borders of Albania without the mediation of other powers. Essad Pasha told
Serbian diplomat Zivojin Balugdzic at a meeting in Durazzo, that he wanted
an agreement with Serbia. Hesitant at first, the Serbian government
consented, assessing that the Pasha had showed by his bearing that he really
wanted an agreement with Serbia, which he regarded, Balugdzic quoted, as the
nucleus for mustering Balkan forces.4
It was crucial to the Serbian government shortly before the Bulgarian
attack to neutralize preparations in Albania against raids into Serbian
territory - especially in Kosovo, Metohia and western Macedonia. Around
20,000 men were in arms in the Albanian territory, mostly refugees from Old
Serbia and Macedonia whose leaders, Hasan Pristina and Isa Boljetinac, were
close associates of Ismail Kemal. They strove to fight the influence of
Essad Pasha, agitating an attack on Serbia and stirring up an uprising of
the Albanian people there.
The Bulgarian komitadjis trained Albanians for guerrilla actions, with
money and arms coming from Austria-Hungary. Essad Pasha refused to join them
and warned the Serbian government not to approve of their
action.5 At the end of September, 1913, a forceful raid was
carried out into Serbian territory. The around 10,000 Albanians, who charged
into the territory from three directions, were lead by Isa Boljetinac,
Bairam Cur and Kiasim Lika. Aside to them, Bulgarian officers also commanded
troops. Their troops took Ljuma and Djakovica, and besieged Prizren. They
were crushed only after two Serbian divisions were sent to the border.6
Essad Pasha used the crushing of the pro-Austrian forces to proclaim
himself (with the support of Muslim tribal chiefs and the big beylics in the
central parts of the country) governor of Albania in Durazzo, in late
September, 1913. Vienna assessed the act as positive proof of his
pro-Serbian orientation. Official Serbia simultaneously helped a number of
other small tribal chiefs who resisted Kemal's government, directing them
towards cooperation with Essad Pasha. The alliance between the Serbian
government and Essad Pasha was not stipulated in a special treaty: Pasic
nevertheless ordered that his followers be aided in money and arms. To the
Serbian prime minister, Essad Pasha served as a counterbalance to the
great-Albanian circles around Ismail Kemal. The new prince of Albania,
Wilhelm von Wied, backed the revanchist aspirations of Albanian leaders from
Kosovo and Metohia. As the most influential man in his government, Essad
Pasha held two important portfolios - the army and interior ministries. When
the unresolved agrarian question, urged by Young Turk officers, grew into a
massive pro-Turk insurrection against the Christian prince, Essad Pasha
supported the insurgents and in a clash with the Prince sought backing at
the Italian mission. After the arrest in Durazzo, Essad Pasha left for
Brindisi under protection of the Italian legate in Durazzo at the end of May
1914. After his departure, border raids into Serbia assumed greater
dimension and intensity.5
The threat Albania posed for Serbia abruptly increased at the beginning
of the world war. The relationship between different political trends within
the Albanian society towards the Central powers and the Entente powers was
to a large extent determined by their commitment towards Serbia. The
pronounced tendency towards pro-Austrian political circles grew with the
continuous influx of Albanian refugees from Serbia. Their revanchist policy
was the prime mover of a strong anti-Serbian movement in the war years, and
became after its end a basis for national forgather.
1 For details see: D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915,
pp. 299-303 (with earlier literature).
2 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani, Srbija i albansko pitanje
(1916-1918), in: Srbija 1918, Zb. radova Istorijskog instituta, 7, Beograd
1989, p. 346
3 Dokumenti o spoljnoj politici Kraljevine Srbije, VI/2, Doc. No 135,
Z. Balugdzic, op. cit., 521-522.
4 0 B. Hrabak, Arbanaski upadi i pobune na Kosovu, pp. 52-64.
5 Ibid, pp. 33-38, 60-61.
6 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, p. 305.
The beginning of the "Great War" left open the question about a precise
demarcation between Serbia and Albania. The International Demarcation
Commission discontinued work in mid-1914, thus state borders in areas of
dispute remained to be fixed. War caught unguarded the Serbo-Albanian
border. Austria-Hungary, not heeding for money, prepared fresh raids into
Serbian territory. Paši rightly anticipated the intention
ofVien-na's diplomacy to open, aided by the Young Turks, another front and
flank Serbian lands: he feared that the Albanian leaders financed by Vienna
-Hasan Pristina, Isa Boljetinac (Bollletini), Bairam Cur (Curri) and Riza
Bey Krieziu - would "attack Serbia when they receive orders from Turkey or
Bulgaria and weaken Serbian military action on the other side".1
Concerned with reportings about incessant unrest in the border belt and
endeavors to fomcnt an Albanian uprising in Serbia, military circles in the
New Region Troops in Skoplje proposed preventive military action.
Essad Pasha strove to preserve an independent position, crossing thus
from Italy to France. He planned to confront, with the help of the Entente,
Austria-Hungary's efforts to completely subjugate his country. He made
inquiries from Paris on the conditions upon which the Serbian government
would aid his return to Albania. In 1914, Paši imposed the following
conditions: that he sign a political-customs treaty with Serbia on a joint
defense, that Albania acknowledge the customs union at the chiefs' assembly,
and that a solution be reached at the following stage on forming a personal
or real union with Serbia. Essad Pasha confirmed by cable his acceptance in
principle of Paši 's conditions and immediately set off to
Serbia.2
The Serbian government policy towards Albania was aimed at pre-venting
subversive actions from Albania and creating preconditions to exert
influence at the end of the war on the demarcation of its borders,
particularly in the strip towards Serbia. Shortly before Essad Pasha's
arrival to Serbia, Pasic was interested in learning the stand of the Entante
Powers towards Albania: would they oppose "if Albania as a Turkish-
Bulgarian-Austrian instrument now attacked the Serbian border - could we now
not only fend them off, but incapacitate them for attacks in connection with
Turkey, occupy certain Strategie points and bring them under our influence
until the time comes when Europe would again resolve that issue, and
probably reach a better solution, which would ensure peace in Europe and the
Balkans".3
Essad Pasha obtained permission in Athens from the Greek diplomacy to
work in agreement with the Serbian government. At the same time he secured
backing from Italy, which hoped to have an open road to permanently
occupying Valona (Viore) once his regime was established in Albania. The
government in Rome saw Essad Pasha as the most appropriate figure to oppose
growing Austro-Hungarian and Turkish influence on conditions in
Albania.4
Essad Pasha did not give up his claim to the Albanian throne. He warned
the Serbian consul in Salonika that it would be perilous to Albania if its
prince came from the sultan's family, as that would, through detrimental
influence from Constantinople, open new hostilities towards Serbia and other
Balkan states. He thus pointed out himself as the most appropriate figure to
rule Albania. He sent messages to Pasic on the need for them to conclude a
special treaty before his departure for Albania.5
Upon arriving in Nis, Essad Pasha signed a secret alliance treaty with
Pasic on September 17. The 15 points envisaged the setting up of joint
political and military institutions, but the most important provisions
focused on a military alliance, the construction of an Adriatic railroad to
Durazzo and guarantees that Serbia would support Essad Pasha's election as
the Albanian ruler. The treaty left open the possibility that Serbia, at the
invitation of Essad Pasha, carry out a military intervention to protect his
regime. The demarcation between the two countries was to be drawn by a
special Serbo-Albanian commission. Essad Pasha was to confirm the treaty
only upon being elected ruler, with consent from the National Assembly: this
left maneuvering space for revising individual provisions. Serbia was
obligated to finance Pasha's gendarmery and supply the necessary military
equipment by paying off 50,000 dinars per month.6
After the defeat of Prince Wilhelm von Wied in clashes with pro-Turk
insurgents and his escape from Albania, anarchy broke out in the country.
The insurgents hoisted the Turkish flag, demanding that the country preserve
its Muslim quality. The senate of free towns in central Albania invited
Essad Pasha to take over power. With over 4,000 volunteers mustered in the
vicinity of Debar, Essad Pasha marched peacefully into Durazzo at the
beginning of October 1914, set up his government and proclaimed himself
supreme commander of the Albanian army. He did not question the ties with
Constantinople, and the consent in principle to the sovereignty of the
sultan over Albania. As the lord of central, particularly Muslim parts of
the country, Essad Pasha was compelled to approve of the pro-Turkish beylics
who had invited him to take over power. His first measures were directed at
protecting the Serbian border from raids of troops lead by Young Turk and
Austro-Hungarian officers in the northern parts of the country. He informed
the Serbian government of his move on the Catholic tribes to subdue Scutari
and capture Albanian leaders Isa Boljetinac, Bairam Cur and Hasan Pristina
who were in hiding in the northern parts of Has region.7
Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria believed that under the rule of
Essad Pasha Albania would come closer to the Powers of the Entante on a
European war. Germany and Austria-Hungary immediately recalled their legates
in Durazzo, and Bulgaria withdrew its diplomatic agent. At the same time
Austro-Hungarian and Young Turk officers stepped up joint work on a
preparation to raid Serbia. In keeping with the provisions of the Nis
agreement, Essad Pasha undertook action to prevent the troops from crossing
over to Serbian territory, but he was soon thwarted by a new pro-Turk
insurrection.8
In early November 1914, Turkey engaged in a war with the Central
powers, and included among the enemies of Islam Essad Pasha Toptani, as an
ally to Serbia and therefore the Entente. The declaration of jihad stirred
up a new pro-Turk insurrection of the Muslim population. The "Board for
Uniting Islam" from Constantinople called for another conquest of Kosovo:
"Hey Muslims! The until recently part of our fatherland - Kosovo - where the
Holy Tomb of Sultan Murad lies, where the flag of the crescent moon and star
fluttered, now flies the flag of the hateful Serb, who is turning mosques
into churches and seizing everything you have. That low people is forcing
you to fight in arms against allies and Mohammedan regents".9 The
illiterate Albanian mob was easily fanaticized with pro-Turk and pan-Islamic
slogans, thus the insurgents succeeded in winning over part of Essad Pasha's
followers. With regular supplies of money, arms and ammunition from
Austria-Hungary, the insurgents, commanded by Young Turk officers, posed an
increasing threat to Essad Pasha's territory. The entire movement gained an
expressly anti-Serbian character: demands were made that regions Serbia had
liberated in the first Balkan war be annexed to autonomous Albania under
Turkish sovereignty. Italy and Greece cleverly benefited from the whole
confusion:
Italian troops disembarked on Sasseno island, and then took Valona and
the hinterland, while Greek units marched into northern Epirus and set up
full authority there.10
Essad Pasha's position in Durazzo continuously deteriorated. Pressured
by the success of the insurgents, he called the Serbian government more than
once to intervene in Albania. A tacit agreement with Italy to fend off
Austria-Hungary occasionally provided money. Not only did he request guns
from Greece, but demanded that its troops encroach upon those regions where
his enemies mustered.11
The Serbian government ordered in December 1914 that preparations begin
for a military intervention in Albania. As the allied diplomacies at the
time exerted strong pressure upon the Serbian government to make territorial
compensation for Bulgaria, offering in return some substitutes in Albania,
Pasic wanted to incapacitate further bargaining over Macedonia with an
intervention in Albania. Yet only the Russian diplomacy approved his plan.
