Editing History of Albania (section)

=== World War I ===
{{Main|Albania during World War I}}

[[File:1914 albania en.svg|thumb|230px|Albania in 1916.]]

[[World War I]] interrupted all government activities in Albania, while the country was split in a number of regional governments.<ref name="Birth of Albania" /> Political chaos engulfed Albania after the outbreak of World War I. The Albanian people split along religious and tribal lines after the prince's departure. Muslims demanded a Muslim prince and looked to Turkey as the protector of the privileges they had enjoyed. Other Albanians looked to Italy for support. Still others, including many beys and clan chiefs, recognized no superior authority.<ref>Dušan Fundić,  "The Albanian Question in Serbian-Italian Relations 1914–1918." on ''Serbia and Italy in the Great War'' (2019) [http://dais.sanu.ac.rs/bitstream/handle/123456789/7896/The%20Albanian%20Question%20in%20Serbian-Italian%20Relations%201914%E2%80%931918.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729203233/https://dais.sanu.ac.rs/bitstream/handle/123456789/7896/The%20Albanian%20Question%20in%20Serbian-Italian%20Relations%201914%E2%80%931918.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |date=29 July 2021 }}.</ref>

Prince William left Albania on 3 September 1914, as a result of the [[Peasant Revolt in Albania|Peasant Revolt]] initiated by [[Essad Pasha Toptani|Essad Pasha]] and later taken over by [[Haxhi Qamili]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Jelavich|first=Barbara |title=History of the Balkans: Twentieth century | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Hd-or3qtqrsC&q=albanian+congress+in+trieste+1913&pg=PA100 | access-date=25 January 2011 |volume=2 |orig-year= 1983 |year= 1999 | publisher = The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge |location= Cambridge, UK |isbn = 0-521-27459-1 | page = 103 |quote= Soon the government was faced with major peasant revolt}}</ref> William subsequently joined the German army and served on the Eastern Front, but never renounced his claim to the throne.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

In the country's south, the local Greek population revolted against the incorporation of the area into the new Albanian state and declared the [[Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus]] at 28 February.<ref>George B. Leon. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eS4gAAAAMAAJ&q=%22In+the+south+the+Greek+inhabitants+had+revolted+against+the+incorporation+of+the+area+claimed+by+Greece+into+the+new+Albanian+state%2C+and+on+28+February+1914+Northern+Epirus+was+proclaimed+autonomous%22 Greece and the First World War: from neutrality to intervention, 1917–1918]. East European Monographs, 1990. {{ISBN|978-0-88033-181-4}}, p. 323.</ref><ref>David Turnock. [https://books.google.com/books?id=E7c7j8j0r-4C&dq=%22autonomous+republic+of+northern+epirus%22&pg=PA423 The economy of East Central Europe 1815–1989: stages of transformation in a peripheral region.]. Routledge, 2006 {{ISBN|978-0-415-18053-5}}, p. 424</ref>

In late 1914, Greece occupied the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus, including [[Korçë]] and [[Gjirokastër]]. Italy occupied [[Vlorë]], and Serbia and Montenegro occupied parts of northern Albania until a [[Central Powers]] offensive scattered the Serbian army, which was evacuated by the French to [[Thessaloniki]]. [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]] and Bulgarian forces then occupied about two-thirds of the country ([[Bulgarian occupation of Albania]]).

Under the secret [[Treaty of London (1915)|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.

In September 1918, [[Allies of World War I|Entente]] forces broke through the Central Powers' lines north of Thessaloniki and within days Austro-Hungarian forces began to withdraw from Albania. On 2 October 1918 the city of [[Durrës]] was shelled on the orders of [[Louis Franchet d'Espèrey]], during the [[Battle of Durazzo (1918)|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.<ref name="Kabashi">{{cite news|last=Kabashi|first=Gezim|title=Fotot e Rralla – Bombardimi i Durresit me 2 Tetor 1918 |trans-title=Rare Photos – Bombing of Durrës on 2 October 1918|url=http://gazetaedurresit.com/fotot-e-rralla-bombardimi-i-durresit-me-2-tetor-1918/|newspaper=Gazeta e Durresit|date=24 December 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024051532/http://gazetaedurresit.com/fotot-e-rralla-bombardimi-i-durresit-me-2-tetor-1918/|archive-date=24 October 2014}}</ref>

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 sizable Albanian populations.
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