That was Albania 105 years ago and here's what it is today

Albania's declaration of independence came after nearly 500 years of Albanian people's efforts by the Ottoman Empire, which occupied Albanian lands, 10 years after the death of Gjergji Kandriot Skenderbeu on January 17th 1468.

The effort to free the Albanian people and other European peoples from the Ottoman Empire has never stopped until its expulsion in 1912.

In addition to Albanian lands, the Ottoman Empire for several centuries had occupied other Balkan countries as well as attempted to take Austria, where, after a two-month war with Vienna, in 1683, it suffers great losses and retreats.

In 1684 a anti-Hisosman coalition was established under the name “Holy Link”. Austria, Poland, Venice, Malta, and Russia joined the coalition two years later.

After that, the Austrian Army advanced to Bulgaria and the Albanian lands. Austrian forces in Pristina were hosted by 5,000 Albanian rebels, while in Prizren by another 6,000 Albanian rebels.

Albanians fought alongside Austrians in Novoberda and several other cities. These battles ended with the victory of the Ottoman army. After these setbacks, the Austrians withdrew from Kosovo with many rebels.

The fact of the departure of many rebels from Kosovo later exploited the Serbian monarchy, which created the legend of the so-called “Serbian insistence” from Kosovo and its popularity by Albanians.

The great effort of the Albanian people was even after the new Russian-Tourke war (1877-1878). Russia, along with Austro-Hungary in Budapest on January 15th, 1877, signed an agreement called the Budapest Agreement. According to them, Austro-Hungary would remain neutral in the Russian-Turkish war. In return, it gained the right to invade Bosnia and Herzegovina militarily, while the fate of the Novi Pazar Sandzak (New Bazaar) would be assigned to a special agreement linking Petersburg and Vienna. The dualist Empire pledged not to touch Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Montenegro, which Russia held as territories in its area of influence.

The Russian Empire would enjoy annexing Bessarabia in the Balkans and Batum in the Caucasus. But if the Ottoman Empire were to collapse completely, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania would become autonomous states; Crete, Thessalia and Epirus would be annexed by Greece, while Istanbul and its district would be declared a free city.

However, it must be acknowledged that Budapest's agreement, despite these negative aspects, was the first international diplomatic act to in principle accept the idea of creating an Albanian state. This idea was of Austro-Hungary, which was initiated by interest to create in the Western Balkans a barrier against Serbian expansion towards the Adriatic of Macedonia.

On June 10th 1878 Albanians gathered in Prizren and formed the Prizren League. The Prizren League was the first major Albanian movement organised in an administrative, political and military manner since the time of Skenderbe. Forced by the specific circumstances of 1878, Albanians called a nationwide Assembly aimed at uniting Albania. Following the signing of the St. Stefan Agreement between Russia and Turkey, where Albania was not recognised by any territorial right, and pending the Berlin Congress, which would most likely remove the Albanian map of numerous provinces, Albanian natives conceived this meeting in an attempt to flee Ottoman rule.

On June 10, 1878, four Albanian villas joined Prizren: Shkodra, Monastery, Janina and Kosovo.

The Berlin Congress opened on June 13th 1878, with the order of the review of the Treaty of St. Stefan. It was during Europe's great powers: Germany, England, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary and Italy.

The first fragmentation of Albanian lands was realised following the Berlin Congress's decisions to reward Montenegro with the Gucia Plava. During this time, the areas of Toplica, Prokuples, Kursumlia, Nis, Vraja and Leskovci were passed to Serbia. The Albanian population in these areas was violently driven away, and it all cleared ethnically, creating 700,000 Albanian refugees who settled in Kosovo and another 600,000 who settled in the area that is now in Macedonia. The Berlin Congress gave Montenegro other Albanian lands, the city of Tivar and Podgorica.

The Albanian people's effort was later shattered by the non-recognition of land from the Berlin Congress and the fight of the Albanian people against the Ottoman Empire, which resulted in the fragmentation of Albania and the rest of the rest under the Ottoman Empire.

The Albanian people's struggle did not stop until 1912, where Albania's independence was declared in Vlora and the Albanian people eventually expelled from their land the Ottoman Empire.

Following that was London's Ambassador Conference, also known as the “Peace Conference in London”, which was an international meeting of the six Great Powers of the Time (Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Italy). These powers gathered in December 1912. After many discussions, on July 29, 1913, ambassadors made a formal decision to recognise Albania's Principate as sovereign state independent of the Ottoman Empire, breaking it up once again and taking two-thirds of the Albanian lands.

Below are the map of the Albanian government's proposal, the proposal of France, Russia and the established Balkan League (Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro), as well as the decision made by the ambassadors' conference.