Legate Miroslav Spalajkovic from St Petersburg informed in early January
1915 that the Russian diplomacy was not opposed to a Serbian intervention in
Albania as long as it did not affect the course and scope of operations
against Austro-Hungarian troops. There was even mention that the Russian
diplomacy hoped an occupation of some parts of Albania would "this time be
constant and definitive".12 When Serbian armies broke off an
Austro- Hungarian offensive in the north, Pasic's government feared that
politicians and military circles in Vienna would use the lull to open war
against Serbia.
Raids organized sporadically by fugitive leaders of the Albanian
movement in Kosovo and Metohia, and carried out in co-action with Young
Turks and Austro-Hungarian officers, were not of wide scope, but roused
nervousness among Serbian military circles on the Albanian border. The
insurgents besieged Essad Pasha in Durazzo and demanded of him to
acknowledge the sultan's rule and declare war on Serbia. Pasic then
evaluated it was wiser to intervene immediately than wait for a bulk army to
muster in Albania with which an entire Serbian army would be forced to
fight.13
The allied diplomacies warned the Serbian government that military
intervention in Albania would strike an unfavorable response. The Russian
diplomacy advised Serbia to be content with the occupation of the strategic
points it had already occupied and refrain from actions that Italy might
regard as measures directed against its interests.14
In late May, 1915, the Serbian diplomatic representative in Durazzo
informed that Essad Pasha's position was critical: two new raids into
Serbian territory had taken place. Despite warnings from the allies, Pasic
decided on a military intervention.15 Over 20,000 Serbian
soldiers armed with guns marched into Albania from three directions at the
beginning of June, and took Elbasan and Tirana - the hotbeds of rebellion -
suppressed the Young Turk movement, liberated the besieged Essad Pasha in
Durazzo and turned over the captured insurgent leaders. A special Albanian
Detachment was set up to implement a thorough pacification of Albania and
consolidate Essad Pasha's rule. The regions inhabited by Mirdits, where Isa
Boljetinac, Hasan Pristina and Bairam Cur were in hiding, remained out of
reach for the Serbian troops; Ahmed Bey Zogu, lord of the Matis, who was the
closest relative to Essad Pasha, attempted to reach an agreement with the
Serbian government on his own, contrary to the Pasha: he set off to Nis on
his own accord for negotiations with Pasic.16 The Montenegrin
army took advantage of the favorable situation and marched into Scutari,
officially still under international regime.
Serbia's military intervention roused strong disapproval from the
allied diplomacies, especially Italy, whose claims to the Albanian coast and
central parts of the country, guaranteed under the secret London Treaty,
ensured its domination in Albania. Pasic replied to protests from the allies
that a temporary action was at stake and that the Serbian troops would
withdraw as soon as Essad Pasha's rule was consolidated.17 The
Serbian prime minister evaluated that the timing was right to permanently
tie Albania to Serbia, through Essad Pasha.
Serbian Internal Minister Ljubomir Jovanovic arrived in Tirana and on
June 28,1915, at St Vitus' Day, signed a treaty with Essad Pasha on a real
union between Serbia and Albania. Essad Pasha obligated himself to adjust
the border to Serbia's advantage on the strip between Podgradec and Has.
Serbia was to acquire the towns of Podgradec, Golo Brdo, Debarska Malissia,
Ljuma and Has to Spac, until the international powers drew the new borders.
Joint institutions envisaged an army, customs administration, national bank
and missions to other countries. The Serbian government was to place at
Essad Pasha's disposal experts to set up the authorities and state
institutions. With Serbia's help, Essad Pasha was to be elected prince of
Albania by an assembly of chiefs, he was to draw up a constitutional draft
in agreement with Serbia and form a government of people who would represent
the idea of Serbo-Albanian unity. The treaty anticipated that the Serbian
army remain in Elbasan and perhaps in Tirana until the provisions of the
treaty were executed, to persecute and destroy joint enemies. If Essad Pasha
was to learn of Italy's intent to occupy Durazzo, he was under the
obligation to call the Serbian army which would do so before the Italian
troops.18 The Tirana Treaty was the best political option for
Pasic's government in resolving the Albanian question. It stipulated to the
end Serbia's war aims towards Albania. The real union was a political form
allowing Serbia to influence the fate of those Albanian regions to which it
lay claim prior to and during the Balkan wars. Expecting that the fate of
Albania would again be discussed at a peace conference at the end of the
war, the Serbian government wanted a tangible ground with the union project
when putting forth its demands on Albania.
The Austro-Hungarian-German offensive on Serbia and Bulgaria's
engagement in the war with the Central powers helped - with frequent news
about the defeats and withdrawal of Serbian troops - the mustering again of
Essad Pasha's opponents in northern Albania. It was proposed at an assembly
in Mati that Serbia be attacked when a favorable condition rose and Albania
be expanded to Skoplje. Ahmed-bey Zogu, who through a commissioner, had
constant connection with the Serbian government, opposed their plans. No
joint action against Serbia took place but clashes
A decision by the allies to deliver to Serbia aid in arms and
ammunition via Albanian ports suddenly increased the importance of Essad
Pasha's alliance. Already at the beginning of November 1914, Essad Pasha
examined with the Serbian representative in Durazzo the possibility of
keeping Albania a safe base for the Serbian army. Fearing another pro-Turk
insurrection, Essad Pasha requested of the Serbian government that a French
or British regiment disembark in Durazzo and be deployed to strategic
positions throughout the country; he would in return prepare detachments to
aid the Serbs in combating the Bulgarians. The Serbian prime minister,
however, proposed that Essad Pasha receive a battalion of the Serbian army
in Durazzo to thus prove that Serbo-Albanian interests stood before the
interests of the Entante Powers. Pasic feared that Italy would use the
plight of Serbian armies in the north to land its troops in Albania and
occupy the whole territory. Pasic pointed out to Essad Pasha that the
Entante Powers considered him a friend and a "kind of ally", and that after
their victory his alliance would be rewarded with guarantees from the
powers.19
1 Arhiv Srbije, Beograd. Ministarstvo inostranih dela, Strogo
poverljivo (further in text: AS; MID, Str. pov.), 1914, No 233. For details
on joint work among Austro-Hungarian Young Turk and Bulgarian services in
Albania see: A. Mitrovic, Srbija u Prvom svetskom ratu, pp. 218-229.
2 B. Hrabak, Muslimani severne Albanije uoci izbijanja rata 1914.
godine, pp. 53, 66-67.
3 AS, MID. Str. pov. 1914, No 233.
4 G. B. Leon, Greece and the Albanian Question at the Outbreak of the
First World War, Balkan Studies, 1/11 (1970), pp. 69-71.
5 AS, MID, Str. pov., 1914, No. 290, 308. Essad Pasha also had
arrangement with Montenegrin diplomats on principle to settle the
controversials border issue by agreement, thus from Athens he requested of
the Serbian government to inform Cetinje that he would "leave for Montenegro
later on, as he had promised". (Ibid, No. 250)
6 Sh. Rahimi, Marreveshjet e qeverise serbe me Essat pashe Toptanit
gjate viteve 1914-1915, Gjurmime Albanologjike, VI (1976), pp. 125-127; D.
T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, p. 307.
7 AS, MID, Str. pov. 1914, No. 438
8 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, p. 307.
9 M. Ekmecic, op. cit., p. 387. The insurgents in northern Albania
declared holy war against Serbia. Public Record Office London (later in text
PRO, FO), vol. 438/4, No. 1071
10 G. B. Leon, op. cit., 78-80; M. Ekmecic, op. cit., 385-386. Cf P.
Pastorelli, Albania nella politico estera italiana 1914-1920, Napoli 1970,
pp. 19-32; James H. Burgwyn, Sonnino e la diplomazia italiana del tempo doi
guerra nei Balcani nel 1915, Storia Contemporanea, XVI, 1 (1985), pp.
116-118.
