Albania

Map of Albania

Republic of Albania

Demographics
Population:	2,829,741
GDP (million):	17,138
GDP p/cap.:	5,991
Life expectancy:	78.0
Development Index:	0.795

Government
Democracy Index:	6.08
Corruption Index:	36

More
Education Index:	0.715
Religiosity:	50

The Republic of Albania is an underground bunker that eroded into land Eastern European country bordering the Adriatic Sea to the west, Montenegro to the north, North Macedonia and Kosovo (or Serbia, depending on who you talk to) to the east and then Greece to the south. Being in the Balkan Peninsula, the Republic of Albania has had a very bloody colorful history. If you are unfamiliar with the Balkans, its history, and the concept of nationalism then you are in for a very bumpy ride.^[2]

History[edit]

Ancient history[edit]

Note: The ancient history of Albania is very obscure and is often used as a weapon for nationalist arguments.

Appearing on the Balkan Peninsula in 1000 BCE, a people called "the Illyrians" by the ancient Greeks held control of the western portion of the peninsula (i.e. Albania and Greece). This appears to be an exonym, and the people in "Illyria" probably did not see themselves as a monolith. They were known to be fierce warriors who attacked any foreign kingdoms and tribes. The most notable of all the conflicts is when the Illyrians frequently attacked the Kingdom of Macedon.^[3] Illyria fell to the Roman Empire during the Illyrian Wars of the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries BCE.^[4][5] The Illyrians dominated practically all of Albania and they intermingled with the Macedonians and Thracians. Many historians believe that the modern-day Albanians are descended from the ancient Illyrians while salty Greek nationalists scream otherwise.^[6]

Albania in the Roman Empire[edit]

The Roman conquest of Illyria was a gradual process as the regions beyond the Adriatic coast were not practically valuable. The first war began around 229 BCE, and troubles are recorded as late as the reign of Augustus, on behalf of whom the future sovereign Tiberius suppressed a large-scale insurrection. Romanization took hold afterward, and as the center of power shifted away from Italy, several men of Illyrian descent would even claim the imperial throne!

Middle Ages[edit]

With the fall of the West Roman Empire came new groups of people into the region. Most notably were the Bulgars, Serbs, Croats and Proto-Albanians in the late 400s. The Illyrians steadily became displaced by the new migrations from Slavic and Turkic tribes. In the year 570 CE the Avars entered the region. This group was a Turkic tribe from the Caucasus that settled in the Balkans. Over a period of several decades South Slavic groups gains dominance over the Balkans.

The late Middle Ages rolled around and the Illyrians just could not catch a break. South Slavic groups continued to settle in the Balkans. In 732 CE, a Byzantine emperor, Leo the Isaurian, subordinated the area to the patriarchate of Constantinople. For centuries thereafter, the Albanian lands became an arena for the ecclesiastical struggle between Rome and Constantinople. Most Albanians living in the mountainous north became Roman Catholic, while in the southern and central regions, the majority became Orthodox.

The first historical mention of Albania and the Albanians as such appears in an account of the resistance by a Byzantine emperor, Alexius I Comnenus, regarding an offensive by the Vatican-backed Normans from southern Italy into the Albanian-populated lands in 1081.

The Serbs occupied parts of northern and eastern Albania toward the end of the 12^th century. In 1204, after Western crusaders sacked Constantinople, Venice won nominal control over Albania and the Epirus region of northern Greece and took possession of Durrës. A prince from the overthrown Byzantine ruling family, Michael Comnenus, made alliances with Albanian chiefs and drove the Venetians from lands that now make up southern Albania and northern Greece, and in 1204 he set up an independent principality, the Despotate of Epirus, with Janina (now Ioannina in northwest Greece) as its capital. In 1272 the king of Naples, Charles I of Anjou, occupied Durrës and formed an Albanian kingdom that would last for a century. Internal power struggles further weakened the Byzantine Empire in the 14^th century, enabling the Serbs' most powerful medieval ruler, Stefan Dusan, to establish a short-lived empire that included all of Albania except Durrës.^[7]

Albania under the Ottoman Empire[edit]

In the year of 1385 Ottoman invaders showed up in what is now modern-day Albania. Their first attempts at control ended up in failure. In 1420 the Ottoman government set up the Sanjak of Albania (administrative division in the Ottoman era). After repeated invasions and the subjugation of the Christian Albanian population, the Ottomans gained a permanent foothold. Two uprisings by ethnic Albanians ended in failure; this led to complete control. Albanian was only written down for the first time in the mid-16^th century, making it the very last attested branch of Indo-European languages; it has no obvious connection to any other language family beyond this, despite occasional attempts to force it into fitting somewhere. For all of its recorded history it has a lot of Slavic, Greek, and Italian loanwords (as there is a significant Albanian speaking population in southern Italy) and today is increasingly borrowing words from English.

