Albania Explained

Maps, Flags, and Facts

Albania is located in the Balkans. From North to South, it borders Montenegro, Kosovo/Serbia (depending on if you count Kosovo as part of Serbia or not), (North) Macedonia and Greece. Three-Fourths of Albania is mountainous, as shown from this screenshot I took of Google Maps:

Albania also shares a coast with the Adriatic Sea, and this is where many of Albania's cities are located in. Durrës and Vlorë, the countries' second and third most populous cities, are on the coast. Both of these cities were founded over a thousand years ago by the Greeks. As for borders, they were set after the First Balkan War (I'll talk a little more about this soon.)

Albania has been part of many historical empires. It was partially conquered by the Roman Empire in 228 BCE and fully conquered in 168 BCE. During the East/West split, Albania was on the eastern side. After a little chaos, the Kingdom of Albania was established in 1272. But just 200 years later, the Ottomans took control of Albania. For the next 300 years, the Ottoman Empire expanded and shrinked, but Albania was always within it's borders...until the First Balkan War.

The Balkans have historically been one of the most divided regions. The First Balkan War, from 1912-13 showed this. Before the war, many countries like Greece, Montenegro, and Romania were declaring independence. In 1877-78, Russia and the Ottoman Empire fought a war. Russia helped Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro gain independence. In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia. Although Serbia and Russia were mad since they wanted a united Slavic nation (which failed 80 years later), Germany backed Austria and Russia backed down. But four years later, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro joined forces to take Macedonia from the Ottoman Empire. Keep in mind that the isn't the Macedonia we have now. The Ottomans lost, and lost Albania in the process. That same year, Bulgaria invaded Greece and Serbia to try to get more of Macedonia...which failed when Ottoman and Romania armies invaded. The historic region of Macedonia was split between Serbia, Macedonia (the country), Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece.

When Europe came around to having a mild case of a World War, most countries picked sides. Albania was not one of those countries. Originally it had a German leader, but he was kicked out. Greece decided to occupy Southern Albania and Serbia decided to occupy Northern Albania but then Austria decided that it wanted Albania so they conquered it and then unconquered it and Italy (who was neutral) conquered it but then Austria reconquered it so Bulgaria decided to conquer it and France and Italy decided to occupy the south. After the war was over, the Albanians reconquered what was unconquered. Now, Albania was surrounded by...possible threats in Yugoslavia, Italy, and Greece. What a way to end a war...

During WWII, Italy quickly conquered Albania (I wonder where we heard that from) and most of Europe along with it's friend Germany. Italy set up a puppet state in Albania (meaning that they had a ruler that was friendly to Italy). In 1943, Benito Mussolini was overthrown and the new government changed sides. The communists of Albania took over most of southern Albania with the exception of Vlorë. Soon, the Nationalists and communists struck a deal to fight against the Germans. However, this didn't mean that they were friends. The nationalists wanted Kosovo to be part of Albania (back to that in a minute) while the communists didn't. Germany took over, but after a little while, the communsits got in power. This is where things get I N T E R E S T I N G...

During the early stages of the Cold War, Albania was allied to the Yugoslavia. But then, they got angry at each other over Kosovo. Yugoslavia was anti-USSR, so Albania decided to ally with the Soviet Union. Initially, the USSR provided money and aid to Albania, but when Nikita Khrushchev came in power, this stopped. Therefore, In 1960, when China and the Soviet Union finally came to not liking each other, Albania decided to go with China. China gave economic aid to Albania... until China and the United States became trade partners. Albania then decided to go on it's own path, meaning that although it was communist, it wasn't allied to either the USSR or China...which was just like what Yugoslavia was doing...

In the early 1990s, Albania wasn't doing that well. It's economic situation was worsening and there were demonstrations for democracy. In May of 1991, following an election, the communist party lost, and Albania became more of an ally to the United States. In 2009, Albania joined NATO. This is it's position right now.

Thanks for reading!