11 G. B. Leon, op. cit., p. 79
12 AS, MID. Str. pov., 1914, No 863, tel. M. Spalajkovic to MID, St.
Peterburg 25. 12. 1914 / 7. 01. 1915. Cf. B. Hrabak, Albanija od julske
krize do proleca 1916. godine na osnovu ruske diplomatske gradje, I,
Obelezja 5 (1973), pp. 71-75.
13 AS, MID, Str. Pov., 1914, No. 810, 877; B. Hrabak, Elaborat srpskog
ministarstva inostranih dela o pripremama srpske okupacije severne Albanije
1915. godine, Godisnjak Arhiva Kosova, II-III (1966-1967), pp. 7-35
14 Arhiv Jugoslavije, Beograd, 80-2-604. Tel. M. Spalajkovic from St.
Petersburg, 23. 04/6. 05. 1915, No 704; PRO FO, vol. 438/3, No. 100, 118.
15 The most vicious raid into Serbian territory was lead at the about
200 persons to stir up the tribes around Prizren, but his host was crushed
near the village of Zur. The Serbian government informed the allies that
around 1,000 armed ethnic Albanians had crossed the border (PRO, FO, 438/5,
No. 53; A. ®,195
16 Essad Pasha complained about the conduct of the Serbian military
authorities who pursued their own policy in Mati and other regions and
attempted to agitate among individual Albanian chiefs for acknowledging as
ruler of Albania a Serbian prince. (D. T. Batakovic, Secanja generala
Dragutina Milutinovica na komandovanje albanskim trupama 1915. godine,
Mesovita grada, XIV (1985), pp. 128, idem, Ahmed-beg Zogu i Srbija, in:
Srbija 1916. godine, Zb. radova Istorijskog instituta, 5, Beograd 1987, pp.,
165-177). Cf. M. Ekmecic, op. cit., pp. 394-395.
17 Pro, Fo, vol. 371, Nos. 184, 187, 200, 624,; vol. 438/5, No. 75;
vol, 438/6, No 1444; M. Ekmecic, op. cit., pp. 392-394; A. Mitrovic, op.
cit., pp. 230-232,
18 Sh. Rahimi, op. cit., pp. 137-140; D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa
Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, pp. 309-310.
19 Ibid, pp. 313-314.
The retreat of the Serbian army into Albania in late 1915 and early
1916 put the alliance of Essad Pasha to a serious test. In regions whereto
his authority did not extend, particularly Catholic tribes in the northern
parts of the country, the Serbian troops were forced to shoot their way
through to the Adriatic ports where allied ships were waiting for them.
Essad Pasha's gendarmery aided the Serbian army, secured safe passageways,
accommodation and food, and engaged in skirmishes with Albanian regiments
that attacked Serbian units and pillaged unarmed refugees. Essad Pasha
issued a special proclamation calling Albanians to help the Serbian army,
and informed military commanders about the advancement of enemy forces, the
emergence of rebellious regiments and the mood of individual
tribes.1
The "Albanian Golgotha" was the greatest war trial of the Serbian
people. Of the 220,000 soldiers which broke through Albania towards Corfu
and Bizerta, only 150,000 reached the destination; of about 200,000 refugees
spread along Albanian crags and marshes by the coast barely a third (60,000
people) escaped death.2 Serbia's losses would have been much
heavier were it not for Essad Pasha and his followers during the retreat and
embarkation.
During the retreat Essad Pasha maintained contact with the Serbian
government. He rejected Pasic's proposals to proclaim his treaty with the
Serbian government and admit Serbian officials in his administration,
explaining that his enemies were already calling him Essadovic because of
his alliance with Serbia. He wanted the allies to guarantee that Italy would
not occupy entire Albania after the retreat of the Serbian army. Realizing
that Austro-Hungarian troops would soon take Durazzo, Essad Pasha proposed
to Pasic that he be conveyed to Corfu with his government and gendarmes, so
as to be able, when the allied offensive was launched, to take up positions
on the left flank of the Serbian army and operate towards Albania. At the
demand of the Italian diplomacy, Essad Pasha and several hundred gendarmes
crossed at the end of February 1916 to Brindisi escorted by Serbia's charge
d'affaires. Prior to his departure, he declared war on the Central powers,
thus taking upon himself full responsibility for his cooperation with Serbia
and the Entente powers.3
Despite promises that he would be recognized as the Albanian prince,
and faced with open endeavors by the Italian government to exert complete
influence over him, Essad Pasha continued on to France to seek backing from
the allied diplomacy. Political circles in Paris admitted him as the prime
minister of a legitimate government. Military experts evaluated that Albania
was a reservoir of good soldiers which could be winged over for the allied
cause by Essad Pasha only. In late August, Essad Pasha reached Salonika in a
French vessel. Through the mediation of the Serbian and Greek diplomacies,
his government acquired the status of an exiled alliance cabinet. Essad
Pasha's camp was set up at the Salonika battlefield from 1,000 gendarmes and
followers under the command of Albanian officers. Deployed to positions
towards Albania, he operated within the composition of the French eastern
army. According to Pasic's intentions, his camp was to operate mixed with
Serbian troops towards Kosovo and northern Albania.4
During work in Salonika, Essad Pasha continuously strove to obtain firm
promises from France and Great Britain that when the war was over rule over
Albania would not be given to Italy, and that he would be allowed to
reinstate his administration in the country. At the end of 1916, Korea was
proclaimed an autonomous republic under the protection of French military
authorities, and power was given to the local liberals. Essad Pasha
complained to Pasic about the actions of the French military command, and
warned of Italy's web of intrigues, emphasizing that he had tied his fate to
Serbia. He feared that the Italian troops in Argirokastro were preparing an
assassination. Instead, General Giazzinto Ferrero proclaimed the state of
Albania, in early June, 1917, under the Italian protectorat.5
The Serbian government followed with anxiety the consolidation of
Italian positions in Albania. Immediately after the protectorate was
proclaimed, the Serbian government protested to the allied powers calling on
the decisions of the Ambassadorial Conference in London, to which Italy was
a signatory, and warned that the one-sided proclamation of Albanian
independence violated the "Balkans to the Balkan peoples" principle. The
news that the Italian military authorities were promising the Albanians
considerably wider state borders than those established in London in 1913
aroused particular concern. Pasic therefore made it especially clear that
the Italian protectorat resembled a similar attempt by Austria-Hungary to
"secure for itself a protectorat over Albania, and indirectly over the other
Balkan peoples by creating a new Great Albania to the detriment of other
Balkan peoples".6
Essad Pasha also protested to the Italian government. Dissatisfied with
the development of the situation, he resolved to set off for Switzerland,
the center of various Albanian committees, and through the French government
to secure backing from the British diplomacy which supported Italy's policy
in Albania. He obtained no guarantees in Paris, and failed to secure backing
from the Geneva committees, tied firmly to Austria-Hungry which financed
them.7
Increasingly insecure about winning support from the allies and
concerned over implications that his special obligations towards Serbia were
no longer a secret, Essad Pasha demanded of Pasic that the government
provide more money and secure after the war his administration in Albania
within the borders drawn by the Conference of Ambassadors in London. On his
return to Salonika at the beginning of 1918, Essad Pasha in talks with
Regent Aleksandar linked the distrust of the French diplomacy with the
Tirana Treaty and Italy's endeavors to compromise France. In talks with
other Serbian diplomatic officials, Essad Pasha complained that the
provisions in the Tirana Treaty impeded him in political work. Finally, he
made a demand to the Serbian government to procure permission from the
French military authorities for introducing his administration in the Korea
Republic, where Italians were freely agitating against him. The French
command, however, dissolved the Korea republic in February 1918, and took
over command of Essad Pasha's units, which held the front between Podgradec
and Shkumbi River, due to low combat morale.8
The Serbian government strove to aid Essad Pasha as appreciably as
possible within its means. Its policy towards Albania was, in principle, to
any thwart plans on foreign protectorates and reinstate the regime that
existed prior to the withdrawal of the Serbian army. The Serbian government
protested several times against the consolidation of Italian positions in
Albania, striving to give as much prominence as possible to Essad Pasha and
prepare the conditions for his return to power. Essad Pasha realized himself
that Serbia was his last outpost and that without its support he had no
chance with the allies to win back his return to the country. Thus in a
message to US President Woodraw Wilson in the summer of 1918, he said that
only a future Yugoslav state could guarantee for the integrity and
independence of his country.9
In the event that Pasha's return to power was not possible, Pasic was
preparing to leave open the question of the border with Albania. (The
Entente had prior to the breakthrough of the Salonika front signed an
agreement in Paris on the division of spheres of interest whereby Albania
was ceded to Italy.) In early November 1918, Pasic sent the following
message: "Our policy in Albania is to establish, if possible, the situation
as it was prior to the evacuation, when Essad Pasha was the Albanian prime
minister, and occupy territories from the Mati river beyond and in agreement
with the tribal chiefs, reestablish local administration which will act on
the instructions of our authorities."10
He called Essad Pasha - at the time in France seeking backing - to
return to Salonika and at the same time demanded that territories taken in
Albania be occupied by mixed allied forces: he proposed also that the
Albanian camp be used, mixed with Serbian officers. The French command,
however, disbanded Essad Pasha's troops on October 12. By a decision of the
interallied Supreme War Council, Albania was to be controlled by the Italian
army up to the Maca river.11
Still, the Serbian prime minister did not rule out the possibility that
the situation would develop enabling the return of Essad Pasha to Albania,
to the region north of the Mati river which Serbia considered its sphere of
interest. Italy persecuted Pasha's followers in the occupied parts of the
country, and at one particular time made a demand to France for his
internment. It all ended with the withdrawal of the French representative to
his government.12
1 Ibid, pp. 315-317.
2 Veliki rat Srbije za oslobodjenje i ujedinjenje Srba, Hrvata i
Slovenaca, vol. XIII-XIV; Kroz Albaniju 1915-1916, Beograd 1968; M. M.
