Chronography of Albania
Page last modified 30
November 2022
See also Eastern Europe
1999, Large
numbers of refugees entered Albania from Kosovo (see Yugoslavia). Ilir Meta, 32, became Albanian President.
11 August 1997, The UN relief force had now left
Albania.January /1997,
In Albanian elections, Sali Berisha had been
voted out of office.
13 April 1997, An Italian-led UN public order
force arrived in Albania. It was to lay the ground for elections in 6/1997.
28 March 1997, Alarmed by a� flood of refugees out of Albania, the United
Nations authorised a 7,000 strong relief force to restore order in the country.
7 March 1997. Albania
dissolved into chaos, and military
firearms depots were looted, especially around Vlore, where ordinary citizens
armed themselves from these depots. President Sali Berisha declared a State
of Emergency. The cause was a failed pyramid selling sheme, impoverishing many
Albanians. King Zog�s son, Leka, attempted to become King but
failed.
11 February 1997, A week of rioting in the southern Albanian towns of Fier and Vlore had
ensued, following the collapse of high-risk pyramid schemes into which many
Albanians had invested. The protestors believed that the Government of Sali Berisha was to blame for the collapse. Many
ordinary Albanians suspected that Government officls had profited from these
schemes, and wanted the Govermnment to arrange compensation.
10 February 1997, State of Emergency was declared in Albania as mass rioting broke out
when a pyramid savings scheme collapsed. The schemes, actually fronts for money
laundering and weapons dealing, had collapsed in January and
January
1993, Nexhmije Hoxha, widow of Enver Hoxha, was sentenced to 9 years in prison for the� isuse of Givernment funds, 1985-90.
1992, In further Albanian elections, the opposition Democratic Party won.
Sali Berisha became the first non-Communist President.
25 February 1992, Riots in Albania over food shortages.
31 March 1991, Albania had its first multi-party elections.
The Communists were returned to power, now calling themselves the Socialist
Party.
9 March 1991. Albanian
troops fired on 4,000 people trying to board a boat to flee to Italy. In Yugoslavia,
a crowd of at least 70,000 fought with riot police in Belgrade. The crowd was demanding an end to Communist control of
the media. One 18 year old youth was killed by a rubber bullet and over 70
others were injured. Police used live ammunition and water cannon as well as
rubber bullets. The crowd marched on parliament and the television centre.
20 February 1991, The
President of Albania, Ramiz Alia, dismissed the government headed by
Prime Minister of Albania Adil Carcani in an effort to stem prodemocracy
protests. Fatos
Nano was sworn in as Prime Minister on 22 February 1991.
7 January 1991, 5,000
Albanians of Greek ethnicity fled to Greece as chaos mounted in Albania.
1 January 1991, Albanian
President Ramiz
Alia promised that elections would soon be held, ending 43 years of
Communist dictatorship. There was frustration at the slow pace of political
reform in Albania.
13 July 1990, 4,500
Albanian refugees arrived at the Italian port of Brindisi.
15 September 1987, West Germany
established diplomatic relations with Albania.
Enver Hoxha regime
11 April 1985.
In Albania, Communist leader Enver Hoxha died, aged 78,after
41 years in power. He was succeeded as Head of the Albanian Communist Party by Ramiz Alia.
22 November
1982, Ramiz Alia became new Head of State in Albania.
1976, With the death of Mao
in China, Albania lost its main ally and became totally isolated.
12 September 1968, Albania was ejected from
the Warsaw Pact. Foreign travel from Albania was banned, and many killed in
political purges.
13 January 1962, Albania
allied to the People's Republic of China, as the two countries signed a trade
pact.
1961, Albania was ejected from Comecon.
1956, Hoxha fell out with the USSR. He
refused to accept criticism of Stalin, and he moved the country towards closer
relations with China.
1967, Albania
declared itself an atheist State; most churches
and mosques were closed.
9 April 1961, Former King Zog
of Albania, deposed on 2 January 1946, died.
1955, Albania became one of the founder members of the
Warsaw Pact.
30 May 1950. Yugoslavia
and
11 January 1946. General
Enver
Hoxha�s �Democratic Front� won 95% of the vote in
2 January 1946. King Zog of Albania was deposed in his absence.
He was born Ahmed
Bey Zogu, a member of the Zogolli family. The Zogolli led a powerful
Moslem
faction in the mountains of
The Communists were mainly
southern lowland Tosk peasant farmers, who had little in common with the
northern highland Ghegs, who lived in anarchic communities ruled by the law of
the blood feud.
10 November 1945, The Communist Enver Hoxha
established a Republican government in Albania, recognised by the UK, USA, and
the USSR.
World War Two � Italian invasion
15 October 1944, Sali Berisha,
President of Albania, was born.
