Stefanaq Polio and Arben Puto with the collaboration of Kristo Frasheri and Skender Anamali

English translation by Carol Wiseman and Ginnie Hole

The history of Albania from its origins to the present day

Routledge & Kegan Paul London, Boston and Henley Contents

Acknowledgments xiii

Prehistoric and ancient times: the Illyrians i First traces of human society in Albania I The Illyrians: their origins and homes 2 The beginnings of Illyrian civilization 4 The Greek colonies 7 The federative states 10 The urban civilization 14 The last Illyrian kingdom: the wars between Illyria and Rome 17 The Roman occupation and the Illyrian revolts 19 The towns; means of communication 20 Illyrian resistance to Romanization 22

From the Illyrians to the Albanians (sixth to eleventh centuries AD) 24 Illyria in the sixth century 24 Barbarian invasions and Slav migrations 25 The formation of the Albanian people 28 The social organization 32 Origins of feudalism 34

The Albanian medieval chiefs (twelfth to fourteenth centuries) 37 Origin of 'Albanian' 37 The Norman invasions 40 The first Albanian principality 42 Lords, citizens and peasants (fourteenth century) 46 Albanian principalities in the fourteenth century 50 The battle of Savra (1385) 53 The battle of Kosova (1389) 55 Indigenous religion and culture (fourth to fourteenth centuries) 57 CONTENTS

The age of Skanderbeg 62 The Ottoman occupation 62 The revolts of the 1430s 65 George Kastriote Skanderbeg 68 The rebellion of 1443 71 The first victories of Skanderbeg (1444-50) 73 The formation of an Albanian state 77 Skanderbeg's enemies and allies 78 The zenith of the struggle 81 After Skanderbeg 84 Albania beneath the Ottoman yoke (sixteenth to nineteenth centuries) 88 The timar regimes and the Albanian revolts 88 Albanian society in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 91 The formation of the Albanian pashalics 93 The great pashalic of Shkodra 95 The great pashalic of Janina 99 The subjugation of the great pashalics and the end of the timar regime 102 The rebirth of the Albanian nation (1844-1912) 107 The beginnings of the national movement 107 A national education and culture 114 The League of Prizren 116 The Albanians and the great powers 121 The struggle for autonomy 124 The cultural movement 130 The autonomist movement revives 133 The Albanians and the Young Turk revolution 137 The great rebellions of the eve of independence 140 Albania's independence, the great powers and the First World War (1912-18) 146 Independence and the first national government 146 The Ambassador's Conference 149 The end of the national government: the'xenocracy' 153 Wied's short-lived reign 157 A battlefield of the Great War 163 The re-establishment of independence, a parliamentary regime and a democratic revolution (1918-24) 171 Peace and its dangers 171 The great popular reawakening 176 The struggle against European diplomacy 180 Internal political strife and the development of reactionary elements 184 The June Revolution 190

VI CONTENTS

9 Albania under Zogu's regime (1925-39) 197 From republic to monarchy 197 A kingdom adrift 204 The opposition movement and the communist movement 211 Italian aggression 216 Literature and the arts 220 10 The struggle against Fascism for national liberation (1939-44) 224 Beginnings of the resistance 224 The Albanian Communist Party: the soul of the resistance 229 The armed front 234 The German occupation 236 The foundations of the popular democratic state 239 Relations with the Allies 242

11 The way to Socialism 246 The reconstruction of the country and the establishment of a democracy 246 The People's Republic: socialist constitution and reforms 249 Facing the problems of a foreign policy 252 Disagreements between Albania and Yugoslavia 260 Fresh ordeals 263 Industrialization and collectivization 266 The break with the Soviet Union 269 12 Albania today 274 Self-support 274 The fight for a new mentality 276 New revolutionary developments 278 Literature and the arts 285

Glossary of historical terms 289 Bibliography 294 Index 305

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