Zivanovic, O evakuaciji srpske vojske iz Albanije i njenoj reorganizaciji na
Krfu (1915-1916) prema francuskim dokumentima, Istorijski Casopis (XIV-XV),
pp. 231-307.
3 D. T Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, pp. 321-324.
4 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani, Srbija i albansko pitanje
(1916-1918), pp. 348-349.
5 AS, MID, Str. pov., 1917, No. 232 Memoire: Proglas protektorata
Italije nad Albanijom i uopste rad Italije 1917 Krf, D. T. Batakovic,
Esad-pasa Toptani, Srbija i albansko pitanje (1916-1918), pp. 350-351; P.
Pastorelli, op. cit., pp. 36-41; I documenti diplomatici italiani, Quinta
serie, vol. VI, Roma MCMLXXXVIII, NOs, 119, 390, 394, 427, 438, 445, 448,
831.
6 AS, MID, Str. pov., 1917, No. 182. Pasic's note dated 30. 05/13.
06.1917.
7 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani, Srbija i albansko pitanje
(1916-1918), pp.
8 Ibid, pp. 353-358.
9 Ibid, pp. 359.
10 Ibid, pp. 360.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid, pp. 361-362; B. Hrabak, Reokupacija oblasti srpske i
crnogorske drzave s arbanaskom vecinom stanovnistva u jesen 1918. godine i
drzanje Arbanasa prema uspostavljenoj vlasti. Gjurmime albanologjike, 1
(1969), pp. 262-265, 285-286.
After the war, Italy became the main rival of the Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes in Albania. Rome strove to use the disintegration of the
Dual Monarchy to step up its positions in the Balkans and turn the Adriatic
Sea into an Italian lake. Albania was in its schemes the country wherefrom
Italian influence would be wielded onto the neighboring regions. The Italian
troops occupied the largest part of Albania and, by meeting the demands of
various committees (particularly the Kosovo Committee) in annexing to
Albania Metohia, Kosovo and western Macedonia, they presented themselves as
the protector of the interests of all the Albanian people. An interim
government of Turhan Pasha Permeti was set up in Durazzo under the wing of
Italy at the end of December 1918, which was ready to recognize as its ruler
a prince from the House of Savoy. At the Peace Conference in Paris, Italy
strove to secure the possession of Valona and hinterland and obtain a
mandate over the other parts of Albania.1 The envoys of the
pro-Italian Durazzo government demanded at the Peace Conference a revision
of the 1913 borders - they wanted Prizren, Djakovica, Pec, Pristina,
Mitrovica, Skoplje, Tetovo and Debar to be included in the composition of
the Albanian state.2
The policy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes towards Albania
did not deviate much from that of Pasic's government. Belgrade evaluated
that the consolidation of Italian positions in Albania would be a source of
continual threat to Kosovo, Metohia and the neighboring regions. Head of the
delegation to the Conference, Nikola Pasic, also shaped the policy of the
new state as regards Albania. In order to repress Italian influence in the
Balkans, he demanded the restoration of Albania within the 1913 borders, as
an independent state with autonomous and national rule. If the Great Powers
should nevertheless decide to divide the Albanian territories among the
neighboring states, the delegation demanded that the Yugoslav state be given
northern Albania from the Veliki Drim to Scutari.3
Under the aegis of the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes, Essad
Pasha brought his delegation to The Peace Conference in Paris. Having
submitted a memorandum to the Conference at the end of April, he called on
the legitimacy of his government, its allied status in Salonika and the
declaration of war on the Central powers. Seeking the restoration of
independent Albania within the 1913 borders, Essad Pasha demanded to be
recognized as the only legal representative of his people.4
The Peace Conference, however, did not officially discuss the fate of
Albania as it was formally considered a neutral state during the war. The
question of its future was being resolved at the Ambassadorial Conference of
the Great Powers. The diplomatic circles of the Western allies assessed that
Albania was insufficiently nationally constituted and that its development
had to be under the control of a big power. As time passed, the
representatives of the Great Powers saw the solution to the Albanian
question in granting a mandate to Italy - its troops controlled the largest
part of the Albanian territory and its diplomats persisted on the allies
meeting the provisions taken over by the 1915 London Treaty.5
Pasic evaluated that the Albanian question was to be resolved soon. He
strove to set it apart from its natural linkage with the Adriatic question,
which was considered an object of compensation. Even though France and Great
Britain paid heed to the interests of the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and
Slovenes, Pasic believed that the key role in resolving the Albanian
question would be assumed by United States President Woodraw Wilson and
Italy. He persistently maintained the stand that the Delegation of the
Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes demanded the restoration of Albania
within the 1913 borders, and that border alteration towards Serbia and
Montenegro be resolved in agreement with the tribes that lived there. If the
stand prevailed that the provisions of the London Treaty should be met,
Pasic demanded - as a Great Power was coming to the Balkans and in the
immediate vicinity of the Yugoslav state - stronger strategic borders as
compensation, "The Glavni (Veliki) Drim from the sea to the confluence of
the Crni Drim, then the Crni Drim up to a point beneath Debar, to the
confluence of the Zota river left of the Crni Drim, encompassing entire
Ohrid Lake with the watershed to remain on our side."6
Since Valona and the hinterland was being ceded to Italy under the 1915
London Treaty, as well as protectorat over central Albania, while Northern
Albania was intended for Serbia and Montenegro, Pasic proposed that the
northern Albanian tribes be given the right to self-determination, "to say
themselves if they wish to join the central Muslim Albania under the Italian
protectorat, or to form a separate small state - some sort of small 'buffer
state', or if they desire to join our state as a small autonomous
state".7 Thus from the beginning of 1919, petitions of individual
Catholic tribes demanding to be annexed to Serbia were collected at the
border belt, with backing from the military and civil authorities of the
Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes.8 This way Pasic wanted to
parry the pro-Italian delegation to the Peace Conference and deputies of the
American Albanian society "Fire", which demanded the forming of a Great
Albania inclusive of considerable regions of the former Serbian and
Montenegrin state. Thus he supported those groups of Albanian delegates in
Paris that maintained it would be the most benefitial for Albania if it came
to terms with the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes, and accepted a
border alteration to its advantage, in keeping with the wish of the local
population. Pasic set out they believed that their independence "would best
be ensured if they entered into an alliance with us, especially to set up a
customs union. The group comprises Essad Pasha's followers and those
opposing the Italian protectorat".9
On the ground, particularly those areas in Albania under occupation (by
agreement with the French army, after the Austro-Hungarian troops were
driven out) - Pishkopeja, Gornji and Donji Debar and Golo Brdo - the Serbian
military authorities, and subsequently those of the Kingdom of Serbs Croats
and Slovenes, tried to help organize Essad Pasha's followers. A committee in
Debar was entrusted with the task of setting up rule in the border areas and
preparing the conditions for Pasha's return to the country. His
commissioners exerted the strongest influence in regions between Golo Brdo
and Gornji Debar, in Podgradec and Starova while deep into the country, in
the central parts, Italian troops gradually and successfully checked Essad
Pasha's followers. Despite continuous dissipation, Essad Pasha still enjoyed
considerable support especially among the old Muslim beys, who viewed with
distrust the consolidation of Italian positions in central
Albania.10
Beside the Conference, Italy and Greece signed in late July 1919 a
secret treaty - the so-called Tittoni-Veniselos Treaty - on the division of
the Albanian territory. At the beginning of December the allied powers
recognized Italy's sovereignty over Valona and the hinterland, and offered
it a mandate to set up administration in the remaining part of Albania under
the control of the League of Nations. The same memorandum envisaged and
defined territorial compensations to the advantage of Greece. Pasic again
set out that in that case the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes had to
stand by their demand for more favorable borders towards Albania. He
proposed that the region of the entire length of the Mace river to the Crni
Drim be demanded as the maximum, and the stretch along the Crni and Veliki
Drim rivers to their confluence as the minimum.11
Cooperation with Essad Pasha never ceased for a moment. The delegation
of the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes backed his demands that he be
paid war reparations as an ally to the Entante Powers and thus indirectly
acquire an allied status. Pasha's followers in the country dissipated and
gathered again, depending on current circumstances, and were unsparingly
helped in actions against those supported by the Italians. He sent messages
several times to his followers that he was returning to the country and
advised them to act in cooperation with Serbia and to decisively oppose the
Italian occupation.12
While a bitter diplomatic battle over Albania's destiny was being waged
at the Conference, a movement rose against the Italian occupation in the
country. The government in Durazzo was condemned and replaced at a national
congress of Albanian chiefs in Ljusnje in early 1920, and strong protests
were lodged with the Peace Conference and Italian parliament. The delegates
demanded the creation of a Great Albania; command over the army was
entrusted to Bairam Cur.13 Essad Pasha's followers who convened
at the People's Assembly in March made strong demands that the Italian
troops be routed. Ahmed Zogu, the interior minister in the government of
Suleyman Delvina, strove to neutralize Essad Pasha, sending to that end
special emissaries to Paris at the end of May. The delegation offered Essad
Pasha the post of prime minister, on the condition that he abandon
aspirations to rule Albania.14 At the time Bairam Cur lead a
decisive battle against the detachments of Pasha's followers. Finally, on
June 13, 1920, an Albanian student, Avni Rustemi, by order of Lushnje
Serbian diplomat Zivojin Balugdzic at a meeting in Durazzo, that he wanted
an agreement with Serbia. Hesitant at first, the Serbian government
consented, assessing that the Pasha had showed by his bearing that he really
wanted an agreement with Serbia, which he regarded, Balugdzic quoted, as the
nucleus for mustering Balkan forces.4
It was crucial to the Serbian government shortly before the Bulgarian
attack to neutralize preparations in Albania against raids into Serbian
territory - especially in Kosovo, Metohia and western Macedonia. Around
20,000 men were in arms in the Albanian territory, mostly refugees from Old
Serbia and Macedonia whose leaders, Hasan Pristina and Isa Boljetinac, were
close associates of Ismail Kemal. They strove to fight the influence of
Essad Pasha, agitating an attack on Serbia and stirring up an uprising of
the Albanian people there.
