History
Looking up inside the entrance to the Bunk’Art 2 museum
HISTORY OF ALBANIA The origins of today’s Albania can be traced back two-anda-half millennia with the settling of the Illyrians in the region, the people who most agree the modern Albanians are descended from. Part of the mighty Ottoman Empire from the end of the 14th century until the beginning of the 20th, and the only people to expel Nazi Germany without any assistance from a foreign army in 1944, Albania’s most recent long-term incarnation was as a post-war Communist country almost complexly isolated from the rest of the world. The plucky Albanian people have been struggling with their own unique version of democracy and capitalism for the last three decades, and it’s anyone’s guess what’s going to happen next. 4th century The Roman Empire is divided in 395AD. The territory of today’s Albania falls into the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire. 14th century The Ottomans invade what’s now Albania in 1385, a rule lasting over 500 years. 15th century Skanderbeg, the Albanian leader, wages a war of independence against the Ottomans starting in 1443, and enjoys remarkable success in keeping them at bay until his death in 1468. 19th century After numerous crushed uprisings and the Russian victory over the Ottoman Empire, the Prizren League is founded in 1878 to fight for Albanian autonomy 14 Tirana In Your Pocket
20TH CENTURY Local uprisings break out in 1909-1912. Albanians proclaim independence in Vlora on November 28, 1912. The Treaty of London recognises Albania in 1913, but Kosovo is given to Serbia. In 1914 Italy invades Albania. In 1920, Albania regains independence. In 1925, Ahmet Muhtar Zogolli becomes president, but in 1928 he proclaims Albania a kingdom and crowns himself King Zog I. He cooperates with the Italians, who invade again in 1939, occupying Albania until 1943 when Nazi Germany takes over until their retreat in November 1944. Albania becomes the only Nazi-occupied country to have more Jews living in it at the end of the conflict than when it began. The Communist-led National Liberation Front takes power. Yugoslavia, Albania’s erstwhile ally, tries to absorb the country, causing Albania to break with Belgrade in 1948. After 1956, when most of Eastern Europe undergoes de-Stalinisation, Albania maintains a hard line stance. It criticises the Soviet Union, with which it breaks relations in 1961. In 1968 Albania withdraws from the Warsaw Pact and cultivates relations with Communist China. Imitating Beijing, Albania purges ‘reactionary’ influences. In its own version of the Cultural Revolution in 1967, it outlaws religion, closes all 2169 of the country’s churches and mosques and becomes the only atheist state in the world. In 1978 the country’s leaders condemn China as revisionist and Albania is left with no friends. Party head Enver Hoxha dies on April 11, 1985.
