Albanian Kingdom (1939–1943)

Albanian Kingdom
Regno albanese
Mbretnija Shqiptare
Protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy,
Component of the Italian Empire
←
 1939–1943 →
Flag Royal Coat of arms
Motto
Foedere et Religione Tenemur
"We are held together by Pact and by Religion"
Anthem
Himni i Flamurit
"Hymn to the Flag"
Royal anthem
Marcia Reale d'Ordinanza
"Royal March of Ordinance"
The territory of the Albanian Kingdom showing 1939 borders and its 1941 borders in yellow.
Capital Tirana
Language(s) Albanian, Italian
Government Constitutional Monarchy, Single-party state
King
 - 1939–1943 Victor Emmanuel III
Viceroy
 - 1939–1943 Francesco Jacomoni
 - 1943 Alberto Pariani
Prime Minister
 - 1939–1941 Shefqet Vërlaci
 - 1941–1943 Mustafa Merlika-Kruja
 - 1943 Eqrem Libohova
 - 1943 Maliq Bushati
Legislature Assembly
Historical era Interwar Period / WWII
 - Italian invasion 07 April 1939
 - Italian capitulation 08 September 1943
Currency Albanian lek,
(1939–1941)
Italian lira
(1941–1943)
History of Albania
Prehistory
Antiquity
Middle Ages
Ottoman Albania
Post-Independence
Contemporary Albania

The Albanian Kingdom (Gheg Albanian: Mbretnija Shqiptare, Standard Albanian: Mbretëria Shqiptare, Italian: Regno albanese) existed as a protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy. It was practically a union between Italy and Albania, officially led by Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III and its government: Albania was led by Italian governors, after being militarily occupied by Italy, from 1939 until 1943. During this time, Albania ceased to exist as an independent country and remained as an autonomous part of the Italian Empire (led by Italian government officials, who intended to make Albania part of a Greater Italy).

Contents

History

See also: Military history of Albania during World War II

Pre-invasion: Italy's political penetration of Albania and territorial aims on Albania

The Italian Fascist regime had economically penetrated and dominated Albania during Zog's rule and was planning for annexation of Albania years prior to the event.[1] Under Zog, Albania's economy was dependent on multiple financial loans given from Italy since 1931.[2] In August 1933, Mussolini placed stringent demands on Zog in exchange for Italy's continued support of Albania, including demands that all new appointments to leading positions in the Albanian government had to have received an "Italian education"; that an Italian expert was in the future to be in all Albanian government ministries; that Italy would take control of Albania's military - including its fortifications; that British officers that were training Albania's gendarmee be replaced by Italian officers; and that Albania must annul all of its existing commercial treaties with other countries and make no new agreements without the approval of the Italian government; and that Albania sign a commercial convention that would make Italy Albania's "most favoured country" in trade.[3] In 1934 when Albania did not deliver its scheduled payment of one loan to Italy, Italian warships arrived off the coast of Albania to intimidate Albania to submit to Italian goals in the region, however the British opposed Italy's actions and under pressure, Italy backed down and claimed that the naval exercise was merely a "friendly visit".[2] on August 25, 1937, Italian foreign minister Count Ciano wrote in his diary of Italy's relations with Albania in the following: "We must create stable centres of Italian influence there. Who knows what the future may have in store? We must be ready to seize opportunities which will present themselves. We are not going to withdraw this time, as we did in 1920. In the south [of Italy] we have absorbed several hundred thousand Albanians. We shouldn’t the same thing happen on the other side of the entrance to the Adriatic.".[4] On March 26, 1938, Ciano wrote in his diary of annexing Albania like Germany did with Austria shortly prior: "A report from Jacomoni on the situation in Albania. Our penetration is becoming steadily more intense and more organic. The programme which I traced after my visit is being carried out without a hitch. I am wondering whether the general situation – particularly the Anschluss [with Austria] – does not permit us to take a step forward towards the more complete domination of this country, which will be ours." and days later on April 4 of that year wrote "We must gradually underline the protectorate element of our relations with Albania".[5]

Invasion and the establishment of the Italian regime

In spite of Albania's long-standing protection and alliance with Italy, on 7 April 1939 Italian troops invaded Albania,[6] five months before the start of the Second World War. The Albanian armed resistance proved ineffective against the Italians and, after a short defense, the country was occupied. On 9 April 1939 the Albanian king, Zog I fled to Greece.[7] Although Albania had been a de facto Italian protectorate since 1927,[8][9][10] Italy's political leader, Benito Mussolini required direct control over the country to increase his own prestige and provide a response to Germany's annexation of Austria and occupation of Czechoslovakia.

