Albanian Independence: From the National Awakening to 1912

The National Awakening (Rilindja Kombëtare, "National Rebirth") was the Albanian movement for a language, schools and a state of their own, lasting from the 1830s to 1912. It began with the first primers and with uprisings against Ottoman reforms. It continued through the League of Prizren and the creation of a single alphabet, and it ended with the proclamation of Albanian independence in Vlorë on 28 November 1912.

This is the fourth chapter of our guide to the history of Albania. It covers the years from the Tanzimat to the birth of an independent state.

What was the Albanian National Awakening?

The Awakening spans the years from the 1830s to 1912. Its leaders wanted to free Albanians from Ottoman rule and unite the Albanian lands in a nation state. They also set out to develop the Albanian language and Albanian schools.

The movement followed two paths, which Albanians call "the pen" and "the rifle". The pen meant primers, books, newspapers and schools. The rifle meant armed resistance. The political programme rested on two ideas: autonomy for Albania and the defence of its territorial integrity. The leading figures of the Awakening drew inspiration from the memory of Skanderbeg's era and from the ideas of the French Enlightenment.

The Tanzimat and the uprisings of the 1830s–1840s

In the 19th century the Ottoman Empire tried to modernise. For Albanians, the reforms brought new taxes, conscription and a ban on schools in their own language, and a series of uprisings followed.

Even before the reforms began, in 1830, around 500 Albanian chieftains were killed in an ambush in Monastir. In 1833–1835 two regions rose against the Ottoman changes. In the south the centre of the revolt was Berat, under Tafil Buzi. In the north it was Shkodër, under Hamza Kazazi.

The Tanzimat. The reforms began in 1839. They centralised the administration and introduced compulsory military service (nizam) and new taxes. The empire classified its subjects by religion alone, so Albanians were not recognised as a separate nation and opening Albanian schools was forbidden.

The resistance went on:

• 1843–1844: the uprising of Dervish Cara in Skopje. For a time the rebels freed Gostivar, Tetovo and Skopje.

• June 1847: an assembly in Mesaplik rejected conscription and the new taxes and declared Muslim and Christian Albanians a single people. In the same year an alliance known as the "Albanian National League" was formed in the south under Zenel Gjoleka. Gjoleka and Rapo Hekali led the uprising.

• 1861: Oso Kuka took up the defence of Albanian lands against raids by Montenegrin bands.

The League of Prizren (1878–1881)

The League of Prizren was the defining political event of the Awakening. Founded on 10 June 1878, it aimed to stop lands with an Albanian population being handed to neighbouring states after the Russo-Turkish War. For three years it defended them through diplomacy and arms, until the Ottoman army crushed it.

The trigger was the Treaty of San Stefano of 3 March 1878. It gave Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria lands where Albanians lived, and Bulgaria was even to receive Korça, Pogradec and Bilisht. A Central Committee for the Defence of the Rights of the Albanian Nation had already been set up in Istanbul in December 1877.

Founding and programme

Around 80 delegates attended the founding assembly in Prizren, with Ilyas Pasha Dibra (Qoku) as chairman. The assembly adopted two documents:

• the Kararname (Act of Decisions), signed on 18 June by around 47 chieftains;

• the Talimat (Regulation).

The aim was to defend the Albanian lands "inch by inch" and to secure an autonomous Albanian vilayet.

The League had a General Council with legislative powers and a Central Committee with executive powers, plus around 40 branches across the Albanian lands. Its chief ideologist was Abdyl Frashëri, who headed the southern branch in Gjirokastër.

The Congress of Berlin and the struggle for land

From 13 June to 13 July 1878 the Congress of Berlin revised the Treaty of San Stefano. The League sent the Congress a memorandum demanding a solution to the Albanian question. The German chancellor Bismarck refused to consider it, declaring that "the Albanian nation does not exist". The Congress awarded Montenegro Bar and Podgorica, along with Plav and Gusinje, and gave Serbia Niš, Pirot and Vranje.

In 1879–1880 the League held on to Plav and Gusinje by force of arms. In January 1879 an extraordinary assembly in Preveza resolved not to give up any Albanian land. Abdyl Frashëri and Mehmet Ali Vrioni then led a mission to the Great Powers. Instead of Plav and Gusinje, the powers gave Montenegro Ulcinj. Albanians defended the town, but in November 1880 Ottoman troops put down the resistance and Ulcinj passed to Montenegro.

