Hello everyone and welcome to... Mr... This is Europe and that there is Albania.
People have lived here for many thousands of years. Now let's see what's been going on, shall we? Not much is or can be known about the earliest peoples but...
But by the mid-2000s BC, the people here were speaking an ancestor of the Greek language. And by 2000 BC, the area was inhabited by a people called the Illyrians. They were not a united people, and they remain rather mysterious, though we do know that the Greeks and Romans had nothing but contempt for them.
The Illyrian tribes were not exactly passive, and would not uncommonly launch attacks into neighboring lands. Largely in response to the Illyrian pirate raids sanctioned by Queen Teuta, the Romans marched into Illyria and conquered it after a long and brutal campaign. What is now Albania became a part of a Roman region called Illyricum, and it was a lot better behaved under the Roman heel. In fact, a number of Illyrians would go on to become Roman emperors, including Aurelian, Diocletian, and Constantine the Great. With the fall of the beleaguered Western Roman Empire in 476, Albania remained within the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire.
Albania suffered greatly from the tumult and turmoil engulfing so much of Europe at this time. From 529 to 640, it was invaded by the Anti, the Huns, Lombards, Gepids, Slavs, and Avars. not a pleasant time at all. Officially a part of Byzantium, but still having ties to Rome, Albanian religious life became a rather dichotomous one, with ties to both Eastern and Western Christianity.
When the church officially split in 1054, North Albania was Catholic and the South was Orthodox. Around 1079, Byzantine historian Michael Ataliatis mentions the word Albanians for the first time in history that all historians agree on. Back in the second century, however, the geographer Ptolemy referred to an Illyrian tribe called the Albanoi, which some squabble over but I think proves the modern Albanians are descended, at least in part, from the Illyrians.
The area was overrun by the Normans in the late 11th century as the Byzantine Empire weakened. Then an Albanian prince named Progon arose and established an independent state that lasted till the mid-1200s. Then the Serbs came along and conquered Albania, ruling it till their empire fell in 1355. Albania found itself split under the rule of various feudal lords.
Then, in the late 14th century, just when when the people thought they could relax, the Ottoman Turks invaded. Enter Skanderbeg. perhaps the greatest Albanian of all.
This commander and military genius severely impeded Ottoman progression into Western Europe, while also uniting the divided Albanian people and instilling in them a sense of national consciousness and identity. His many victories over much larger Turkish forces are all the more remarkable considering that he fought the Ottomans at their peak in power. This was not the ailing Ottoman Empire of the 19th century, this was them in their prime, and he held them back for 24 years. But after Skanderbeg, there was no one to resist the Turkish incursion, and a decade later the Ottomans came back and conquered it. Many Albanians fled to Italy, and the remaining populace, over the centuries, mostly all slowly converted to Islam.
Under Ottoman rule, numerous Albanians rose to positions of great power, such as Ali Pasha, but as with all regions ruled by the Ottomans, they were kept back from the Western European Renaissance and later scientific and industrial revolutions, meaning they were more or less stuck in the medieval era right up to the 20th century. Albania was not spared the feverish nationalism that swept over Europe in the late 19th century, and a number of revolts against Turkey flared up as a result. On the 28th of November 1912, the Albanian people, led by Ismail Kamali, finally declared independence.
The great powers, in redrawing the map of Europe, limited Albanian territory, so some 40% of Albanians were left outside Albania's borders, including those of Kosovo. Albania was basically a battlefield during World War I, and in the ensuing years underwent a time of political turbulence that left one Ahmed Zogu in charge. From 1928, he ruled under the strangely sci-fi sounding name of King Zog, and introduced reforms, banned Sharia law. and allied with fascist Italy.
Now Albanian economic dependence on Italy began to bother Mr. Mussolini, who decided it would be better if Italians ran the show. So Italy invaded in April 1939 and took over. Two years later, the Albanian Communist Party was formed and a schoolteacher named Enver Hodja soon became top dog.
A few years later, after a violent civil war, the Communist Party gained control with Hodja at the helm. With characteristic haste, the communists began an enormous purge of suspected enemies. rich people had their money and property confiscated, factories and mines were nationalized and so on.
Albania was poised to merge with communist Yugoslavia, but when that Balkan Union broke from the Soviets in 1948, Albania sided with the USSR and Stalin, who sent much-needed economic aid. After Stalin died and Khrushchev wanted to de-Stalinize things, Albania was upset, and rather than reform, it looked to the stern and more Stalin-esque China under Mao. Soviet aid was stopped, and Chinese aid began.
In 1967, communist Albania declared itself the world's first atheist state. Mosques and churches were shut and if you dared to worship God in any way you would be thrown into prison. But when, in the 1970s, China and America became less hostile to each other, Albania and China broke up, so to speak.
Albania struggled along in poverty and political corruption until the communist party lost power in 1990. And though inexperienced in capitalism and still flirting with dubiously beneficial socialist politics, signs seemed to indicate improvement for Albania. What do you think? Comment below, but for now, bye bye!