Everything about The Italian Invasion Of Albania totally explained
The
Italian invasion of Albania (
April 7 –
April 12,
1939) was a a brief military campaign by the
Kingdom of Italy against the
Albanian Kingdom. The conflict was a result of the expansionist policies of Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini. Albania was rapidly overrun, its ruler King
Zog I forced into exile, and the country made into an Italian
protectorate.
Background
Albania had long had considerable strategic importance for Italy. Italian naval strategists eyed the port of
Vlorë and the island of
Sazan at the entrance to the
Bay of Vlorë with considerable interest, as it would give Italy control of the entrance to the Adriatic Sea. In addition, Albania could provide Italy with a beachhead in the Balkans. 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 Austrians. That success didn't last long, as post-war domestic problems, Albanian resistance, and pressure from
United States President
Woodrow Wilson, forced Italy to pull out in 1920.
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. 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. In
1931 he openly stood up to the Italians, refusing to renew the 1926 Treaty of Tirana. After Albania signed trade agreements with
Yugoslavia and
Greece in
1934, Mussolini made a failed attempt to intimidate the Albanians by sending a fleet of warships to Albania.
As
Nazi Germany annexed Austria and
moved against Czechoslovakia, Italy saw itself becoming a second-rate member of the Axis. The imminent birth of an Albanian royal child meanwhile threatened to give Zog a lasting dynasty. After Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia (
March 15,
1939) without notifying Mussolini in advance, the Italian dictator decided to proceed with his own annexation of Albania. Italy's King
Victor Emmanuel III criticized the plan to take Albania as an unnecessary risk. Rome, however, delivered Tirana an ultimatum on
March 25, 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.
Invasion
On
April 7 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, especially at
Durrës, the Italians made short work of the Albanians. 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).
Aftermath
On
April 15,
1939, Albania withdrew from the
League of Nations, from which Italy had resigned in 1937. On
June 3,
1939, the Albanian foreign ministry was merged into the Italian foreign ministry, and the Albanian Foreign Minister,
Xhemil Bej Dino, was given the rank of an Italian ambassador. Upon the capture of Albania, Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini declared the the official creation of the
Italian Empire in which the figurehead King
Victor Emmanuel was crowned
King of Albania which added to his other title as
Emperor of Ethiopia (Ethiopia being occupied three years prior). The Albanian military was placed under Italian command and formally merged into the Italian Army in 1940. Additionally, the
Italian Blackshirts formed four legions of
Albanian Militia, initially recruited from Italians living in Albania, but later from ethnic Albanians. Albania followed Italy into war with Britain and France on
June 10,
1940. Albania served as the base for the
Italian invasion of Greece in October 1940, and Albanian troops participated in the Greek campaign. The country's southern areas were temporarily occupied by the Greek army during that campaign, but Italy emerged victorious after the German campaign in the Balkans of April 1941. Albania was enlarged in May 1941 by the annexation of
Kosovo and parts of
Montenegro and the
Vardar Banovina, going a long way towards realizing "
Greater Albania". However, the area of Greek
Epirus called
Chameria (because of the
Albanian minority living there), although claimed by the Albanians, wasn't annexed, but merely put under an Albanian High Commissioner, who exercised only nominal control over it. When Italy left the Axis in September
1943, German troops immediately occupied Albania after a short campaign, with minimal resistance.
During the Second World War, some Albanian nationalist groups, including Communist partisans, fought against the Italians (after the autumn of 1942) and subsequently the Germans. By October
1944 the Germans had withdrawn from the southern Balkans in response to military defeats by the Red Army, the collapse of
Romania and the imminent fall of
Bulgaria. After the Germans left, the Communist forces, organized by the Yugoslavs and supplied with weapons by the West, crushed nationalist resistance and the leader of the Yugoslav-dominated
Albanian Communist Party,
Enver Hoxha, became the leader of the country.
Footnotes
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