[6] In the late Ottoman period, with a local weakening of Islam, the Albanian nationalist movement gained the strong support of the two Adriatic sea powers of Austria-Hungary and Italy, which were concerned about pan-Slavism in the wider Balkans and also Anglo-French hegemony, purportedly represented in the area through Greece.

[8] At the outbreak of the war, Italy seized the chance to occupy the southern half of Albania, to avoid it being captured by the Austro-Hungarians.

That success did not last long, as Albanian resistance during the subsequent Vlora War and post-war domestic problems forced Italy to pull out in 1920.

[dubious – discuss][15] As Nazi Germany annexed Austria and moved against Czechoslovakia, Italy noticed that it was becoming the lesser member of the Pact of Steel.

[dubious – discuss][16] Meanwhile, the imminent birth of an Albanian royal child threatened to give Zog the opportunity to establish a lasting dynasty.

After Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia (March 15, 1939) without notifying Mussolini in advance, the Italian dictator decided to proceed with his annexation of Albania.

[citation needed] Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III criticized Mussolini's plan to annex Albania by stating that it was an extremely unnecessary risk for an almost negligible gain.

[citation needed] While Radio Tirana persistently broadcast claims in which it stated that nothing was happening, people became suspicious; and the news of the Italian ultimatum was spread by unofficial sources.

The people were infuriated by this demonstration of force and they called for the government to resist the Italian occupation and release all of the Albanians who were previously arrested on the suspicion that they were "communists".

[2] On April 7, Mussolini's troops, led by General Alfredo Guzzoni, invaded Albania, simultaneously attacking all Albanian ports.

King Zog, his wife, Queen Geraldine Apponyi, and their infant son Leka fled to Greece the same day, taking with them part of the gold reserves of the Albanian central bank.

Vërlaci served as interim head of state for five days until Victor Emmanuel III formally accepted the Albanian crown in a ceremony at the Quirinale palace in Rome.

As Filippo Anfuso, Count Ciano's chief assistant sarcastically commented "...if only the Albanians had possessed a well-armed fire-brigade, they could have driven us into the Adriatic".

Albania served as the base for the Italian invasion of Greece in October 1940, and Albanian troops participated in the Greek campaign, but they massively deserted the front line.

The country's southern areas (including the cities of Gjirokastër and Korçë) were temporarily occupied by the Greek army during that campaign.

Part of the western coast of Epirus which was called Chameria was not annexed, instead, it was put under the rule of an Albanian High Commissioner who exercised nominal control of it.

When Italy left the Axis powers in September 1943, German troops immediately occupied Albania after a short campaign, with relatively strong resistance.

By October 1944, the Germans had withdrawn from the southern Balkans in response to military defeats which they had suffered at the hands of the Red Army, the collapse of Romania and the imminent fall of Bulgaria.

[34] The events which surrounded the Italian annexation of Albania formed part of the inspiration for the eighth volume of The Adventures of Tintin comics titled King Ottokar's Sceptre, with a plot based on a fictional Balkan country Syldavia and uneasy tensions with its larger neighbour Borduria.

[35] The author of the Tintin comics Hergé also insisted that his editor publish the work to take advantage of current events in 1939 as he felt "Syldavia is Albania".