For more events of World War Two in Europe see France-Germany
October
1942, In
Albania the Balli Kombetar,the
national resistance movement to Axis occupation, was formed. Led by Ali
Klissura and Midhat Frasheri, it was a liberal-Communist organisation. It
wished to include Kosovo in a future independent Albania; however the other
A;lbanian resistance movement, the Communist resistance (under pressure from
their Yugloslav backers) did not desire Kosovo to be part of Albania. Under
Allied insoistence these two resistance groups joined forces in 1943. After
World War Two ended the leaders of Balli
Kombetar were mostly purged as Enver Hoxha strove to eliminate all internal
dissent to his regime.
1941, Enver Hoxha began organising a
Communist-based resistance to Italian occupation.
7 April 1939, Italy mounted a surprise
invasion of Albania, seeing it as a bridgehead for an invasion of the Balkans.
King Zog fled the country. They began an invasion of Greece from Albania on 28
October 1940. They were driven back by the Greeks who occupied most of southern
Albania. However the Greeks were beaten back in April 1941 when the Germans
occupied Yugoslavia, Albania, and Greece. From 1944 on local partisans, aided
by the British, drove Axis forces from much of Albania, also eliminating
anti-communist forces. See 11 January 1946.
1
September 1928.
Zogu was proclaimed
King Zog I
of
30 July 1926, The boundaries of Albania were formally agreed by Greece
and Yugoslavia.
1 February 1925, Ahmed Bey Zogu became President
of Albania.
24 December 1924. Albania
was declared a republic. Zogu, the President, declared himself �King Zogu�
in 1928.
4 June 1924,
Anti-government forces in Albania took Shkoder.
5 October 1914, Essad Pasha
Toptani became the 4th Prime Minister of Albania and formed the 5th
Cabinet of Albania.
Creation of modern Albania
18 October 1913, An
Austrian ultimatum forced Serbia to withdraw from Albania.
17 October 1913. Serbia
invaded Albania.
30 May 1913. Turkey
signed a peace treaty with the Balkan League (the Treaty of London), ending
their war.� Under this Treaty Salonika
was formally assigned to Greece. The
Great Powers formally recognised Albanian sovereignty. It was not until
1921 that the neoghbouring countries of Yugoslavia, Greece and Italy formally recognised the borders of
Albania.
1912, Durres,
the main port of Albania, became its capital, until 1921.
25 December 1912, Italy
sent troops to
4 November 1912, Austria proposed the
creation of an independent Albania.
18 August 1912, The Ottoman Empire granted
autonomy to its Albanian minority, in the Scutari Vilayet (province), capital
Tirana.
March 1910, Rebellion in northern
Albania against Turkish rule after the Ottoman Empire broke promises that
Albania would have more autonomy. Instead, the Young Turks reneged and increased
the tax burden. The rebellion spread� to
Korce in SE Albania, and into w4estern Macedonia.. In 6/1910 the rebellion was heavily
suppressed by a Turkish army.
28 October 1908, Enver Hoxha, Stalinist dictator
of Albania from the end of World War Two till his death in 1985, was born.� He declared the country atheist in 1967.
13 July 1878, The Treary of Berlin gave Austro-Hungary sovereignty over Albania
(formerly Ottoman). However this transfer was resisted by both Catholics and
Muslims in the region. Unrest continued in the area until Albanian
independcence was recognised in 1913.
Ottoman Rule
1760, Mehmet Bushati, local Ottoman
chieftain, declared an independent Kingdom of Scutari, this was recovered by
the Ottomans in 1831.
1571, Antivari and Dulcigno, the
last Venetian
possessions in Albania, fell to Ottoman Turkey.
1502, Durazzo, Albania, taken by
Ottoman Turkey.
1478, Krofa, Albania, taken from the
Venetians by Mahommed II, Ottoman ruler.
17 January 1468, Skanderbeg, ruler of Albania, died in Lezhe.
The Ottomans took advantage of the power vacuum to invade.
1431, Ottoman Turkish conquest of Albania began, with
the occupation of Iannina.
1366, Start of the indigenous Balsha
Dynasty rule in Albania; lasted until 1421.
1204, The Crusaders captured
southern Albania from the Byzantines, see Roman Empire 13 April 1204. However the Serbians
were expanding their rule southwards from northern Albania and under Stefan Dushan
(1331-1355) a large but short-lived �Empire of the Greeks, Slavs and Albanians�
was established.
1014, Byzantine Emperor Basil II
cruelly defeated the Bulgarians in southern Albania (see Roman Empire 6 October 1014).
861, The Bulgarians
conquered southern Albania. However Durazzo, on the Adriatic, remained under
Byzantine rule.
9 April 809, The Bulgars captured Sofia.
640, Northern
Albania was invaded by the Serbo-Croats. Serbia then ruled it until 1360.
535, Justininian
recovered Albania from the Goths, who had invaded it in the 4th and
5th centuries.
186 BCE, Rome
conquered Illyria, which included modern-day Albania.