Balkans Campaign

The Balkans Campaign was the Italian and German invasion of the Yugoslavia and Greece during the Second World War.

Background

Albania's territorial integrity was confirmed at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, after U.S President Woodrow Wilson dismissed a plan by the European powers to divide Albania amongst its neighbors.

With the complete collapse of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires after World War I, the Albanians looked to Italy for protection against predators. After 1925, however, Benito Mussolini sought to dominate Albania. In 1928 Albania became a kingdom under Zog I, the conservative Muslim clan chief and former prime minister.

Zog failed to stave off Italian ascendancy in Albanian internal affairs. In April 1939 Mussolini's troops occupied Albania, overthrew Zog, and annexed the country.