The Bulgarian komitadjis trained Albanians for guerrilla actions, with
money and arms coming from Austria-Hungary. Essad Pasha refused to join them
and warned the Serbian government not to approve of their
action.5 At the end of September, 1913, a forceful raid was
carried out into Serbian territory. The around 10,000 Albanians, who charged
into the territory from three directions, were lead by Isa Boljetinac,
Bairam Cur and Kiasim Lika. Aside to them, Bulgarian officers also commanded
troops. Their troops took Ljuma and Djakovica, and besieged Prizren. They
were crushed only after two Serbian divisions were sent to the border.6
Essad Pasha used the crushing of the pro-Austrian forces to proclaim
himself (with the support of Muslim tribal chiefs and the big beylics in the
central parts of the country) governor of Albania in Durazzo, in late
September, 1913. Vienna assessed the act as positive proof of his
pro-Serbian orientation. Official Serbia simultaneously helped a number of
other small tribal chiefs who resisted Kemal's government, directing them
towards cooperation with Essad Pasha. The alliance between the Serbian
government and Essad Pasha was not stipulated in a special treaty: Pasic
nevertheless ordered that his followers be aided in money and arms. To the
Serbian prime minister, Essad Pasha served as a counterbalance to the
great-Albanian circles around Ismail Kemal. The new prince of Albania,
Wilhelm von Wied, backed the revanchist aspirations of Albanian leaders from
Kosovo and Metohia. As the most influential man in his government, Essad
Pasha held two important portfolios - the army and interior ministries. When
the unresolved agrarian question, urged by Young Turk officers, grew into a
massive pro-Turk insurrection against the Christian prince, Essad Pasha
supported the insurgents and in a clash with the Prince sought backing at
the Italian mission. After the arrest in Durazzo, Essad Pasha left for
Brindisi under protection of the Italian legate in Durazzo at the end of May
1914. After his departure, border raids into Serbia assumed greater
dimension and intensity.5
The threat Albania posed for Serbia abruptly increased at the beginning
of the world war. The relationship between different political trends within
the Albanian society towards the Central powers and the Entente powers was
to a large extent determined by their commitment towards Serbia. The
pronounced tendency towards pro-Austrian political circles grew with the
continuous influx of Albanian refugees from Serbia. Their revanchist policy
was the prime mover of a strong anti-Serbian movement in the war years, and
became after its end a basis for national forgather.
1 For details see: D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915,
pp. 299-303 (with earlier literature).
2 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani, Srbija i albansko pitanje
(1916-1918), in: Srbija 1918, Zb. radova Istorijskog instituta, 7, Beograd
1989, p. 346
3 Dokumenti o spoljnoj politici Kraljevine Srbije, VI/2, Doc. No 135,
Z. Balugdzic, op. cit., 521-522.
4 0 B. Hrabak, Arbanaski upadi i pobune na Kosovu, pp. 52-64.
5 Ibid, pp. 33-38, 60-61.
6 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, p. 305.
The beginning of the "Great War" left open the question about a precise
demarcation between Serbia and Albania. The International Demarcation
Commission discontinued work in mid-1914, thus state borders in areas of
dispute remained to be fixed. War caught unguarded the Serbo-Albanian
border. Austria-Hungary, not heeding for money, prepared fresh raids into
Serbian territory. Paši rightly anticipated the intention
ofVien-na's diplomacy to open, aided by the Young Turks, another front and
flank Serbian lands: he feared that the Albanian leaders financed by Vienna
-Hasan Pristina, Isa Boljetinac (Bollletini), Bairam Cur (Curri) and Riza
Bey Krieziu - would "attack Serbia when they receive orders from Turkey or
Bulgaria and weaken Serbian military action on the other side".1
Concerned with reportings about incessant unrest in the border belt and
endeavors to fomcnt an Albanian uprising in Serbia, military circles in the
New Region Troops in Skoplje proposed preventive military action.
Essad Pasha strove to preserve an independent position, crossing thus
from Italy to France. He planned to confront, with the help of the Entente,
Austria-Hungary's efforts to completely subjugate his country. He made
inquiries from Paris on the conditions upon which the Serbian government
would aid his return to Albania. In 1914, Paši imposed the following
conditions: that he sign a political-customs treaty with Serbia on a joint
defense, that Albania acknowledge the customs union at the chiefs' assembly,
and that a solution be reached at the following stage on forming a personal
or real union with Serbia. Essad Pasha confirmed by cable his acceptance in
principle of Paši 's conditions and immediately set off to
Serbia.2
The Serbian government policy towards Albania was aimed at pre-venting
subversive actions from Albania and creating preconditions to exert
influence at the end of the war on the demarcation of its borders,
particularly in the strip towards Serbia. Shortly before Essad Pasha's
arrival to Serbia, Pasic was interested in learning the stand of the Entante
Powers towards Albania: would they oppose "if Albania as a Turkish-
Bulgarian-Austrian instrument now attacked the Serbian border - could we now
not only fend them off, but incapacitate them for attacks in connection with
Turkey, occupy certain Strategie points and bring them under our influence
until the time comes when Europe would again resolve that issue, and
probably reach a better solution, which would ensure peace in Europe and the
Balkans".3
Essad Pasha obtained permission in Athens from the Greek diplomacy to
work in agreement with the Serbian government. At the same time he secured
backing from Italy, which hoped to have an open road to permanently
occupying Valona (Viore) once his regime was established in Albania. The
government in Rome saw Essad Pasha as the most appropriate figure to oppose
growing Austro-Hungarian and Turkish influence on conditions in
Albania.4
Essad Pasha did not give up his claim to the Albanian throne. He warned
the Serbian consul in Salonika that it would be perilous to Albania if its
prince came from the sultan's family, as that would, through detrimental
influence from Constantinople, open new hostilities towards Serbia and other
Balkan states. He thus pointed out himself as the most appropriate figure to
rule Albania. He sent messages to Pasic on the need for them to conclude a
special treaty before his departure for Albania.5
Upon arriving in Nis, Essad Pasha signed a secret alliance treaty with
Pasic on September 17. The 15 points envisaged the setting up of joint
political and military institutions, but the most important provisions
focused on a military alliance, the construction of an Adriatic railroad to
Durazzo and guarantees that Serbia would support Essad Pasha's election as
the Albanian ruler. The treaty left open the possibility that Serbia, at the
invitation of Essad Pasha, carry out a military intervention to protect his
regime. The demarcation between the two countries was to be drawn by a
special Serbo-Albanian commission. Essad Pasha was to confirm the treaty
only upon being elected ruler, with consent from the National Assembly: this
left maneuvering space for revising individual provisions. Serbia was
obligated to finance Pasha's gendarmery and supply the necessary military
equipment by paying off 50,000 dinars per month.6
After the defeat of Prince Wilhelm von Wied in clashes with pro-Turk
insurgents and his escape from Albania, anarchy broke out in the country.
The insurgents hoisted the Turkish flag, demanding that the country preserve
its Muslim quality. The senate of free towns in central Albania invited
Essad Pasha to take over power. With over 4,000 volunteers mustered in the
vicinity of Debar, Essad Pasha marched peacefully into Durazzo at the
beginning of October 1914, set up his government and proclaimed himself
supreme commander of the Albanian army. He did not question the ties with
Constantinople, and the consent in principle to the sovereignty of the
sultan over Albania. As the lord of central, particularly Muslim parts of
the country, Essad Pasha was compelled to approve of the pro-Turkish beylics
who had invited him to take over power. His first measures were directed at
protecting the Serbian border from raids of troops lead by Young Turk and
Austro-Hungarian officers in the northern parts of the country. He informed
the Serbian government of his move on the Catholic tribes to subdue Scutari
and capture Albanian leaders Isa Boljetinac, Bairam Cur and Hasan Pristina
who were in hiding in the northern parts of Has region.7
Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria believed that under the rule of
Essad Pasha Albania would come closer to the Powers of the Entante on a
European war. Germany and Austria-Hungary immediately recalled their legates
in Durazzo, and Bulgaria withdrew its diplomatic agent. At the same time
Austro-Hungarian and Young Turk officers stepped up joint work on a
preparation to raid Serbia. In keeping with the provisions of the Nis
agreement, Essad Pasha undertook action to prevent the troops from crossing
over to Serbian territory, but he was soon thwarted by a new pro-Turk
insurrection.8
In early November 1914, Turkey engaged in a war with the Central
powers, and included among the enemies of Islam Essad Pasha Toptani, as an
ally to Serbia and therefore the Entente. The declaration of jihad stirred
up a new pro-Turk insurrection of the Muslim population. The "Board for
Uniting Islam" from Constantinople called for another conquest of Kosovo:
"Hey Muslims! The until recently part of our fatherland - Kosovo - where the
Holy Tomb of Sultan Murad lies, where the flag of the crescent moon and star
fluttered, now flies the flag of the hateful Serb, who is turning mosques
into churches and seizing everything you have. That low people is forcing
you to fight in arms against allies and Mohammedan regents".9 The
illiterate Albanian mob was easily fanaticized with pro-Turk and pan-Islamic
slogans, thus the insurgents succeeded in winning over part of Essad Pasha's
followers. With regular supplies of money, arms and ammunition from
Austria-Hungary, the insurgents, commanded by Young Turk officers, posed an
increasing threat to Essad Pasha's territory. The entire movement gained an
expressly anti-Serbian character: demands were made that regions Serbia had
liberated in the first Balkan war be annexed to autonomous Albania under
Turkish sovereignty. Italy and Greece cleverly benefited from the whole
confusion:
Italian troops disembarked on Sasseno island, and then took Valona and
the hinterland, while Greek units marched into northern Epirus and set up
full authority there.10
Essad Pasha's position in Durazzo continuously deteriorated. Pressured
by the success of the insurgents, he called the Serbian government more than
once to intervene in Albania. A tacit agreement with Italy to fend off
Austria-Hungary occasionally provided money. Not only did he request guns
from Greece, but demanded that its troops encroach upon those regions where
his enemies mustered.11
The Serbian government ordered in December 1914 that preparations begin
for a military intervention in Albania. As the allied diplomacies at the
time exerted strong pressure upon the Serbian government to make territorial
compensation for Bulgaria, offering in return some substitutes in Albania,
Pasic wanted to incapacitate further bargaining over Macedonia with an
intervention in Albania. Yet only the Russian diplomacy approved his plan.
