Editing History of Albania (section)

== World War II ==
 {{Main|World War II in Albania}}
Starting in 1928, but especially during the [[Great Depression]], the government of [[King Zog]], which brought law and order to the country, began to increase the Italian influence more and more. Despite some significant resistance, especially at [[Durrës]], Italy invaded Albania on 7 April 1939 and took control of the country, with the Italian Fascist dictator [[Benito Mussolini]] proclaiming Italy's figurehead King [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy]] as King of Albania. The nation thus became one of the first to be occupied by the [[Axis Powers]] in [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite book|title = The Balkans: Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers, 1804–2012|author-link = Misha Glenny|first = Misha|last = Glenny|page = 418|publisher = House of Anansi|date = 2012 |isbn =9781101610992}}</ref>

As [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] began his aggression against other European countries, Mussolini decided to occupy Albania as a means of competing with Hitler's territorial gains. Mussolini and the Italian Fascists saw Albania as a historical part of the [[Roman Empire]], and the occupation was intended to fulfill Mussolini's dream of creating an [[Italian Empire]]. During the Italian occupation, Albania's population was subject to a policy of forced [[Italianization]] by the kingdom's Italian governors, in which the use of the Albanian language was discouraged in schools while the Italian language was promoted. At the same time, the colonization of Albania by Italians was encouraged.

Mussolini, in October 1940, used his Albanian base to launch an attack on Greece, which led to the defeat of the Italian forces and the Greek occupation of Southern Albania in what was seen by the Greeks as the liberation of [[Northern Epirus]]. While preparing for the [[Operation Barbarossa|Invasion of Russia]], Hitler decided to attack Greece in December 1940 to prevent a British attack on his southern flank.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Creveld |first=Martin van|date=July–October 1972 |title=In the Shadow of Barbarossa: Germany and Albania, January–March 1941 |journal= Journal of Contemporary History|volume=7 |issue=3/4 |pages=22–230|jstor=259913}}<!--|access-date=12 September 2007 --></ref>

=== Italian penetration ===

The Italian invasion of Albania in April 1939 was the conclusion of centuries of Italian interest in the country and twenty years of direct, if unsuccessful, economic and political participation in Albania, primarily under Benito Mussolini. The Straits of Otranto, which cross the Adriatic Sea and connect Albania and southern Italy by forty miles, have always operated as a bridge rather than a barrier, offering escape, cultural exchange, and an easy invasion path. Before [[World War I]] Italy and [[Austria-Hungary]] had been instrumental in the creation of an independent Albanian state. At the outbreak of war, Italy had seized the chance to occupy the southern half of Albania, to avoid it being captured by the Austro-Hungarians. That success did not last long, as post-war domestic problems, Albanian resistance, and pressure from United States President [[Woodrow Wilson]], forced Italy to pull out in 1920.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://countrystudies.us/albania/25.htm |title=Albania: A Country Study: Albania's Reemergence after World War I, Library of Congress |access-date=25 January 2011 |archive-date=7 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807032027/http://countrystudies.us/albania/25.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

When Mussolini took power in Italy he turned with renewed interest to Albania. Italy began penetration of Albania's economy in 1925, when Albania agreed to allow it to exploit its mineral resources.<ref name="LoC">{{cite web|url= http://countrystudies.us/albania/28.htm |work=Albania: A Country Study|title= Italian Penetration|publisher= Library of Congress|editor1-first=Raymond |editor1-last=Zickel|editor2-last=Iwaskiw|editor2-first=Walter R.|year = 1994}}</ref> That was followed by the First Treaty of Tirana in 1926 and the Second Treaty of Tirana in 1927, whereby Italy and Albania entered into a defensive alliance.<ref name= "LoC" /> The Albanian government and economy were subsidised by Italian loans, the Albanian army was trained by Italian military instructors, and Italian colonial settlement was encouraged. Despite strong Italian influence, Zog refused to completely give in to Italian pressure.<ref>Fischer, B. J: ''Albania at War, 1939–1945'', page 7. Hurst, 1999</ref> In 1931 he openly stood up to the Italians, refusing to renew the 1926 Treaty of Tirana. After Albania signed trade agreements with [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] and [[Second Hellenic Republic|Greece]] in 1934, Mussolini made a failed attempt to intimidate the Albanians by sending a fleet of warships to Albania.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://countrystudies.us/albania/29.htm |work =Albania: A Country Study|title = Zog's Kingdom|publisher= Library of Congress|editor1-first= Raymond|editor1-last = Zickel|editor2-first= Walter R.|editor2-last = Iwaskiw|year = 1994}}</ref>

