Entente: Serbia Montenegro France United Kingdom Greece Italy Senate of Central Albania (until 1916) Albanian Muslim rebels (until 14 November 1914) Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Albanian volunteers and irregulars Principality of Albania (1914) Albanian Muslim rebels (after 14 November 1914) Radomir Putnik Maurice Sarrail Georgios Kosmas Settimio Piacentini Essad Toptani (until 1916) Haxhi Qamili (until 14 November 1914) Hermann Kövess von Kövessháza August von Mackensen Georgi Todorov Ahmet Zog Wilhelm of Wied (until 1914) Prenk Bib Doda Haxhi Qamili (after 14 November 1914) Isa Boletini † Serbian campaign (1914) Serbian campaign (1915) Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian occupation Albania Greece (National Schism) Macedonian front In World War I, Albania had been an independent state, having gained independence from the Ottoman Empire on 28 November 1912, during the First Balkan War.

In 1915 Serbia was overrun by combined German, Austro-Hungarian, and Bulgarian forces; the Serbian army retreated across the mountain passes of northern Albania, towards the Adriatic.

According to its terms, Northern Epirus would acquire complete autonomous existence (as a corpus separatum) under the nominal Albanian sovereignty of Prince William.

[4] On 7 March, one month after accepting the throne, King William arrived in his provisional capital of Durrës and started to organise his government, appointing Turhan Pasha Përmeti to form the first Albanian cabinet.

[5] This first cabinet was dominated by members of the nobility (Essad Pasha Toptani, defence and foreign affairs, George Adamidi bey Frachery, finances, and Aziz pacha Vrioni, agriculture).

Immediately following his arrival Muslim unrest broke out in central Albania, influenced by Ottoman propaganda which portrayed the new regime as a tool of the Christian powers and the large landowners.

[16] Dutch officers led by Lodewijk Thomson who were stationed in Albania as part of the ICC ultimately decided to have Toptani arrested,[12] despite Wilhelm remaining indecisive on the matter.

The outbreak of World War I presented more problems for Prince William as Austria-Hungary demanded that he send Albanian soldiers to fight alongside them.

Inside the city, the victorious rebels hoisted the Ottoman flag, began imprisoning supporters of Wilhelm, and declared that they would seek to install a Muslim prince.

[20][21] Prince Şehzade Mehmed Burhaneddin, a son of the former Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II, was invited to take up this position,[22][23] but this proposal never materialized.

[24] The Senate apparently dropped its plans for a "Muslim prince" and invited Essad Toptani to return to Albania and take over as leader.

[26][23] Toptani was aware that the vast majority of the population governed by the Senate of Central Albania remained pro-Ottoman (the Ottoman Empire was neutral at this point in the war).

[29] These events worried Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos, as well as the possibility that the unstable situation could spill over outside Albania, triggering a wider conflict.

[32] In December Italy reiterated that Albania would remain neutral as stated at the London Conference and that Italian bluejackets were landed at Valona with this objective.

[34] These rebels were extremely anti-Serbian and influenced by Ottoman propaganda which branded Toptani as a traitor to Islam and called for the reconquest of Kosovo from Serbia.

[37] Serbia finally ordered preparations for an intervention in support of the Senate to be made in December 1914, but this was delayed significantly by the concerns of fellow Entente member Russia that operations in Albania might distract from the Austro-Hungarian front and appear to challenge the Italian interests in the country.

[35] The Serbian intervention was strongly opposed by Italy and other Entente members, but Serbia stated that these were temporary actions and that its troops would withdraw from Albania as soon as Toptani's rule over the country was consolidated.

After attacks from both Bulgaria and Austria, Serbian army leader Marshal Putnik ordered a full retreat, south and west through Montenegro and into Albania.

Many of the fleeing soldiers and civilians did not make it to the coast, though – they were lost to hunger, disease, attacks by enemy forces and Albanian tribal bands.

[44] The circumstances of the retreat were disastrous, and all told, only some 155,000 Serbs, mostly soldiers, reached the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and embarked on Italian transport ships that carried the army to various Greek islands (many to Corfu) before being sent to Salonika.

[46] In September 1917 the French troops commanded by general Maurice Sarrail undertook an action against the armies of Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria in Albania.

Although the armies of Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary were joined by Albanians, led by Hysejn Nikolica,[46] French troops captured Pogradec, ending the Bulgarian occupation of Albania.

The Italian (in Gjirokastër) and French forces (in Korçë), according mainly to the development of the Balkan Front, entered the area of former Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus (controlled by the Greek minority) in autumn 1916, after approval of the Triple Entente.

On December 12, 1916, Italy asked for explanations from the Quai d'Orsay, through its ambassador, because the establishment of the Autonomous Albanian Republic of Korçë violated the Treaty of London.

[52] In autumn 1918, the Italians expanded their Protectorate (without adding anything officially to Albania) to areas of northern Greece (around Kastoria) and western Macedonia (around Bitola), conquered from the Bulgarians and Ottomans.

Under the secret Treaty of London signed in April 1915, Triple Entente powers promised Italy that it would gain Vlorë (Valona) and nearby lands and a protectorate over Albania in exchange for entering the war against Austria-Hungary.

[55] There were series of massacres carried out in the regions of Podgor, Rozaj, Gjakova, Rugova, and Gusinje and Plav with the goal of suppressing the local resistance movement.

Instability in the country came to an end when the Parliament abolished the Principality of Albania and proclaimed the Republic, vesting dictatorial powers into the new President Ahmet Zogu.