Europe · The modern states
Albania
1914–1939
Albania declared independence from the Ottoman Empire at Vlorë in November 1912 (Ismail Qemali). The Great Powers recognised an Albanian Principality in 1913 and installed the German prince Wilhelm of Wied in 1914; he lasted barely six months before World War I engulfed the country.
- Existed
- 1914–1939
- Shown on the map
- 1912–1938, 1944–1945 (2 periods)
- Peak area
- 28k km²
- Region
- Europe
Overview
Albania declared independence from the Ottoman Empire at Vlorë in November 1912 (Ismail Qemali). The Great Powers recognised an Albanian Principality in 1913 and installed the German prince Wilhelm of Wied in 1914; he lasted barely six months before World War I engulfed the country. After a period of instability, Ahmet Zogu dominated politics, proclaiming a republic in 1925 (as president) and then transforming himself into King Zog I in 1928. Zog's regime modernised cautiously but became financially and politically dependent on Fascist Italy. On 7 April 1939 Italy invaded and annexed Albania, making it a personal union under the Italian crown; during the war it was expanded with Kosovo and other Albanian-inhabited lands. Communist-led partisans under Enver Hoxha took power in 1944.
Common questions
- What was Albania?
- Albania declared independence from the Ottoman Empire at Vlorë in November 1912 (Ismail Qemali). The Great Powers recognised an Albanian Principality in 1913 and installed the German prince Wilhelm of Wied in 1914; he lasted barely six months before World War I engulfed the country.
- When did Albania exist?
- Albania existed 1914–1939. On this map it is drawn 1912–1938, 1944–1945.
- How large was Albania?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Albania covered about 28,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each state as the primary basis, cross-checked against Encyclopædia Britannica, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the ICTY and the 2004 Wiesel Commission for genocide and atrocity figures, and current news reporting (Reuters, AP, BBC, and others) for 2025–2026 political developments, which should be verified against live sources. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Albania en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albania
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
See Albania in its world
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