Editing Zog I (section)

==Political legacy==

{{unreferenced section|date=August 2016}}
[[File:Zogu I Boulevard (BLGU Spring School 2013).jpg|thumb|right|Statue of Zog on the eponymous [[Zogu I Boulevard]] in [[Tirana]], Albania]]

During [[World War II]], three resistance groups were [[World War II in Albania|operating in Albania]]: the [[Balli Kombëtar|nationalists]], the [[Legality Movement|royalists]] and the [[National Liberation Movement (Albania)|communists]]. Some of the Albanian establishment opted for [[German occupation of Albania|collaboration]]. The communist partisans refused to co-operate with the other resistance groups and eventually [[Democratic Government of Albania|took control of the country]]. They were able to defeat the Nazi remnants and had full control of Albania in November 1944.

Zog attempted to reclaim his throne after the war. However, when the communist government, successful in its partisan movement, seized power, one of its first acts was to ban Zog from ever returning to Albania. It formally deposed him in 1946.

In 1952, his representatives met with the representatives of the Yugoslavian government over possible collaboration.<ref>{{cite web |title=Meeting of Representatives of King Zog and Marshall Tito |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP82-00457R014500130010-0.pdf |website=CIA.gov |publisher=CIA Reading Room |access-date=25 September 2021}}</ref>
Sponsored by [[Secret Intelligence Service|MI6]] and the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], some forces loyal to Zog attempted to mount [[Albanian Subversion|infiltrations into the country]], but most were ambushed due to intelligence sent to the [[Soviet Union]] by spy [[Kim Philby]].

A referendum in 1997{{snd}}seven years after the end of Communist rule{{snd}}proposed to restore the monarchy in the person of Zog's son [[Leka Zogu]] who, since 1961, had been styled "Leka I, King of the Albanians". The official but disputed results stated that about two-thirds of voters favoured a continued republican government. Leka, believing the result to be fraudulent, attempted an armed uprising: he was unsuccessful and was forced into exile, although he later returned and lived in Tirana until his death on 30 November 2011. A main street in Tirana was later renamed "[[Zogu I Boulevard|Boulevard Zog I]]" by the Albanian government.