Legate Miroslav Spalajkovic from St Petersburg informed in early January
1915 that the Russian diplomacy was not opposed to a Serbian intervention in
Albania as long as it did not affect the course and scope of operations
against Austro-Hungarian troops. There was even mention that the Russian
diplomacy hoped an occupation of some parts of Albania would "this time be
constant and definitive".12 When Serbian armies broke off an
Austro- Hungarian offensive in the north, Pasic's government feared that
politicians and military circles in Vienna would use the lull to open war
against Serbia.
Raids organized sporadically by fugitive leaders of the Albanian
movement in Kosovo and Metohia, and carried out in co-action with Young
Turks and Austro-Hungarian officers, were not of wide scope, but roused
nervousness among Serbian military circles on the Albanian border. The
insurgents besieged Essad Pasha in Durazzo and demanded of him to
acknowledge the sultan's rule and declare war on Serbia. Pasic then
evaluated it was wiser to intervene immediately than wait for a bulk army to
muster in Albania with which an entire Serbian army would be forced to
fight.13
The allied diplomacies warned the Serbian government that military
intervention in Albania would strike an unfavorable response. The Russian
diplomacy advised Serbia to be content with the occupation of the strategic
points it had already occupied and refrain from actions that Italy might
regard as measures directed against its interests.14
In late May, 1915, the Serbian diplomatic representative in Durazzo
informed that Essad Pasha's position was critical: two new raids into
Serbian territory had taken place. Despite warnings from the allies, Pasic
decided on a military intervention.15 Over 20,000 Serbian
soldiers armed with guns marched into Albania from three directions at the
beginning of June, and took Elbasan and Tirana - the hotbeds of rebellion -
suppressed the Young Turk movement, liberated the besieged Essad Pasha in
Durazzo and turned over the captured insurgent leaders. A special Albanian
Detachment was set up to implement a thorough pacification of Albania and
consolidate Essad Pasha's rule. The regions inhabited by Mirdits, where Isa
Boljetinac, Hasan Pristina and Bairam Cur were in hiding, remained out of
reach for the Serbian troops; Ahmed Bey Zogu, lord of the Matis, who was the
closest relative to Essad Pasha, attempted to reach an agreement with the
Serbian government on his own, contrary to the Pasha: he set off to Nis on
his own accord for negotiations with Pasic.16 The Montenegrin
army took advantage of the favorable situation and marched into Scutari,
officially still under international regime.
Serbia's military intervention roused strong disapproval from the
allied diplomacies, especially Italy, whose claims to the Albanian coast and
central parts of the country, guaranteed under the secret London Treaty,
ensured its domination in Albania. Pasic replied to protests from the allies
that a temporary action was at stake and that the Serbian troops would
withdraw as soon as Essad Pasha's rule was consolidated.17 The
Serbian prime minister evaluated that the timing was right to permanently
tie Albania to Serbia, through Essad Pasha.
Serbian Internal Minister Ljubomir Jovanovic arrived in Tirana and on
June 28,1915, at St Vitus' Day, signed a treaty with Essad Pasha on a real
union between Serbia and Albania. Essad Pasha obligated himself to adjust
the border to Serbia's advantage on the strip between Podgradec and Has.
Serbia was to acquire the towns of Podgradec, Golo Brdo, Debarska Malissia,
Ljuma and Has to Spac, until the international powers drew the new borders.
Joint institutions envisaged an army, customs administration, national bank
and missions to other countries. The Serbian government was to place at
Essad Pasha's disposal experts to set up the authorities and state
institutions. With Serbia's help, Essad Pasha was to be elected prince of
Albania by an assembly of chiefs, he was to draw up a constitutional draft
in agreement with Serbia and form a government of people who would represent
the idea of Serbo-Albanian unity. The treaty anticipated that the Serbian
army remain in Elbasan and perhaps in Tirana until the provisions of the
treaty were executed, to persecute and destroy joint enemies. If Essad Pasha
was to learn of Italy's intent to occupy Durazzo, he was under the
obligation to call the Serbian army which would do so before the Italian
troops.18 The Tirana Treaty was the best political option for
Pasic's government in resolving the Albanian question. It stipulated to the
end Serbia's war aims towards Albania. The real union was a political form
allowing Serbia to influence the fate of those Albanian regions to which it
lay claim prior to and during the Balkan wars. Expecting that the fate of
Albania would again be discussed at a peace conference at the end of the
war, the Serbian government wanted a tangible ground with the union project
when putting forth its demands on Albania.
The Austro-Hungarian-German offensive on Serbia and Bulgaria's
engagement in the war with the Central powers helped - with frequent news
about the defeats and withdrawal of Serbian troops - the mustering again of
Essad Pasha's opponents in northern Albania. It was proposed at an assembly
in Mati that Serbia be attacked when a favorable condition rose and Albania
be expanded to Skoplje. Ahmed-bey Zogu, who through a commissioner, had
constant connection with the Serbian government, opposed their plans. No
joint action against Serbia took place but clashes
A decision by the allies to deliver to Serbia aid in arms and
ammunition via Albanian ports suddenly increased the importance of Essad
Pasha's alliance. Already at the beginning of November 1914, Essad Pasha
examined with the Serbian representative in Durazzo the possibility of
keeping Albania a safe base for the Serbian army. Fearing another pro-Turk
insurrection, Essad Pasha requested of the Serbian government that a French
or British regiment disembark in Durazzo and be deployed to strategic
positions throughout the country; he would in return prepare detachments to
aid the Serbs in combating the Bulgarians. The Serbian prime minister,
however, proposed that Essad Pasha receive a battalion of the Serbian army
in Durazzo to thus prove that Serbo-Albanian interests stood before the
interests of the Entante Powers. Pasic feared that Italy would use the
plight of Serbian armies in the north to land its troops in Albania and
occupy the whole territory. Pasic pointed out to Essad Pasha that the
Entante Powers considered him a friend and a "kind of ally", and that after
their victory his alliance would be rewarded with guarantees from the
powers.19
1 Arhiv Srbije, Beograd. Ministarstvo inostranih dela, Strogo
poverljivo (further in text: AS; MID, Str. pov.), 1914, No 233. For details
on joint work among Austro-Hungarian Young Turk and Bulgarian services in
Albania see: A. Mitrovic, Srbija u Prvom svetskom ratu, pp. 218-229.
2 B. Hrabak, Muslimani severne Albanije uoci izbijanja rata 1914.
godine, pp. 53, 66-67.
3 AS, MID. Str. pov. 1914, No 233.
4 G. B. Leon, Greece and the Albanian Question at the Outbreak of the
First World War, Balkan Studies, 1/11 (1970), pp. 69-71.
5 AS, MID, Str. pov., 1914, No. 290, 308. Essad Pasha also had
arrangement with Montenegrin diplomats on principle to settle the
controversials border issue by agreement, thus from Athens he requested of
the Serbian government to inform Cetinje that he would "leave for Montenegro
later on, as he had promised". (Ibid, No. 250)
6 Sh. Rahimi, Marreveshjet e qeverise serbe me Essat pashe Toptanit
gjate viteve 1914-1915, Gjurmime Albanologjike, VI (1976), pp. 125-127; D.
T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, p. 307.
7 AS, MID, Str. pov. 1914, No. 438
8 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, p. 307.
9 M. Ekmecic, op. cit., p. 387. The insurgents in northern Albania
declared holy war against Serbia. Public Record Office London (later in text
PRO, FO), vol. 438/4, No. 1071
10 G. B. Leon, op. cit., 78-80; M. Ekmecic, op. cit., 385-386. Cf P.
Pastorelli, Albania nella politico estera italiana 1914-1920, Napoli 1970,
pp. 19-32; James H. Burgwyn, Sonnino e la diplomazia italiana del tempo doi
guerra nei Balcani nel 1915, Storia Contemporanea, XVI, 1 (1985), pp.
116-118.
