Albania (EEC)

Principality of Albania
The Principality of Albania was established on February 21, 1914. Albania had been under Ottoman rule from around 1478 until the Treaty of London in May, 1913 when the Great Powers recognised the independence of Albania. The Great Powers selected Prince William of Wied, a nephew of Queen Elisabeth of Romania to become the sovereign of the newly independent Albania. A formal offer was made by 18 Albanian delegates representing the 18 districts of Albania on February 21, 1914, an offer which he accepted. Outside of Albania William was styled prince, but in Albania he was referred to as Mbret (King) so as not to seem inferior to the King of Montenegro. The first government under the rule of the House of Wied was a kind of a "princes privy council" because of its members, who were representatives of the Albanian nobility : Prince Turhan Pasha Përmeti, former Governor of Crete and ambassador of the Ottoman Empire at Saint Petersburg, Aziz Pasha Vrioni, Prince Bib Doda of Gjomarkaj-Mirdita, Prince Essad Pasha Toptani, Prince Georges Adamidi bey Frasheri (Frachery), Mihal Turtulli, bey Koritza, etc.

Prince William arrived in Albania at his provisional capital of Durrës on March 7, 1914 along with the Royal family. The security of Albania was to be provided by a International Gendarmerie commanded by Dutch officers. William left Albania on September 3, 1914 following a pan-Islamic revolt initiated by Essad Pasha and later taken over by Haji Kamil the military commander of the Islamic Emirate of Albania centered in Tirana.

World War I
World War I interrupted all government activities in Albania, and the country was split into a number of regional governments. Political chaos engulfed Albania after the outbreak of World War I. Surrounded by insurgents in Durrës, Prince William departed the country in September 1914, just six months after arriving, and subsequently joined the German army and served on the Eastern Front. The Albanian people split along religious and tribal lines after the prince's departure. Muslims demanded a Muslim prince and looked to Turkey as the protector of the privileges they had enjoyed, hence many beys and clan chiefs, recognized no superior authority. In late October 1914, Greek forces entered Albania in the Protocol of Corfu's recognized Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus). Italy occupied Vlorë, and Serbia and Montenegro occupied parts of northern Albania until a Central Powers offensive scattered the Serbian army, which was evacuated by the French to Thessaloniki. Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian forces then occupied about two-thirds of the country.

Post World War
The country would remain in a state of flux throught the New York Peace Accords. The German and Austrian delegations insisted on the withdrawal of all Entente forces from Albania, and an adjustment of Albania's borders to those proposed at the end of the Second Balkan War,territorial changes primarily at the expense of Serbia. The matter was left undecided at end of the New York conference, but was addressed at the Second Congress of Berlin in 1922, where the present borders expanding the state were drawn. The status of the country was officially elevated to Kingdom from Principality.