Central Albanian uprising

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hendrik Reimers, Dutch officer in the international gendarmerie, captured by Albanian rebels in June 1914

The Central Albanian Uprising , also called the Middle Albanian  Peasant Uprising ( Albanian Kryengritja (fshatare) e Shqipërisë së Mesme ), also known as the Haxhi Qamil (i) uprising after the leader , was a revolt of Muslim peasants, especially in Central Albania, against the rule of the new, from Prince Wilhelm appointed by the European great powers in 1914 and 1915. The revolutionaries demanded the return of the Principality of Albania under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire .

course

The peasants were upset because their situation hadn't improved since independence and the prince hadn't even waived tax debts from the Ottoman era. The political and religious differences in central Albania are exploited by Young Turkish committees, 250 Turkish officers with support from Istanbul to organize resistance against Wied. In the end, the prince only controlled a two to four kilometer wide strip around Durrës . The city was besieged and could only be held with the support of naval artillery from the international squadron.

The revolt was led by the revolutionaries Haxhi Qamili (a Muslim Sufi), Arif Hiqmeti , Musa Qazimi and Mustafa Ndroqi (relative of Tirana Mayor Ismail Ndroqi ). They fought since the beginning of May 1914 against the international gendarmerie in Durrës, supporters of the government from Kosovo and Catholic volunteers from the Mirdita , which was led by Lodewijk Thomson (1869-1914), the Dutch commander of the gendarmerie, the former Ottoman Pasha Prênk Bib Doda and Isa Boletini stood. The Dutch officers who were supposed to carry out the expansion of the gendarmerie represent too small a power base for the foreign prince.

The rebels fought for Din dhe Devlet - Religion and Ottoman state - as well as for Osmanllillëk ( Osmanentum ). They also demanded a general amnesty . Negotiations between the rebels with an international commission failed in June 1914, Germany and Great Britain were unwilling to agree to an international military intervention despite the chaos in the country, while the rivals Italy and Austria-Hungary were unable to act together. Wied suspected his Minister of the Interior and War, Essad Pascha Toptani , who himself had ambitions for the throne, as the initiator of the uprising. The prince forced him to resign, arrested him and sent him into exile.

Defense of Durrës
Defense barricades in Durrës

The uprising was one of the reasons for Prince Wied's withdrawal from the country and the de facto end of his rule. With the outbreak of World War I , the Dutch officers and other international contingents who had been stationed in Scutari were withdrawn from Albania. Wied, who was felt by his subordinates as lacking in energy and incapable, left the country at the beginning of September 1914, but never officially abdicated. The principality continued to exist formally; a government councilor and imperial administrator ruled in his name until 1925.

The uprising ended in early June 1915 when Serbian troops arrested the leaders of the uprising around Haxhi Qamili and Musa Qazimi, brought them to a court under Xhelal Bey Zogu and had them executed in Durrës.

In the People's Socialist Republic of Albania under the ruler Enver Hoxha , the uprising was declared a patriotic and social revolutionary movement. Since Enver Hoxha's declaration in this regard, other assessments, such as the designation as a pro-Ottoman-Islamic revolt against Albania's independence, were no longer possible under communist rule.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Olsi Jazexhi: Mbi 100 vjetorin e Lidhjes Islamike të Krujës. Retrieved January 17, 2015 (Albanian).
  2. ^ Hanns Christian Löhr: The founding of Albania. Wilhelm zu Wied and the Balkan diplomacy of the great powers, 1912–1914. Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-631-60117-4 , pp. 210ff.
  3. ^ Hanns Christian Löhr: The founding of Albania. Wilhelm zu Wied and the Balkan diplomacy of the great powers, 1912–1914. Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-631-60117-4 , p. 220.
  4. ^ A b Günther Kronenbitter: War in Peace. The leadership of the Austro-Hungarian army and the great power politics of Austria-Hungary 1906–1914. Verlag Oldenbourg, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-486-56700-4 , p. 431.
  5. ^ Hanns Christian Löhr: The founding of Albania. Wilhelm zu Wied and the Balkan diplomacy of the great powers, 1912–1914. Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-631-60117-4 , pp. 216 and 221.
  6. ^ Michael Schmidt-Neke : Development and expansion of the royal dictatorship in Albania (1912–1939). Formation of government, mode of rule and power elite in a young Balkan state. (= Southeast European Works 84), Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-486-54321-0 , p. 19.
  7. ^ Robert Elsie : A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk Culture. Taurus, London 2001, p. 377.
  8. ↑ Southeast Europe Handbook. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 7 (1993), p. 212.
  9. ↑ Michael Schmidt-Neke: Can Albania explain North Korea? Thoughts on phenomena of peripheral socialism models , Albanische Hefte 4/2004, p.22, pdf