As [[Nazi Germany]] [[Anschluss|annexed Austria]] and [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia|moved against]] [[Czechoslovakia]], Italy saw itself becoming a second-rate member of the Axis.<ref name="LoC2">{{cite web|url = http://countrystudies.us/albania/30.htm |work =Albania: A Country Study|title= Italian Occupation|publisher= Library of Congress|editor1-first= Raymond |editor1-last = Zickel|editor2-first= Walter R.|editor2-last = Iwaskiw|year = 1994}}</ref> The imminent birth of an Albanian royal child meanwhile threatened to give Zog a lasting dynasty. After Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia (15 March 1939) without notifying Mussolini in advance, the Italian dictator decided to proceed with his own annexation of Albania. Italy's King [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy|Victor Emmanuel III]] criticized the plan to take Albania as an unnecessary risk. Rome, however, delivered Tirana an ultimatum on 25 March 1939, demanding that it accede to Italy's occupation of Albania. Zog refused to accept money in exchange for countenancing a full Italian takeover and colonization of Albania.

=== Italian invasion ===
{{Main|Italian invasion of Albania}}

[[File:Map of Albania during WWII.png|thumb|180px|right|A map of [[Albania]] during WWII.]]

On 7 April Mussolini's troops invaded Albania. The operation was led by General [[Alfredo Guzzoni]]. The invasion force was divided into three groups, which were to land successively. The most important was the first group, which was divided in four columns, each assigned to a landing area at a harbor and an inland target on which to advance. Despite some stubborn resistance by some patriots, especially at [[Durrës]], the Italians made short work of the Albanians.<ref name="LoC2" /> Durrës was captured on 7 April, Tirana the following day, Shkodër and Gjirokastër on 9 April, and almost the entire country by 10 April.

Unwilling to become an Italian puppet, King Zog, his wife, Queen [[Geraldine Apponyi]], and their infant son [[Leka, Crown Prince of Albania (born 1939)|Leka]] fled to Greece and eventually to London. On 12 April, the Albanian parliament voted to depose Zog and unite the nation with Italy "in personal union" by offering the Albanian crown to Victor Emmanuel III.<ref>Fischer, B. J: ''Albania at War, 1939–1945'', page 36. Hurst, 1999</ref>

The parliament elected Albania's largest landowner, [[Shefqet Bej Verlaci]], as prime minister. Verlaci additionally served as head of state for five days until Victor Emmanuel III formally accepted the Albanian crown in a ceremony at the [[Quirinale]] palace in Rome. Victor Emmanuel III appointed [[Francesco Jacomoni di San Savino]], a former ambassador to Albania, to represent him in Albania as "Lieutenant-General of the King" (effectively a [[viceroy]]).

=== Albania under Italy ===
{{Main|Albania under Italy}}

[[File:Flag of Albania (1939-1943).svg|thumb|right|180px|Flag of the [[Albanian Kingdom (1939–43)|Albanian Kingdom (1939–1943)]]]] [[File:Shefqet Verlaci.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Prime minister [[Shefqet Vërlaci|Shefqet Bej Vërlaci]]]]

While Victor Emmanuel ruled as king, [[Shefqet Bej Verlaci]] served as the prime minister. Shefqet Verlaci controlled the day-to-day activities of the new Italian protectorate. On 3 December 1941, Shefqet Bej Verlaci was replaced as prime minister and head of state by [[Mustafa Merlika Kruja]].<ref name="isbn1-84511-104-4">{{cite book |author=Owen Pearson |title=Albania in the Twentieth Century, A History : Volume II: Albania in Occupation and War, 1939–45 |publisher=I. B. Tauris |location=London |year=2006 |page= 167|isbn=1-84511-104-4 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=P3knunC7z_oC&q=%22Shefqet+Verlaci%22+%22prime+minister%22&pg=PA167}}</ref>

From the start, Albanian foreign affairs, customs, as well as natural resources came under direct control of Italy. The puppet [[Albanian Fascist Party]] became the ruling party of the country and the [[Italian Fascism|Fascists]] allowed [[Italian colonists in Albania|Italian citizens]] to settle in Albania and to own land so that they could gradually transform it into Italian soil.

In October 1940, during the [[Greco-Italian War]], Albania served as a staging-area for Italian dictator [[Benito Mussolini]]'s unsuccessful invasion of [[Greece]]. Mussolini planned to invade Greece and other countries like [[Yugoslavia]] in the area to give Italy territorial control of most of the [[Mediterranean Sea]] coastline, as part of the Fascists objective of creating the objective of ''[[Mare Nostrum]]'' ("Our Sea") in which Italy would dominate the Mediterranean.

But, soon after the Italian invasion, the Greeks counter-attacked and a sizeable portion of Albania was in Greek hands (including the cities of [[Gjirokastër]] and [[Korçë]]). In April 1941, after Greece capitulated to the German forces, the Greek territorial gains in southern Albania returned to Italian command. Under Italian command came also large areas of Greece after the successful German [[Battle of Greece|invasion of Greece]].

