Italy captures Albania

Italy's economic and military might is far less powerful than Germany's, but its ambitions are no less than Germany's. Located in southern Europe, Italy consists mainly of the boot-shaped Apennine Peninsula and two large islands, Sicily and Sardinia, located in the Mediterranean Sea. As early as the mid-19th century, after the unification of the country, Italy embarked on the capitalist colonial road of foreign expansion and appeared in the political diplomacy of Europe as a great power. In the 1860s and 1880s, Italy successfully encroached on Eritrea and southern Somalia, the transportation hubs along the Red Sea coast of East Africa, and seized Libya and the Aegean Rhodes Islands in North Africa in 1912.

After Germany entered Prague on March 15, 1939, Mussolini felt that his expansion ambitions were being challenged, and his heart was extremely anxious and shocked. To his chagrin, Hitler, who ostensibly revered him as a "leader," took action without saying hello to him beforehand. To his greater chagrin, the fall of the Czech Republic had dramatically widened the power gap between Italy and Germany. Mussolini decided to personally write to Hitler stating that certain events had damaged him and demanding immediate compensation. After receiving the letter, Hitler weighed the situation at the time and naturally complied with Mussolini's wishes.

But where to seek compensation? Mussolini set his sights on Albania. Albania is located on the western shore of the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe, bordered by Serbia and Montenegro to the north, Macedonia to the northeast, Greece to the southeast, the Adriatic and Ionian Seas to the west, and italy across the Strait of Otranto.

As early as 2 May 1938, Ciano had proposed the annexation of his neighbor in a written report to Mussolini. Albania has been ruled by the Ottoman Empire since the 15th century. In 1912, Albania declared its independence, and an international conference convened in 1914 established The Albanian Prince Guyum Duvaj as the young King of albania. However, after 6 months in power, he had to give up the throne due to the outbreak of The First World War. The belligerents alternately occupied Albania throughout the war.

During the years following the armistice in 1918, the internal situation in Albania was turbulent and civil unrest ensued. In the midst of the unrest, a reformed head of government, Van Noli, emerged.

However, Ahmet Sogu overthrew his rule. In 1925, Sogu proclaimed himself President of the Republic, and in 1928 he proclaimed himself Emperor, declaring Albania a monarchy and proclaiming himself King as Sogu I.

During his reign, Sogu suppressed the democracy movement and signed a series of unequal treaties with Italy.

Sogu, in order to oppose Yugoslavia's covetousness of Albania, signed an alliance treaty with Italy. Of course, he also received financial aid from Italy. At the same time, Sogu encouraged Italian capitalists to invest in Albania in order to develop the country's weak economy.

For such a neighbor, Ciano felt there was no reason not to include it in his country's map. On February 7, 1939, Ciano and Mussolini agreed to set the date of the invasion of Afghanistan between April 1 and 9. In Ciano's view, if Italy took control of Albania, it would have a favorable impact on the Balkan countries, and Albania's resources, agricultural products and land would be used by Italy.

Moreover, the establishment of a bridgehead in Albania would turn the Adriatic Sea into "an inner lake of a continent", thus providing convenient conditions for solving the problems of the Italian Navy. At the same time, Albania could be used as a base for invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece, especially macedonia along the route of the Roman Empire.

On 325 April 1939, Mussolini issued an ultimatum to Albania, restricting the Albanian government to respond to the following requests by 12 o'clock on 6 April: to allow Italian troops to land at albanian ports; to allow these troops to establish strategic routes, airfields and strategic positions along the border; to establish Italian "settlements" in Albania where these immigrants enjoy the rights of Albanian citizens; to establish a customs union; and to have Italian citizens residing in Albania entitled to the most important public offices The Secretaries-General of the Ministries of Government shall be Italians, and the Italian Ministers stationed in Tirana and the Albanian Ministers accredited to Rome shall be members of the Cabinet of the sending State.

These treaties, which undermined Albania's territorial integrity and sovereignty, were rejected by Albania. Italy, however, was not dead set on it, and after making minor changes to the details of the treaty and getting Mussolini's consent, they sent it to Albania on April 1. At the same time, be prepared to respond. Italy's course of action was: If the Albanian side accepted the treaty, Ciano would go to Tirana to sign the treaty and be escorted by a powerful fleet to show that Albania was already the domain of Italy. If the Albanian side refused, Italy instigated tribal rebellion in Afghanistan and ordered the Italian army to invade.

Unwilling to accept the responsibility of surrender, King Sogu of Albania made a counter-proposal to Italy, which was not taken lightly. Sogu was terrified. At this time, although the Sogu government kept Mussolini's ultimatum a secret, the people soon grasped the truth.

From April 3 to 6, 1939, large-scale mass demonstrations broke out in Albania every day.

On 3 April, the same day that albania's new prince was born, Ciano was ordered to take off from Rome and travel to Albania to "congratulate" the king and renew his "protection" of Albania, but was refused.

On 7 April 1939, about 40,000 Italian troops, under the command of Supreme Commander General Géziani, landed in Durres, San Giovanni-di Medua, Gurolla, and Sant'Icho Alanta. King Sogu of Albania heard the news and fled to Greece with his newborn prince.

On the morning of 8 April, the Italians marched into Tirana. Albanian resistance was quickly broken, and on April 10 almost the entire country was occupied by Italian forces.

On 14 April, Rome announced the incorporation of Albania into Italian territory.

After albania fell to Italy, the political and military situation in the Balkans changed drastically, seriously threatening the independence of the countries of the region. For Italy could use Albania as a base for attacking Greece and as a springboard for the neutralization of Yugoslavia.