After the Italian invasion, Albania formally remained a separate country, but in a "close union" with Italy. In actual fact however the country was little more than an Italian protectorate subordinated to Italian interests, along the lines of the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia: the Albanian crown was declared in personal union with the Italian crown, Albania was to be governed by an Italian vicegerent representing King Victor Emmanuel III, a customs union was enacted, and Albanian foreign policy was to be handled by Rome. The Albanian armed forces were subsumed in the Italian military, Italian advisors were placed inside all levels of the Albanian administration, and the country fascisticized with the establishment of an Albanian Fascist Party and its attendant organizations, modelled after the Italian prototype. The Albanian Fascist Party was a branch of the National Fascist Party of Italy, members of the Albanian Fascist Party took an oath to obey the orders of the Duce of Fascism, Mussolini.[11] Italian citizens began to settle in Albania as colonists and to own land so that they could gradually transform it into Italian soil.[12]

While Victor Emmanuel ruled as king, Shefqet Vërlaci served as the Prime Minister. Vërlaci controlled the day-to-day activities of the Italian protectorate. On 3 December 1941, Shefqet Vërlaci was replaced as Prime Minister and Head of Government by Mustafa Merlika-Kruja.[13] The country's natural resources too came under direct control of Italy. All petroleum resources in Albania went through Agip, Italy's state petroleum company.[14]

Albania was important culturally and historically to the nationalist aims of the Italian Fascists, as the territory of Albania had long been part of the Roman Empire, even prior to the annexation of northern Italy by the Romans. Later, during the High Middle Ages some coastal areas (like Durazzo) had been influenced and owned by Italian powers, chiefly the Kingdom of Naples and the Republic of Venice for many years (cf. Albania Veneta). The Italian Fascist regime legitimized its claim to Albania through studies proclaiming the racial affinity of Albanians and Italians, especially as opposed ot the Slavic Yugoslavs.[15] Albanians were supposedly linked through ethnic heritage to the Italians due to links with the prehistoric Italiotes, Illyrian and Roman populations, and that the major influence exhibited by the Roman and Venetian empires over Albania justified Italy's right to possess it.[16]

Italy also attempted to legitimize and win public support for its rule over Albania by supporting Albanian irredentism, directed against the predominantly Albanian-populated Kosovo in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Epirus in Greece, particularly the border area of Chameria, inhabited by the Cham Albanian minority.[17] Thus a Fascist Italian publication named Geopolitica claimed that the population of the Epirus-Acarnania region of Greece belonged to Albania due to it being racially Dinaric, and formed a 'single geographic system' with the Adriatic zone.[16] Despite the efforts of the Italian vicegerent, Francesco Jacomoni, to stir up insurrections and create a fifth column, and the favourable reports he sent to the Italian foreign minister Count Ciano, events proved that there was little enthusiasm among the Albanians themselves: after the Italian invasion of Greece, most Albanians either deserted or defected.[18]

Albania at war

Strategically, control of Albania gave Italy an important beachhead in the Balkans: not only did it complete Italian control of the Strait of Otranto and the entrance to the Adriatic Sea, it could be used to invade either Yugoslavia (in tandem with another thrust via Veneto) or Greece.[8]

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 the Albanian army under the command of colonel (later general) Prenk Pervizi[19] abandoned the Italians in combat, causing a major unraveling of their lines. The Albanian army believed to be the cause of the betrayal was removed from the front. The Colonel Pervizi and his staff of officials was isolated in the mountains of Puka and Shkodra to the North.[20] This was the first action of revolt against the Italian occupation.

But, soon after the Italian invasion, the Greeks counter-attacked and a sizable portion of Albania was in Greek hands (including the cities of Gjirokastër and Korçë). In April 1941, Greece capitulated after an overwhelming German invasion. All of Albania returned to Italian control, which was also extended to most of Greece, which was jointly occupied by Italy, Germany and Bulgaria. Italian plans however to annex Chameria to Albania were shelved due strong opposition and ethnic conflict between Albanians and Greeks, as well as opposition by Aromanians to the region being Albanianized.[21]

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 (see map). 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.

After the Italian capitulation in September 1943, the country was occupied by the Germans until the end of the war.

Economy

Upon the occupation of Albania and installation of a new government, the economies of Albania and Italy were connected through a customs union that resulted in the removal of most trade restrictions.[11] Through a tariff union, the Italian tariff system was put in place in Albania.[11] Due to the expected economic losses in Albania from the alteration in tariff policy, the Italian government provided Albania 15 million Albanian leks each year in compensation.[11] Italian customs laws were to apply in Albania and only Italy alone could create treaties with third parties.[11] Italian capital was permitted to be the dominant position in the Albanian economy.[11] As a result, Italian companies were allowed to hold monopolies in the exploitation of Albanian natural resources.[11]

Administrative division

Italian-administered Albania was initially divided into 12 provinces:[22]

In 1941, Kosovo was attached to Albania as the Province of Pristina (Italian: Provincia di Pristina) or Province of Kosovo (Italian: Provincia del Cossovo ).