After the fall of Yugoslavia and Greece in April 1941, the Italian Fascists added to the territory of the Kingdom of Albania most of the Albanian-inhabited areas that had been previously given to the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]]. The Albanian fascists claimed in May 1941 that nearly all the Albanian populated territories were united to Albania ([http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/kepek/netre/226.gif see map] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226114618/http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/kepek/netre/226.gif |date=26 February 2009 }}). Even areas of northern Greece ([[Chameria]]) were administered by Albanians.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.myalbania.eu/2014/12/history-of-albania.html|title=History of Albania {{!}} My Albania! The Official website of Albanian! Open source travel guide|website=myalbania.eu|access-date=2019-01-29|archive-date=30 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130053133/http://www.myalbania.eu/2014/12/history-of-albania.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> But this was even a consequence of borders that Italy and Germany agreed on when dividing their spheres of influence. Some small portions of territories with Albanian majority remained outside the new borders and contact between the two parts was practically impossible: the Albanian population under the Bulgarian rule was heavily oppressed.

=== Albania under Germany ===
{{Main|Albania under Nazi Germany}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-203-1691-20, Albanien, deutsche Soldaten, italienischer Panzer.jpg|230px|thumb|German soldiers in Albania.]]

After the surrender of the Italian Army in September 1943, Albania was [[Albania under Nazi Germany|occupied by the Germans]].

With the collapse of the Mussolini government in line with the Allied invasion of Italy, Germany occupied Albania in September 1943, dropping paratroopers into [[Tirana]] before the Albanian guerrillas could take the capital. The [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|German Army]] soon drove the guerrillas into the hills and to the south. The Nazi German government subsequently announced it would recognize the independence of a neutral Albania and set about organizing a new government, police and armed forces.

The Germans did not exert heavy-handed control over Albania's administration. Rather, they sought to gain popular support by backing causes popular with Albanians, especially the annexation of Kosovo. Many [[Balli Kombëtar]] units cooperated with the Germans against the communists and several Balli Kombëtar leaders held positions in the German-sponsored regime. Albanian collaborators, especially the [[21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg (1st Albanian)|Skanderbeg SS Division]], also expelled and killed [[Serb]]s living in Kosovo. In December 1943, a third resistance organization, an anticommunist, anti-German royalist group known as [[Legaliteti]], took shape in Albania's northern mountains. Led by [[Abaz Kupi]], it largely consisted of Geg guerrillas, supplied mainly with weapons from the allies, who withdrew their support for the NLM after the communists renounced Albania's claims on Kosovo.
The capital Tirana was liberated by the partisans on 17 November 1944 after a 20-day battle. The communist partizans entirely liberated Albania from German occupation on 29 November 1944, pursuing the German army until [[Višegrad]], [[Bosnia]] (then [[Yugoslavia]]) in collaboration with the Yugoslav communist forces.

The Albanian partisans also liberated Kosovo, part of Montenegro, and southern Bosnia and Herzegovina.
By November 1944, they had thrown out the Germans, being with [[Yugoslavia]] the only European nations to do so without any assistance from the allies. [[Enver Hoxha]] became the leader of the country by virtue of his position as Secretary General of the [[Albanian Communist Party]].
After having taken over power of the country, the Albanian communists launched a tremendous terror campaign, shooting intellectuals and arresting thousands of innocent people. Some died due to suffering torture.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://apnews.com/0e903acb2a394a378d91817e9ae95d12/Albania%27s-broken-men-fear-prison-horrors-will-be-forgotten | work=Associated Press News| title=Albania's broken men fear prison horrors will be forgotten | date=19 June 2016 }}</ref>

Albania was one of the only European countries occupied by the [[Axis powers]] that ended World War II with a larger Jewish population than before the war.<ref>Sarner. ''Rescue in Albania: One Hundred Percent of Jews in Albania Rescued from the Holocaust'', 1997.</ref><ref>"Muslim Family Who Hid 26 Jews in Albania from the Nazis Honored by ADL" [http://www.adl.org/PresRele/HolNa_52/4963_52.htm Anti-Defamation League] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105140322/http://www.adl.org/PresRele/HolNa_52/4963_52.htm |date=5 January 2009 }}</ref><ref>Escape Through the Balkans: the Autobiography of Irene Grunbaum (University of Nebraska Press, 1996)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205725.pdf |title=Shoah Research Center&nbsp;– Albania |access-date=27 August 2010}}</ref> Some 1,200 Jewish residents and refugees from other [[Balkan]] countries were hidden by Albanian families during World War II, according to official records.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.foxnews.com/story/israeli-historians-study-how-albanian-jews-escaped-holocaust | publisher=Fox News Channel | title=Israeli Historians Study How Albanian Jews Escaped Holocaust | date=20 May 2008}}</ref>

=== Albanian resistance in World War II ===
{{Main|Albanian Resistance of World War II}}

The National Liberation War of the Albanian people started with the Italian invasion in Albania on 7 April 1939 and ended on 28 November 1944. During the antifascist national liberation war, the Albanian people fought against Italy and Germany, which occupied the country. In the 1939–1941 period, the antifascist resistance was led by the National Front nationalist groups and later by the Communist Party.

