[11] In the winter of 1432, Sultan Murat II gathered around 10.000 troops under Ali Bey, who marched along the Via Egnatia and reached the central valley of Shkumbin, where he was ambushed and defeated by forces under Gjergj Arianiti.

[13] After spreading the revolt in nearby areas including Këlcyrë, Zagorie and Pogon his forces besieged the southern city of Gjirokastër, capital of the sanjak of Albania.

[14] At nearby Këlcyrë the rebels captured the castle, but the concurrent siege of Gjirokastër was prolonged and Turahan Bey attacked and defeated the troops that surrounded the city in early 1433.

[16] In the summer of 1433 an army led by Sinan Pasha, beylerbey of Rumelia, pillaged the areas of Kanina and Yannina and moved northwards, where they subdued the rebels in the domains of Gjon Kastrioti, who was reduced again to vassal status, while his son Skanderbeg, who was also called to join the revolt, remained in Ottoman service in Anatolia.

Vlorë was lost to the rebels as early as May 1432, but must have been recovered by May 1434 as contemporary Venetian documents mention an Ottoman official (subaşi) stationed there at that time.

[16] In April 1435, Arianiti defeated another Ottoman campaign and hostilities virtually ceased until the beginning of 1436, as Murat II's military efforts were focused against Ibrahim of Karaman in Anatolia.

[20] In 1435, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund of Luxemburg sent Fruzhin, a Bulgarian nobleman, and in early 1436 Daud, a pretender to the Ottoman throne, to negotiate the possibility of a coalition with the rebels.

[26] After capturing some less important surrounding castles (Petrela, Prezë, Guri i Bardhë, Svetigrad, Modrič, and others) he raised, according to Frashëri, a red standard with a black double-headed eagle on Krujë (Albania uses a similar flag as its national symbol to this day).

[35] Among those who joined the military alliance were the powerful Albanian noble families of Arianiti, Dukagjini, Muzaka, Zaharia, Thopia, Zenevisi, Dushmani and Spani, and also the Serbian nobleman Stefan Crnojević of Zeta.

During the first 8–10 years, Skanderbeg commanded an army of generally 10,000–15,000 soldiers,[citation needed] but only had absolute control over the men from his own dominions, and had to convince the other princes to follow his policies and tactics.

The later affirmation of Skanderbeg and his rise as a strong force on their borders, however, was seen as a menace to the interests of the Republic, leading to a worsening of relations and the dispute over the fortress of Dagnum which triggered the Albanian-Venetian War of 1447–48.

[26] The Venetians sought by every means to overthrow Skanderbeg or bring about his death, even offering a life pension of 100 golden ducats annually for the person who would kill him.

[62][66] He appears to have marched to join Hunyadi immediately after making peace with the Venetians, and to have been only 20 miles from Kosovo Polje when the Hungarian army finally broke.

[69] When the situation became critical, Skanderbeg made a three-year armistice with the Ottomans on 17 April 1461, and in late August 1461, landed in Apulia with an expeditionary force of 1,000 cavalry and 2,000 infantry.

[101] Krujë held out during its fourth siege, started in 1477 by Gedik Ahmed Pasha, until 16 June 1478, when the city was starved to death and finally surrendered to Sultan Mehmed II himself.

[101] Demoralized and severely weakened by hunger and lack of supplies from the year-long siege, the defenders surrendered to Mehmed, who had promised to allow them to leave unharmed in exchange.

[102] In 1479, an Ottoman army, headed again by Mehmed II, besieged and captured Shkodër,[101][103] reducing Venice's Albanian possessions to only Durazzo, Antivari, and Dulcigno.

[104] In addition, a major revolt in 1492 occurred in southern Albania, mainly in the Labëria region, and Bayazid II was personally involved with crushing the resistance.

Demoralized and severely weakened by hunger and lack of supplies from the year-long siege, the Albanian defenders surrendered to Sultan Mehmed II, who had promised them they could leave unharmed in exchange.

[112][113] According to some sources, when Scutari garrison complained for lack of food and water, Loredan told them "If you are hungry, here is my flesh; if you are thirsty, I give you my blood.

[citation needed] According to some sources the Ottoman sultan had intentions to rebuild Podgorica and Baleč in 1474 and to settle them with 5,000 Turkish families in order to establish an additional obstacle for cooperation of Crnojević's Zeta and besieged Venetian Shkodra.

[121] Ivan Crnojević had important role in the defense of the Shkodra because he provided connection with Kotor and supplied the city through Žabljak or Skadar Lake, fighting simultaneously against strong Ottoman forces.

In addition to Albanians, who composed the bulk of his forces, his followers also included Slavs, Vlachs, and Greeks; during the latter parts of the war he also had at his service Venetian and Neapolitan mercenaries.

[129] Skanderbeg's revolt represented a reaction by sections of local society and feudal lords against the loss of privilege and the exactions of the Ottoman government which they resented.

All earlier and many modern historians accepted Marin Barleti's news about this meeting in Lezhë (without giving it equal weight), although no contemporary Venetian document mentions it.

It is not without tears that you can see the ships that flee from the Albanian leadership themselves in the ports of Italy, those bare miserable families who stretch out their hands to the sky from their own contents of the sea and hear the air with lamentations in an unintelligible language . "

Established in insular villages (which enabled them to maintain their culture until the 20th century), Arbëreshë were, traditionally, soldiers for the Kingdom of Naples and the Republic of Venice, from the Wars of Religion to the Napoleonic invasion.

Румелијски беглербег Сулејман је почео опсаду са око 8.000 људи.У близиниушћа покушали су да затворе реку, као што je 1422. годинечинио и деспотов командант Мазарек.

Три-јадан Грити није смео дозволити да му непријатељ блокирафлоту у рецини Тријадан Грити није могао опседнутом граду дапошаље помоћ којом су били натоварени бродови укотвљенипод Светим СрђомПреко Котора је брдским путевима пребацивао људе и грађу од које би се, кад стигне у Жабљак, изградиле фусте и изненадили Турци на Скадарском језеру.Иван Црнојевић је господарио Скадарским језером уз помоћ три фусте и 15 мањих бродова.

То је било веома значајно, јер велика млетачка флота није могла да се пробија дал.е од Светог Срђамада су им се касније прикључили стратиоти из Грчке као и посаде свих бродова, млетачке снаге ни у једном тренутку нису премашиле 25.000 људи, како су Млечани извештавали своје савезнике in seiner Gefolgschaft fanden sich neben Albanern auch Slawen, Griechen und Vlachen.Представник млетачких власти, и да je хтео, није био у стању да ce одупре одржавању таквог скупа, као што ни неколико месеци доцније није могао да ce супротстави Скендербеговим људима који су no граду лљачкали стоку и одводили жене и децу.Мада ниједан савремени млетачки документ не помиње овај скуп, сви старији и многи новији историчари прихватили су Барлецијеве вести не придајући им, разуме се, исти значај.