See also

References

  1. ^ Owen Pearson. Albania in the twentieth century: a history, Volume 3. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: I.B. Taurus Publishers, 2004. Pp. 378, 389.
  2. ^ a b Owen Pearson. Albania in the twentieth century: a history, Volume 3. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: I.B. Taurus Publishers, 2004. Pp. 378.
  3. ^ Owen Pearson. Albania in the twentieth century: a history, Volume 3. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: I.B. Taurus Publishers, 2004. Pp. 351.
  4. ^ Owen Pearson. Albania in the twentieth century: a history, Volume 3. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: I.B. Taurus Publishers, 2004. Pp. 389.
  5. ^ Owen Pearson. Albania in the twentieth century: a history, Volume 3. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: I.B. Taurus Publishers, 2004. Pp. 396.
  6. ^ Keegan, John; Churchill, Winston (1986). The Second World War (Six Volume Boxed Set). Boston: Mariner Books. pp. p314. ISBN 0-395-41685-X. http://books.google.com/books?id=e0_3Nrc8D0wC&pg=PA314&vq=April+7,+1939&dq=Albania+April+7,+1939&source=gbs_search_s&sig=ACfU3U0QPFoJknTqKr3lGz1P9qsXWXICPA. 
  7. ^ Zabecki, David T. (1999). World War II in Europe: an encyclopedia. New York: Garland Pub. pp. p1353. ISBN 0-8240-7029-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=gYDN-UfehEEC&pg=PA1353&dq=albania+%22Italian+protectorate%22&as_brr=3&ei=LSh7SP3sMoHAigHm0uzBBA&sig=ACfU3U2Mkq1BcJPJheoiFuManvWK9W0bBw. 
  8. ^ a b Kallis, Aristotle A. (2000), Fascist ideology: territory and expansionism in Italy and Germany, 1922–1945, Routledge, p. 132, http://books.google.com/books?id=BeeRQHDOKXQC 
  9. ^ Steiner, Zara S. (2005), The lights that failed: European international history, 1919-1933, Oxford University Press, p. 499, http://books.google.com/books?id=V00vGP4TobwC 
  10. ^ Roy Palmer Domenico. Remaking Italy in the twentieth century. Lanham, Maryland, USA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002. Pp. 74.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Raphaël Lemkin. Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. Slark, New Jersey, USA: The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 2005. Pp. 102.
  12. ^ Lemkin, Raphael; Power, Samantha (2008), Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., pp. 99–107, ISBN 978-1-58477-901-8, http://books.google.com/books?id=y0in2wOY-W0C 
  13. ^ Owen Pearson (2006). Albania in the Twentieth Century, A History : Volume II: Albania in Occupation and War, 1939–45. London: I. B. Tauris. pp. p167. ISBN 1-84511-104-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=P3knunC7z_oC&pg=PA167&dq=%22Shefqet+Verlaci%22+%22prime+minister%22&lr=lang_en&as_brr=3&ei=OVF7SL7YOZPgiQGOheXMCA&sig=ACfU3U0cCdDiEmWiyfUTt3Y1x70i4xdb-w. 
  14. ^ [1]
  15. ^ Kallis, Aristotle A. (2000), Fascist ideology: territory and expansionism in Italy and Germany, 1922–1945, Routledge, pp. 132–133, http://books.google.com/books?id=BeeRQHDOKXQC 
  16. ^ a b Rodogno., Davide (2006). Fascism's European empire: Italian occupation during the Second World War. Cambridge University Press. p. 106. ISBN 0-521-84515-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZcUNELPsQQsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Fascism%27s+European+empire:+Italian+occupation+during+the+Second+World+War&hl=en&ei=dig_TPn6OYKC8gaGlcDpCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6wEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  17. ^ Fischer, Bernd Jürgen (1999), Albania at War, 1939-1945, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, pp. 70–73, ISBN 978-1-85065-531-2, http://books.google.com/?id=P-MiG9ngCp8C 
  18. ^ Fischer, Bernd Jürgen (1999), Albania at War, 1939-1945, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, pp. 73–79, ISBN 978-1-85065-531-2, http://books.google.com/?id=P-MiG9ngCp8C 
  19. ^ Pieter Hidri, General Prenk Pervizi, Tirana, Toena, 2002.
  20. ^ Julian Amery, The sons of the Eagle, London, 1946, s. 302-306
  21. ^ Rodogno., Davide (2006). Fascism's European empire: Italian occupation during the Second World War. Cambridge University Press. p. 108. ISBN 0-521-84515-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZcUNELPsQQsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Fascism%27s+European+empire:+Italian+occupation+during+the+Second+World+War&hl=en&ei=dig_TPn6OYKC8gaGlcDpCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6wEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  22. ^ [2]

Other Bibliography

External links