Sodan jälkeen Albania pyrki nojautumaan Italian suojeluun.
Huhtikuussa 1939 Mussolinin joukot miehittivät maan ja liittivät sen osaksi Italiaa.
Albanian valtaus oli Italian kuningaskunnan Albanian miehitys keväällä 1939, puoli vuotta ennen toisen maailmansodan alkua. Sota alkoi 7. huhtikuuta 1939 ja se päättyi Italian voittoon 12. huhtikuuta. Syynä oli Italian diktaattorin Benito Mussolinin halu kompensoida Italialle Saksan aluelaajennuksia (Itävallan liittäminen Saksaan ja Tšekkoslovakian miehitys), jotta Italia ei jäisi liittolaisensa varjoon.
Toisen maailmansodan aikana kommunistiset ja kansallismieliset sissit taistelivat Albaniassa italialaisia ja saksalaisia miehitys joukkoja sekä toisiaan vastaan. Titon Jugoslavian tuella Enver Hoxhan johtamat kommunistit selviytyivät voittajiksi ja maa julistettiin Albanian sosialistiseksi kansantasavallaksi 1946.Sodan jälkeen ideologiset ristiriidat Jugoslavian kanssa syvenivät, ja maa haki tukea ensin vuodesta 1948 alkaen Stalinin Neuvostoliitosta ja Stalinin kuoleman jälkeen vuodesta 1962 alkaen Maon Kiinasta. Lopulta Maon kuoltua 70-luvun lopulla välit myös Kiinaan huononivat ja maa siirtyi tiukalle eristäytymislinjalle. Albania oli ainoa eurooppalainen valtio, joka ei osallistunut Helsingissä kesällä 1975 pidettyyn Euroopan turvallisuus- ja yhteistyökokoukseen ETYK:iin.
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King Zog (Zogu) I
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| Italian invasion of Albania | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Interwar period | |||||||||
 Three Albanian soldiers are shown here in an unidentified location fleeing North with peasants towards Yugoslavia April 12, 1939. | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Italy |  Albania | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Victor Emmanuel III Benito Mussolini Alfredo Guzzoni | Zog I Abaz Kupi Gen. Xhemal Aranitasi Mujo Ulqinaku † | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Royal Italian Army: 100,000 soldiers 600 airplanes | Royal Albanian Army: 15,600 soldiers | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 25–400 killed 97+ wounded (at Durres) | 160 killed Unknown wounded and missing | ||||||||
On April 15, 1939, Albania withdrew from the League of Nations, from which Italy had resigned in 1937. On June 3, 1939, the Albanian foreign ministry was merged into the Italian foreign ministry, and the Albanian Foreign Minister, Xhemil Dino, was given the rank of an Italian ambassador. Upon the capture of Albania, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini declared the official creation of the Italian Empire and the figurehead King Victor Emmanuel III was crowned King of the Albanians in addition to his title of Emperor of Ethiopia, which had been occupied three years before.
The Albanian military was placed under Italian command and formally merged into the Italian Army in 1940. Additionally, the Italian Blackshirts formed four legions of Albanian Militia, initially recruited from Italian colonists living in Albania, but later from ethnic Albanians.
Albania followed Italy into war with Britain and France on June 10, 1940. Albania served as the base for the Italian invasion of Greece in October 1940, and Albanian troops participated in the Greek campaign, but they massively deserted the front line. The country's southern areas (including the cities of Gjirokastër and Korçë) were temporarily occupied by the Greek army during that campaign, but Italy, regardless of the fact of not even winning one battle against the Greek Army, eventually was given charge of Albania, due to Germany's assistance with its Greek campaign and the subsequent occupation of Greece by the German Army.
Albania was enlarged in May 1941 by the annexation of Kosovo and parts of Montenegro and the Vardar Banovina, going a long way towards realizing nationalistic claims for a "Greater Albania". Part of the western coast of Epirus called Chameria was also annexed, and put under an Albanian High Commissioner, who exercised nominal control over it.
When Italy left the Axis in September 1943, German troops immediately occupied Albania after a short campaign, with relatively strong resistance.
During the Second World War, the Albanian Partisans, including some sporadic Albanian nationalist groups, fought against the Italians (after autumn 1942) and, subsequently, the Germans. By October 1944 the Germans had withdrawn from the southern Balkans in response to military defeats by the Red Army, the collapse of Romania and the imminent fall of Bulgaria. After the Germans left due to the rapid advance of Albanian Communist forces, the Albanian Partisans crushed nationalist resistance and the leader of the Albanian Communist Party, Enver Hoxha, became the leader of the country.
Excellent! I didn't know much about this!
VastaaPoistaThank you, Rodger.
PoistaAfter WW I, many small countries wants independence.
There will be many new small states that a little bit later "merge" bigger.
This way has been the "beginning of time" so even today.
(Basques, Ukraine, Georgia, etc...)
You don't hear much about the small countries in WW2. Now you're filling a gap in our memory! Thanks for sharing this interesting information with us!
VastaaPoistaGreetings
Peter
Hello, Peter.
PoistaThank you.
This is fresh history happens, and I like the Military History
what is oldest (time), is better
Great post, I forgot about this, now I remember doing this in high school. The small wars leading up to ww2, the Russo Finn winter war is another I remember
VastaaPoistaMorning S-K
PoistaThank you for your comment.
I forgot my previous answer one land, the Scotlands.
Winter war!
Yes.
It's been talked about a lot.
1939 in the Soviet Union was 182 million people
In Finland, 3.7 million ..