11 G. B. Leon, op. cit., p. 79
12 AS, MID. Str. pov., 1914, No 863, tel. M. Spalajkovic to MID, St.
Peterburg 25. 12. 1914 / 7. 01. 1915. Cf. B. Hrabak, Albanija od julske
krize do proleca 1916. godine na osnovu ruske diplomatske gradje, I,
Obelezja 5 (1973), pp. 71-75.
13 AS, MID, Str. Pov., 1914, No. 810, 877; B. Hrabak, Elaborat srpskog
ministarstva inostranih dela o pripremama srpske okupacije severne Albanije
1915. godine, Godisnjak Arhiva Kosova, II-III (1966-1967), pp. 7-35
14 Arhiv Jugoslavije, Beograd, 80-2-604. Tel. M. Spalajkovic from St.
Petersburg, 23. 04/6. 05. 1915, No 704; PRO FO, vol. 438/3, No. 100, 118.
15 The most vicious raid into Serbian territory was lead at the about
200 persons to stir up the tribes around Prizren, but his host was crushed
near the village of Zur. The Serbian government informed the allies that
around 1,000 armed ethnic Albanians had crossed the border (PRO, FO, 438/5,
No. 53; A. ®,195
16 Essad Pasha complained about the conduct of the Serbian military
authorities who pursued their own policy in Mati and other regions and
attempted to agitate among individual Albanian chiefs for acknowledging as
ruler of Albania a Serbian prince. (D. T. Batakovic, Secanja generala
Dragutina Milutinovica na komandovanje albanskim trupama 1915. godine,
Mesovita grada, XIV (1985), pp. 128, idem, Ahmed-beg Zogu i Srbija, in:
Srbija 1916. godine, Zb. radova Istorijskog instituta, 5, Beograd 1987, pp.,
165-177). Cf. M. Ekmecic, op. cit., pp. 394-395.
17 Pro, Fo, vol. 371, Nos. 184, 187, 200, 624,; vol. 438/5, No. 75;
vol, 438/6, No 1444; M. Ekmecic, op. cit., pp. 392-394; A. Mitrovic, op.
cit., pp. 230-232,
18 Sh. Rahimi, op. cit., pp. 137-140; D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa
Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, pp. 309-310.
19 Ibid, pp. 313-314.
The retreat of the Serbian army into Albania in late 1915 and early
1916 put the alliance of Essad Pasha to a serious test. In regions whereto
his authority did not extend, particularly Catholic tribes in the northern
parts of the country, the Serbian troops were forced to shoot their way
through to the Adriatic ports where allied ships were waiting for them.
Essad Pasha's gendarmery aided the Serbian army, secured safe passageways,
accommodation and food, and engaged in skirmishes with Albanian regiments
that attacked Serbian units and pillaged unarmed refugees. Essad Pasha
issued a special proclamation calling Albanians to help the Serbian army,
and informed military commanders about the advancement of enemy forces, the
emergence of rebellious regiments and the mood of individual
tribes.1
The "Albanian Golgotha" was the greatest war trial of the Serbian
people. Of the 220,000 soldiers which broke through Albania towards Corfu
and Bizerta, only 150,000 reached the destination; of about 200,000 refugees
spread along Albanian crags and marshes by the coast barely a third (60,000
people) escaped death.2 Serbia's losses would have been much
heavier were it not for Essad Pasha and his followers during the retreat and
embarkation.
During the retreat Essad Pasha maintained contact with the Serbian
government. He rejected Pasic's proposals to proclaim his treaty with the
Serbian government and admit Serbian officials in his administration,
explaining that his enemies were already calling him Essadovic because of
his alliance with Serbia. He wanted the allies to guarantee that Italy would
not occupy entire Albania after the retreat of the Serbian army. Realizing
that Austro-Hungarian troops would soon take Durazzo, Essad Pasha proposed
to Pasic that he be conveyed to Corfu with his government and gendarmes, so
as to be able, when the allied offensive was launched, to take up positions
on the left flank of the Serbian army and operate towards Albania. At the
demand of the Italian diplomacy, Essad Pasha and several hundred gendarmes
crossed at the end of February 1916 to Brindisi escorted by Serbia's charge
d'affaires. Prior to his departure, he declared war on the Central powers,
thus taking upon himself full responsibility for his cooperation with Serbia
and the Entente powers.3
Despite promises that he would be recognized as the Albanian prince,
and faced with open endeavors by the Italian government to exert complete
influence over him, Essad Pasha continued on to France to seek backing from
the allied diplomacy. Political circles in Paris admitted him as the prime
minister of a legitimate government. Military experts evaluated that Albania
was a reservoir of good soldiers which could be winged over for the allied
cause by Essad Pasha only. In late August, Essad Pasha reached Salonika in a
French vessel. Through the mediation of the Serbian and Greek diplomacies,
his government acquired the status of an exiled alliance cabinet. Essad
Pasha's camp was set up at the Salonika battlefield from 1,000 gendarmes and
followers under the command of Albanian officers. Deployed to positions
towards Albania, he operated within the composition of the French eastern
army. According to Pasic's intentions, his camp was to operate mixed with
Serbian troops towards Kosovo and northern Albania.4
During work in Salonika, Essad Pasha continuously strove to obtain firm
promises from France and Great Britain that when the war was over rule over
Albania would not be given to Italy, and that he would be allowed to
reinstate his administration in the country. At the end of 1916, Korea was
proclaimed an autonomous republic under the protection of French military
authorities, and power was given to the local liberals. Essad Pasha
complained to Pasic about the actions of the French military command, and
warned of Italy's web of intrigues, emphasizing that he had tied his fate to
Serbia. He feared that the Italian troops in Argirokastro were preparing an
assassination. Instead, General Giazzinto Ferrero proclaimed the state of
Albania, in early June, 1917, under the Italian protectorat.5
The Serbian government followed with anxiety the consolidation of
Italian positions in Albania. Immediately after the protectorate was
proclaimed, the Serbian government protested to the allied powers calling on
the decisions of the Ambassadorial Conference in London, to which Italy was
a signatory, and warned that the one-sided proclamation of Albanian
independence violated the "Balkans to the Balkan peoples" principle. The
news that the Italian military authorities were promising the Albanians
considerably wider state borders than those established in London in 1913
aroused particular concern. Pasic therefore made it especially clear that
the Italian protectorat resembled a similar attempt by Austria-Hungary to
"secure for itself a protectorat over Albania, and indirectly over the other
Balkan peoples by creating a new Great Albania to the detriment of other
Balkan peoples".6
Essad Pasha also protested to the Italian government. Dissatisfied with
the development of the situation, he resolved to set off for Switzerland,
the center of various Albanian committees, and through the French government
to secure backing from the British diplomacy which supported Italy's policy
in Albania. He obtained no guarantees in Paris, and failed to secure backing
from the Geneva committees, tied firmly to Austria-Hungry which financed
them.7
Increasingly insecure about winning support from the allies and
concerned over implications that his special obligations towards Serbia were
no longer a secret, Essad Pasha demanded of Pasic that the government
provide more money and secure after the war his administration in Albania
within the borders drawn by the Conference of Ambassadors in London. On his
return to Salonika at the beginning of 1918, Essad Pasha in talks with
Regent Aleksandar linked the distrust of the French diplomacy with the
Tirana Treaty and Italy's endeavors to compromise France. In talks with
other Serbian diplomatic officials, Essad Pasha complained that the
provisions in the Tirana Treaty impeded him in political work. Finally, he
made a demand to the Serbian government to procure permission from the
French military authorities for introducing his administration in the Korea
Republic, where Italians were freely agitating against him. The French
command, however, dissolved the Korea republic in February 1918, and took
over command of Essad Pasha's units, which held the front between Podgradec
and Shkumbi River, due to low combat morale.8
The Serbian government strove to aid Essad Pasha as appreciably as
possible within its means. Its policy towards Albania was, in principle, to
any thwart plans on foreign protectorates and reinstate the regime that
existed prior to the withdrawal of the Serbian army. The Serbian government
protested several times against the consolidation of Italian positions in
Albania, striving to give as much prominence as possible to Essad Pasha and
prepare the conditions for his return to power. Essad Pasha realized himself
that Serbia was his last outpost and that without its support he had no
chance with the allies to win back his return to the country. Thus in a
message to US President Woodraw Wilson in the summer of 1918, he said that
only a future Yugoslav state could guarantee for the integrity and
independence of his country.9
In the event that Pasha's return to power was not possible, Pasic was
preparing to leave open the question of the border with Albania. (The
Entente had prior to the breakthrough of the Salonika front signed an
agreement in Paris on the division of spheres of interest whereby Albania
was ceded to Italy.) In early November 1918, Pasic sent the following
message: "Our policy in Albania is to establish, if possible, the situation
as it was prior to the evacuation, when Essad Pasha was the Albanian prime
minister, and occupy territories from the Mati river beyond and in agreement
with the tribal chiefs, reestablish local administration which will act on
the instructions of our authorities."10
He called Essad Pasha - at the time in France seeking backing - to
return to Salonika and at the same time demanded that territories taken in
Albania be occupied by mixed allied forces: he proposed also that the
Albanian camp be used, mixed with Serbian officers. The French command,
however, disbanded Essad Pasha's troops on October 12. By a decision of the
interallied Supreme War Council, Albania was to be controlled by the Italian
army up to the Maca river.11
Still, the Serbian prime minister did not rule out the possibility that
the situation would develop enabling the return of Essad Pasha to Albania,
to the region north of the Mati river which Serbia considered its sphere of
interest. Italy persecuted Pasha's followers in the occupied parts of the
country, and at one particular time made a demand to France for his
internment. It all ended with the withdrawal of the French representative to
his government.12
1 Ibid, pp. 315-317.
2 Veliki rat Srbije za oslobodjenje i ujedinjenje Srba, Hrvata i
Slovenaca, vol. XIII-XIV; Kroz Albaniju 1915-1916, Beograd 1968; M. M.