=== Communist resistance ===

[[File:Albanian Partisans.JPG|thumb|230px|Male and female Albanian partisans fighting in Tirana 1944]]

In October 1941, the small Albanian communist groups established in [[Tirana]] an [[Albanian Communist Party]] of 130 members under the leadership of Hoxha and an eleven-man Central Committee. The Albanian communists supported the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]], and did not participate in the antifascist struggle until Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. The party at first had little mass appeal, and even its youth organization netted recruits. In mid-1942, however, party leaders increased their popularity by calling the young peoples to fight for the liberation of their country, that was occupied by [[Kingdom of Italy|Fascist Italy]].

This propaganda increased the number of new recruits by many young peoples eager for freedom. In September 1942, the party organized a popular front organization, the [[National Liberation Movement (Albania)|National Liberation Movement]] (NLM), from a number of resistance groups, including several that were strongly anticommunist. During the war, the NLM's communist-dominated partisans, in the form of the [[Albanian National Liberation Army|National Liberation Army]], did not heed warnings from the Italian occupiers that there would be reprisals for guerrilla attacks. Partisan leaders, on the contrary, counted on using the lust for revenge such reprisals would elicit to win recruits.

The communists turned the so-called war of liberation into a civil war, especially after the discovery of the Dalmazzo-Kelcyra protocol, signed by the [[Balli Kombëtar]].
With the intention of organizing a partisan resistance, they called a general conference in Pezë on 16 September 1942 where the [[Albanian National Liberation Front]] was set up. The Front included nationalist groups, but it was dominated by communist partisans.

In December 1942, more Albanian nationalist groups were organized. Albanians fought against the Italians while, during [[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] occupation, Balli Kombëtar allied itself with the Germans and clashed with Albanian communists, which continued their fight against Germans and Balli Kombëtar at the same time.

=== Nationalist resistance ===
A nationalist resistance to the Italian occupiers emerged in November 1942. [[Ali Këlcyra]] and [[Midhat Frashëri]] formed the Western-oriented [[Balli Kombëtar]] (National Front).<ref name="Elsie2010">{{cite book|author=Robert Elsie|title=Historical Dictionary of Albania|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=haFlGXIg8uoC&pg=PA30|access-date=10 May 2012|date=30 March 2010|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6188-6|page=30}}</ref> Balli Kombëtar was a movement that recruited supporters from both the large landowners and peasantry. It opposed King Zog's return and called for the creation of a republic and the introduction of some economic and social reforms. The Balli Kombëtar's leaders acted conservatively, however, fearing that the occupiers would carry out reprisals against them or confiscate the landowners' estates.

=== Communist revolution in Albania (1944) ===
[[File:Tirana Albania 1944-11-20.jpg|thumb|230px|[[National Liberation Movement (Albania)|Albanian partisans]] marching in [[Tirana]], 29 November 1944.]]

The communist partisans regrouped and gained control of southern Albania in January 1944. In May they called a congress of members of the [[National Liberation Movement (Albania)|National Liberation Front]] (NLF), as the movement was by then called, at [[Përmet]], which chose an Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation to act as Albania's administration and legislature. Hoxha became the chairman of the council's executive committee and the National Liberation Army's supreme commander.

The communist partisans defeated the last Balli Kombëtar forces in southern Albania by mid-summer 1944 and encountered only scattered resistance from the Balli Kombëtar and Legality when they entered central and northern Albania by the end of July. The British military mission urged the remnants of the nationalists not to oppose the communists' advance, and the Allies evacuated Kupi to Italy. Before the end of November, the main German troops had withdrawn from Tirana, and the communists took control of the capital by fighting what was left of the German army. A provisional government the communists had formed at [[Berat]] in October administered Albania with Enver Hoxha as prime minister.

=== Consequences of the war ===
The NLF's strong links with Yugoslavia's communists, who also enjoyed British military and diplomatic support, guaranteed that [[Belgrade]] would play a key role in Albania's postwar order. The Allies never recognized an Albanian government in exile or King Zog, nor did they ever raise the question of Albania or its borders at any of the major wartime conferences.

No reliable statistics on Albania's wartime losses exist, but the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration reported about 30,000 Albanian war dead, 200 destroyed villages, 18,000 destroyed houses, and about 100,000 people left homeless. Albanian official statistics claim somewhat higher losses. Furthermore, thousands of [[Cham Albanians|Chams]] (Tsams, Albanians living in Northern Greece) were driven out of Greece with the justification that they had collaborated with the Nazis.