Conference of London|url=http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1913_2.html|access-date=5 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717005551/http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1913_2.html|archive-date=17 July 2011}}</ref> The Conference of London then [[Partition of Albania|delineated the border between Albania and its neighbors]], leaving more than half of ethnic Albanians outside Albania. This population was largely divided between Montenegro and Serbia in the north and east (including what is now [[Kosovo]] and [[North Macedonia]]), and Greece in the south. A substantial number of Albanians thus came under Serbian rule.<ref name="Vickers1999" />

At the same time, an uprising in the country's south by local Greeks led to the formation of the [[Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus]] in the southern provinces (1914).<ref name="Konidaris">{{cite book |last1=Konidaris |first1=Gerasimos |editor1-first=Stephanie |editor1-last=Schwandner-Sievers |title=The new Albanian migrations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05Mw4-b9oN0C&pg=PA74 |year=2005 |publisher=Sussex Academic Publishing |isbn= 978-1-903900-78-9 |page=65 }}</ref> The republic proved short-lived as Albania [[1914 collapse of Albania|collapsed]] with the onset of [[World War I]]. Greece held the area between 1914 and 1916, and unsuccessfully tried to annex it in March 1916;<ref name="Konidaris" /> however in 1917 the Greeks were driven from the area by Italy, which took over most of Albania.<ref name="TuckerRoberts2005">{{cite book|last1=Tucker|first1=Spencer|last2=Roberts|first2=Priscilla Mary|title=World War I: encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2YqjfHLyyj8C&pg=PA77|access-date=26 January 2011|year=2005|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-420-2|page=77}}</ref> The [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference of 1919]] awarded the area to Greece. However the area definitively reverted to Albanian control in November 1921, following Greece's defeat in the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)|Greco-Turkish War]].<ref name="Miller">{{cite book |last=Miller |first=William |title=The Ottoman Empire and Its Successors, 1801–1927 |publisher=Routledge |year=1966 |pages=543–544 |ref=Miller |isbn=978-0-7146-1974-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HaA18-u7mMMC}}</ref>