Zivanovic, O evakuaciji srpske vojske iz Albanije i njenoj reorganizaciji na
Krfu (1915-1916) prema francuskim dokumentima, Istorijski Casopis (XIV-XV),
pp. 231-307.
3 D. T Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, pp. 321-324.
4 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani, Srbija i albansko pitanje
(1916-1918), pp. 348-349.
5 AS, MID, Str. pov., 1917, No. 232 Memoire: Proglas protektorata
Italije nad Albanijom i uopste rad Italije 1917 Krf, D. T. Batakovic,
Esad-pasa Toptani, Srbija i albansko pitanje (1916-1918), pp. 350-351; P.
Pastorelli, op. cit., pp. 36-41; I documenti diplomatici italiani, Quinta
serie, vol. VI, Roma MCMLXXXVIII, NOs, 119, 390, 394, 427, 438, 445, 448,
831.
6 AS, MID, Str. pov., 1917, No. 182. Pasic's note dated 30. 05/13.
06.1917.
7 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani, Srbija i albansko pitanje
(1916-1918), pp.
8 Ibid, pp. 353-358.
9 Ibid, pp. 359.
10 Ibid, pp. 360.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid, pp. 361-362; B. Hrabak, Reokupacija oblasti srpske i
crnogorske drzave s arbanaskom vecinom stanovnistva u jesen 1918. godine i
drzanje Arbanasa prema uspostavljenoj vlasti. Gjurmime albanologjike, 1
(1969), pp. 262-265, 285-286.
After the war, Italy became the main rival of the Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes in Albania. Rome strove to use the disintegration of the
Dual Monarchy to step up its positions in the Balkans and turn the Adriatic
Sea into an Italian lake. Albania was in its schemes the country wherefrom
Italian influence would be wielded onto the neighboring regions. The Italian
troops occupied the largest part of Albania and, by meeting the demands of
various committees (particularly the Kosovo Committee) in annexing to
Albania Metohia, Kosovo and western Macedonia, they presented themselves as
the protector of the interests of all the Albanian people. An interim
government of Turhan Pasha Permeti was set up in Durazzo under the wing of
Italy at the end of December 1918, which was ready to recognize as its ruler
a prince from the House of Savoy. At the Peace Conference in Paris, Italy
strove to secure the possession of Valona and hinterland and obtain a
mandate over the other parts of Albania.1 The envoys of the
pro-Italian Durazzo government demanded at the Peace Conference a revision
of the 1913 borders - they wanted Prizren, Djakovica, Pec, Pristina,
Mitrovica, Skoplje, Tetovo and Debar to be included in the composition of
the Albanian state.2
The policy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes towards Albania
did not deviate much from that of Pasic's government. Belgrade evaluated
that the consolidation of Italian positions in Albania would be a source of
continual threat to Kosovo, Metohia and the neighboring regions. Head of the
delegation to the Conference, Nikola Pasic, also shaped the policy of the
new state as regards Albania. In order to repress Italian influence in the
Balkans, he demanded the restoration of Albania within the 1913 borders, as
an independent state with autonomous and national rule. If the Great Powers
should nevertheless decide to divide the Albanian territories among the
neighboring states, the delegation demanded that the Yugoslav state be given
northern Albania from the Veliki Drim to Scutari.3
Under the aegis of the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes, Essad
Pasha brought his delegation to The Peace Conference in Paris. Having
submitted a memorandum to the Conference at the end of April, he called on
the legitimacy of his government, its allied status in Salonika and the
declaration of war on the Central powers. Seeking the restoration of
independent Albania within the 1913 borders, Essad Pasha demanded to be
recognized as the only legal representative of his people.4
The Peace Conference, however, did not officially discuss the fate of
Albania as it was formally considered a neutral state during the war. The
question of its future was being resolved at the Ambassadorial Conference of
the Great Powers. The diplomatic circles of the Western allies assessed that
Albania was insufficiently nationally constituted and that its development
had to be under the control of a big power. As time passed, the
representatives of the Great Powers saw the solution to the Albanian
question in granting a mandate to Italy - its troops controlled the largest
part of the Albanian territory and its diplomats persisted on the allies
meeting the provisions taken over by the 1915 London Treaty.5
Pasic evaluated that the Albanian question was to be resolved soon. He
strove to set it apart from its natural linkage with the Adriatic question,
which was considered an object of compensation. Even though France and Great
Britain paid heed to the interests of the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and
Slovenes, Pasic believed that the key role in resolving the Albanian
question would be assumed by United States President Woodraw Wilson and
Italy. He persistently maintained the stand that the Delegation of the
Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes demanded the restoration of Albania
within the 1913 borders, and that border alteration towards Serbia and
Montenegro be resolved in agreement with the tribes that lived there. If the
stand prevailed that the provisions of the London Treaty should be met,
Pasic demanded - as a Great Power was coming to the Balkans and in the
immediate vicinity of the Yugoslav state - stronger strategic borders as
compensation, "The Glavni (Veliki) Drim from the sea to the confluence of
the Crni Drim, then the Crni Drim up to a point beneath Debar, to the
confluence of the Zota river left of the Crni Drim, encompassing entire
Ohrid Lake with the watershed to remain on our side."6
Since Valona and the hinterland was being ceded to Italy under the 1915
London Treaty, as well as protectorat over central Albania, while Northern
Albania was intended for Serbia and Montenegro, Pasic proposed that the
northern Albanian tribes be given the right to self-determination, "to say
themselves if they wish to join the central Muslim Albania under the Italian
protectorat, or to form a separate small state - some sort of small 'buffer
state', or if they desire to join our state as a small autonomous
state".7 Thus from the beginning of 1919, petitions of individual
Catholic tribes demanding to be annexed to Serbia were collected at the
border belt, with backing from the military and civil authorities of the
Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes.8 This way Pasic wanted to
parry the pro-Italian delegation to the Peace Conference and deputies of the
American Albanian society "Fire", which demanded the forming of a Great
Albania inclusive of considerable regions of the former Serbian and
Montenegrin state. Thus he supported those groups of Albanian delegates in
Paris that maintained it would be the most benefitial for Albania if it came
to terms with the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes, and accepted a
border alteration to its advantage, in keeping with the wish of the local
population. Pasic set out they believed that their independence "would best
be ensured if they entered into an alliance with us, especially to set up a
customs union. The group comprises Essad Pasha's followers and those
opposing the Italian protectorat".9
On the ground, particularly those areas in Albania under occupation (by
agreement with the French army, after the Austro-Hungarian troops were
driven out) - Pishkopeja, Gornji and Donji Debar and Golo Brdo - the Serbian
military authorities, and subsequently those of the Kingdom of Serbs Croats
and Slovenes, tried to help organize Essad Pasha's followers. A committee in
Debar was entrusted with the task of setting up rule in the border areas and
preparing the conditions for Pasha's return to the country. His
commissioners exerted the strongest influence in regions between Golo Brdo
and Gornji Debar, in Podgradec and Starova while deep into the country, in
the central parts, Italian troops gradually and successfully checked Essad
Pasha's followers. Despite continuous dissipation, Essad Pasha still enjoyed
considerable support especially among the old Muslim beys, who viewed with
distrust the consolidation of Italian positions in central
Albania.10
Beside the Conference, Italy and Greece signed in late July 1919 a
secret treaty - the so-called Tittoni-Veniselos Treaty - on the division of
the Albanian territory. At the beginning of December the allied powers
recognized Italy's sovereignty over Valona and the hinterland, and offered
it a mandate to set up administration in the remaining part of Albania under
the control of the League of Nations. The same memorandum envisaged and
defined territorial compensations to the advantage of Greece. Pasic again
set out that in that case the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes had to
stand by their demand for more favorable borders towards Albania. He
proposed that the region of the entire length of the Mace river to the Crni
Drim be demanded as the maximum, and the stretch along the Crni and Veliki
Drim rivers to their confluence as the minimum.11
Cooperation with Essad Pasha never ceased for a moment. The delegation
of the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes backed his demands that he be
paid war reparations as an ally to the Entante Powers and thus indirectly
acquire an allied status. Pasha's followers in the country dissipated and
gathered again, depending on current circumstances, and were unsparingly
helped in actions against those supported by the Italians. He sent messages
several times to his followers that he was returning to the country and
advised them to act in cooperation with Serbia and to decisively oppose the
Italian occupation.12
While a bitter diplomatic battle over Albania's destiny was being waged
at the Conference, a movement rose against the Italian occupation in the
country. The government in Durazzo was condemned and replaced at a national
congress of Albanian chiefs in Ljusnje in early 1920, and strong protests
were lodged with the Peace Conference and Italian parliament. The delegates
demanded the creation of a Great Albania; command over the army was
entrusted to Bairam Cur.13 Essad Pasha's followers who convened
at the People's Assembly in March made strong demands that the Italian
troops be routed. Ahmed Zogu, the interior minister in the government of
Suleyman Delvina, strove to neutralize Essad Pasha, sending to that end
special emissaries to Paris at the end of May. The delegation offered Essad
Pasha the post of prime minister, on the condition that he abandon
aspirations to rule Albania.14 At the time Bairam Cur lead a
decisive battle against the detachments of Pasha's followers. Finally, on
June 13, 1920, an Albanian student, Avni Rustemi, by order of Lushnje