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| Capital | Himarë | ||||||
| Largest city | Himarë | ||||||
| Language | Albanian | ||||||
| Dictator | Devi Muka | ||||||
| Area | approx. 1,500 km² | ||||||
| Population | approx. 55,000 | ||||||
| Established | July 6th, 1984 | ||||||
| Annexation | to Greece | ||||||
| date | February 14th, 2012 | ||||||
| Currency | Barter, Albanian lek, Greek Drachma, Sicilian Lira | ||||||
The State of Himarë was a small survivor state in southern Albania.
Pre-Doomsday[]
In antiquity the region was inhabited by the Greek tribe of the Chaonians. In classical antiquity, Himarë was part of the Kingdom of Epirus. When the region was conquered by the Roman Republic in the 2nd century BC, its settlements were badly damaged and some were destroyed. Himarë and the rest of the southern Balkans would pass into the hands of the Byzantine Empire following the fall of Rome. In 1278 King Nicephorus of a new Kingdom of Epirus surrendered to the Angevins the ports of Himarë, Sopot and Butrint. After the death of Balša II, his widow and his daughter managed to keep the possession of the region up to 1417 when Ottomans captured Vlora.
The Ottoman Empire overran northern Epirus from the late 14th century, but being a natural fortress, Himara was the only region that did not submit to Ottoman Turkish rule. Rebellions and invasions by the locals would plague the area. The Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent personally mounted an expedition in 1537, that destroyed or captured many surrounding villages but did not manage to subdue the area. The Ottomans found it necessary to compromise with the inhabitants of Himarë by granting them a series of privileges. However, despite the privileges, the Himariotes revolted against Ottoman authority repeatedly, causing severe reprisals.
When the Greek War of Independence broke out, the people of Himarë rose in revolt. The local uprising failed, but many Himariotes, veterans of the Russian and French Army, joined the revolutionary forces in today southern Greece, where they played a significant role in the struggle. During the First Balkan War, the town revolted and expelled the Ottoman forces in order to join Greece, though this failed. In 1921 the region came under the control of the Albanian state. Several uprisings occurred, with the natives demanding their old rights, but all were suppressed by the Albanian government. Later, Himarë was again occupied by the Italians as part of the Italian invasion in Albania. The Italian Fascist Army was evicted by the Greek Army during the Greco-Italian War of 1940-41, and Himarë briefly re-joined Greece until the German invasion in 1941.
Doomsday[]
The area that eventually became the State of Himarë escaped being hit on Doomsday. However, it suffered from both refugees, and radiation blown from the strike on Taranto in Italy.
Post-Doomsday[]
Fighting in the city of Vlore, and nearby naval bases, which erupted soon after Doomsday and the breakdown of order in Albania, forced many refugees southward, along with others from elsewhere in Albania. For many, the only way to go was to the south. Blaming the Greeks inhabiting the region and the membership of Greece in NATO for the chaos, these refugees, along with the local Albanians, began a systematic campaign against them, forcing them southward and moving into their homes. In Himarë, where the Greeks still formed a majority of the population, this was even worse than elsewhere, for many of the refugees had armed themselves with weapons from looted naval bases around Vlore before those same naval units had forced them out. Most Greeks would die, especially after they were weakened by the radiation that they had been exposed to, with the rest fleeing to Sarande and its environs. The new leaders of Himarë and its surroundings promptly set themselves up as what amounted to a fascist dictatorship in July of 1984.
This new leadership, fusing fascist and communist symbols and methods together, forged a functional state in the area, slowly expanding their control over the nearby countryside and forcing the locals into their service. Eventually, their forces encountered those of Gjirokastër and Vlore, the discovery of which meant that expansion was halted. Luckily, neither of these was strong enough to conquer them - but at the same time the reverse was true as well. Forces from the Greek survivor nation of Heptanesa were encountered more toward Sarande as well, and it was not a pleasant encounter in the least.
Yet, this position between the strong defenses of Vlore, and the Heptanesans, meant that they would remain fairly secure. The Civil Wars of the 1990s would largely pass them by with no effect. They also refused to join the "communist" dictators that founded a new Albanian nation at the end of fighting, though the sailors to their north did. This was allowed to slide for fear of Greek intervention, which would have surely come had fighting began. About this time, the government made contact with merchants from the Sicilian Republic as well. The Sicilian government promised them aid in exchange for support in any dispute that they should have, though in the end neither was ever really able to aid the other.
During fighting between the Greeks and the Sicilians, Himarë attempted to fulfill their obligations, despite Sicilian support and aid being very inadequate. However, the increased powers of the largely unified Albanian state to the north, and long-standing hatred of the Italians, soon scuttled this. Himarë remained neutral during the war between Albania and Macedonia, and after the Macedonian victory and establishment of an Albanian puppet-state, nastily declined to join the new state. Macedonian naval vessels would essentially blockade the small fleet of Himarë in harbor during the Second Sicily War, preventing contact between them and Sicily.
Greek forces, following months of preparation, moved into the dictatorship in late January of 2012. Largely consisting of Heptanesan reserves and militia, the Greek troops surrounded the capital within a day of crossing the border. It would take them until the 14th of February to take the city. Heptanesan troops appeared, as well, to have executed the dictator, but no proof has been found. It is suspected that elements of the government managed to flee to Sicilian territory before Greek forces took the harbor.
Government[]
Himarë was a dictatorship set up by refugees from Vlore in the 1980s. While most identified them as fascists, it would probably be more accurate to refer to them as Nazis, for most of the non-Albanian population had long been forced out of the state. It was governed by a Dictator, Devi Muka, and his Council of Advisers, who really had no concrete say in things.
Changes in leader, as when Muka took control in 2006, were usually sudden and often occurred when the Council of Advisers tired of the dictator and removed them from power - to the bottom of the ocean.
Military[]
Himarë, as befitting its small population, had only a tiny permanent military, which largely guards near Vlore and the Greek border. Fishermen, however, were also responsible for the upkeep of the small number of remaining naval forces under their control.
Economy[]
Fishing and forestry dominated the economy of Himarë. Fruits and fruit trees were about the only thing ever exported outside of its borders, however.
International Relations[]
As with the other states in Southern Albania, Himarë was in chronic fear of Greek retribution, or the Macedonians aiding their Albanian puppet in conquering them, though the second option was unlikely.
Until the defeat of Sicily in the Second Sicily War, Himarë was slightly aligned in that direction. However, this usually translated into very little, especially when no support became likely ever come again after their defeay.
Most countries internationally acknowledged Greek claims to the region.
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