By the 1750s a period of partial independence rose. Many autonomous governments formed. Pashaliks i.e autonomous regions, popped up in Albania, Greece and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Over a period of 3 centuries, mass Islamization took place. This allowed Albanians to gain power in the Ottoman government.^[8]

In 1903 the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising took place in the Balkan Peninsula. Albania was mostly unaffected by the uprising as it was limited to the modern nations of North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece. The uprising was intended to create a nation out of the Macedonia region and Adrianople Vilayet/South Thrace district. This revolt, while it did not actually affect Albania, it did heavily damage the stability of the Ottoman Empire.^[9]

20^th century Albania[edit]

Independence, Balkan Wars, WW1 and WW2 (1900-1945)[edit]

The First Balkan War began when the Ottoman Empire started to collapse as nations declared their independence. This would spell disaster for the nation of Albania. The Serbians and Montenegrins began an irredentist campaign which resulted in the ethnic cleansing of Albanian populations. The cities of Pristina, Ferizoviç, Yakova, Prizren and Luma were attacked by Serbians. These attacks involved the slaughter of local populations.^[10]

In 1912, the Austria-Hungary Empire and Italy helped support an independent Albanian state. With international support, Albania declared independence. The Treaty of London was signed which defined national boundaries in the Balkan Peninsula. However, Bulgaria threw a fit over territory and started the Second Balkan War.^[11]

At the start of World War II, Italy threatened to invade Albania as Italy wanted to turn Albania into a puppet state. When Albania refused, the Axis Powers began their occupation of the Balkan Peninsula.^[12] During this time, communist partisans under the leadership of Enver Hoxha began fighting against the Axis Powers in a series of revolts. When World War II concluded, Albania became a communist country under the Eastern Bloc.^[13]

Communist rule (1944-1996)[edit]

In 1945, the Party of Labour in Albania took hold of the nation and established a communist government under the name of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. Under communist rule, all businesses were centralized and most private property was placed under government control. Civil liberties such as free speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly were mercilessly crushed. Education standards fell significantly. Anti-intellectualism flourished with the government 'reeducating' scientists, historians, and engineers, among others. Agriculture became the main driver of the economy due to anti-intellectualism.^[14]

The first secretary (leader) of the party was the dictator Enver Hoxha. Under Hoxha's leadership, policies akin to those of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin were put into place. Hoxha and Stalin held a close international relationship. The personal lives of the Albanian people were heavily permeated by government regulations. Anti-Western ideology became government policy. This led to the construction of thousands of underground and overground bunkers to protect against nuclear and conventional attack. To this day, these testaments of paranoia remain as tourist traps, and are to Albanian teens the equivalent of the backseat of a car to American teens for losing virginity.

As time marched on, the relationship between Hoxha and the Soviets waned. However, Hoxha kept the extremely oppressive polices that targeted free thinkers and intellectuals. This oppression and radicalization lasted until 1985 when Hoxha finally died. His death led to the cracking of communist rule. Anti-Communist protests erupted which chipped away at communist rule.^[15]

In 1996, a civil war between civilians and the communist government came about through an unexpected source — get rich quick schemes. Specifically, the financially desperate citizens of Albania invested what little money they had into pyramid schemes. With 2/3 of the population investing money and with no social safety net, these people lost every last penny they had. With the government refusing to do anything, the citizens of the country took up arms. Financial riots expanded into anger against the Albanian communist government. This was the flash point of civil war. Violent clashes between rebels and government soldiers took place. When the civil war escalated, Western governments and the United Nations sent in security forces to restore order. The civil war ended in 1997 with the first free and democratic elections taking place.^[16]

Government[edit]

The Republic of Albania is currently run by a parliamentary republic. These officials are elected democratically. Note: people deemed "mentally incompetent" by the government are not allowed to vote.

Health insurance is guaranteed by the government. Pregnant women and children are given special protections by the government. Social safety nets are in place for people living in poverty.^[17]

Human rights[edit]

As for human rights, modern Albania does not have the best human rights record in the world.^{[citation needed]}

Honor killings remain a serious problem due to Albanian blood feuds, especially in the more rural areas of northern Albania. There are thousands of children who cannot even leave their homes due to these ongoing feuds, despite active attempts to eliminate them. The Forgiveness of Blood is a movie about what happens to families who try to break the cycle.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the government of Albania has officials who seek to downplay the virus and threaten journalists. LGBT+ people and the Romani ethnic groups are frequent targets of discrimination.^[18] While gay and transgender people have legal protections, the situation varies for people in the LGBT+ spectrum. Gay people can give blood, serve in the military, and have protections from discrimination in housing. However, gay people cannot legally get married. As for transgender people and non-binary people, the situation is ambiguous.^[19]

Military forces[edit]

The military of Albania goes by the name of the Albanian Armed Forces. This military is divided into the Land Force, Air Force, Support Command, Naval Force among others.^[20] Their job is like every other nation's military: defend the country from external and internal threats. The Albanian Armed Forces is ran by the General Staff.

See also[edit]

• Protochronism
• Kosovo, Albania's best buddy in the Balkans
• Serbia, the nation most hated by Albania.
• Mother Teresa (real name Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu); besides brain-rotting communist tracts, for better or otherwise quite possibly Albania's best known export.

References[edit]