1913-1918 1925-1939







Albania 1918-1924


After fighting ceased in October/November 1918, the occupation of Albania continued. It is needless to say, that Albania as much as other countries affected by the war, suffered from problems such as food shortage and infectious diseases.
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's 14 points included the principle that nations should be given the right to decide their own affairs; according to this principle, Albania's independence was restored, although Greece continued to occupy southern Albania (Northern Epirus) until 1923. A curiosity : the small island of Saseno, only a few km off the Albanian coast (hitherto Greek) was allocated not to Albania, but to Italy (1920).
A National Congress was held in Lushnje in January 1920, where the principles for Albania's government were decided upon. Albania was split in two rival camps, one lead by Ahmed Bey Zogu, representing the conservative landowners and tribal chiefs, traditionally leaning on Turkey, the other lead by Fan S. Noli, an western-educated Orthodox bishop in favour of introducing a western-style liberal democracy. The young republic's head of state 1919-1924 was Turchan Pasha. In 1924, Fan Noli ascended to the presidency; now unrestrained, he implemented an ambitious program of Land Reform and modernization. In 1924 Ahmed Zogu fled the country, taking up exile in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Meanwhile the modernization and land reform program had caused much resistance; Ahmed Zogu returned with an armed force and overthrew the Noli administration (Jan. 1925).





EXTERNAL
LINKS
DOCUMENTS Albanian Statesmen, from World Statesmen (B. Cahoon)
Historical Population Statistics, from Population Statistics, Univ. Utrecht
Albanian banknotes, from Ron Wise's World Paper Money, scroll down to 'special issues'
REFERENCE E. Alexander Powell, The New Frontiers of Freedom from the Alps to the AEgean, NY (1920), posted by Gutenberg Library Online
Miranda Vickers, The Albanians - a Modern History, (1995) London : Tauris 2001, 282 pp., KMLA Lib.Sign. 949.65 V637a
Article : Albania, pp.612-618 in : Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, Macropaedia, vol.14, KMLA Lib.Sign. R 032 B862n v.14
Article : Albania, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1919 pp.644-646, 1924 pp.654-657, 1925 pp.659-661 [G]
Article : Albania, in : New International Year Book 1919 p.35, 1920 pp.33-34, 1921 pp.36-38, 1923 pp.36-37 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on January 10th 2002, last revised on October 15th 2007

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