Provisional government and defeat. In October 1880 the Assembly of Dibra demanded that the Albanian lands be united in an autonomous vilayet. In January 1881 League forces under Sulejman Vokshi took Skopje and Prishtina, and the League proclaimed a Provisional Government headed by Ymer Prizreni. In March Dervish Pasha's Ottoman army marched against it, and on 23 April 1881 the League was crushed. Its work was taken up by the League of Peja, founded in January 1899 under Haxhi Zeka.

"The pen": primers, schools and books

While some fought, others taught. The Awakening produced Albanian primers, an alphabet, the first secular schools and a literature that called for unity. After the League of Prizren the cultural movement became secular, and politics found its way into literature.

Naum Veqilharxhi, born in Vithkuq in 1797, is regarded as the first ideologist of the Awakening. He devised his own 33-letter alphabet and in 1844–1845 published the primer Evetar, the work from which the Awakening is traditionally dated. Veqilharxhi wanted schools that were Albanian in language, secular in content and open to all.

Kostandin Kristoforidhi translated religious texts into both dialects, and in 1867 he published primers in Gheg and Tosk. Koto Hoxhi secretly taught children Albanian and love of their homeland.

The Istanbul Society and the first schools

On 12 October 1879 the Society for the Publication of Albanian Letters was founded in Istanbul. Its members included Sami Frashëri, Jani Vreto, Pashko Vasa and Hasan Tahsini. The Society created the Istanbul alphabet, also known as the Frashëri alphabet: 36 letters on a Latin basis, which remained in use for almost 30 years.

Mësonjëtorja. On 7 March 1887 the first secular Albanian school, Mësonjëtorja, opened in Korça. The Sultan's permission had been granted in 1885, the Bucharest society "Drita" put up the money, and Pandeli Sotiri became the first headmaster. In 1902 Sultan Abdul Hamid II ordered the school closed. Its opening day, 7 March, is celebrated in Albania as Teachers' Day.

In 1889 the teacher Mati Logoreci opened an Albanian school in Prizren. In 1891 the first Albanian school for girls opened in Korça, founded by Gjerasim Qiriazi and his sister Sevasti.

Books of the Awakening

The Frashëri brothers, Abdyl, Naim and Sami, became the central figures of the Awakening. Naim is regarded as the national poet, and the 1899 work is described as the movement's manifesto. Among the Arbëresh of Italy, Jeronim De Rada, Demetrio Camarda and Zef Serembe wrote about the homeland.

The role of the diaspora

Albanians living abroad did a great deal for the Awakening. The main communities were the colonies in Romania, Bulgaria and Egypt and the Arbëresh of Italy, later joined by the diaspora in the United States.

In the late 1890s Faik Konica founded the magazine Albania in Brussels; he later published it in London until 1909. That year he became editor-in-chief of the Boston newspaper Dielli. On 28 April 1912 the Pan-Albanian Federation "Vatra" was founded in the USA, with Fan Noli and Faik Konica as its leading figures.

The Young Turks and the Congress of Monastir

In the early 20th century Albanians pinned their hopes on the Young Turks, a movement for constitutional government in the Ottoman Empire. Its first committee was founded in 1889 and later became known as "Union and Progress". One of its founders was Ibrahim Temo, an Albanian from Struga. From 1906 many Albanians joined in the hope of autonomy.

The slogan "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" promised Albanians schools and culture, and while the Young Turks were on their way to power the promise was partly kept. Its most important result was the Congress of Monastir, which opened on 14 November 1908. It was organised by the "Bashkimi" ("Unity") club, with Mid'hat Frashëri as chairman and Gjergj Fishta at the head of the alphabet commission.

The Congress approved two alphabets: the Istanbul alphabet and the Latin-based "Bashkimi" alphabet. Today's Albanian alphabet descends from the second, and Alphabet Day is celebrated on 22 November. You can read more about the letters and how to pronounce them in our section on the Albanian alphabet.

Once in power, the Young Turks broke their promises. They raised taxes, outlawed Albanian armed bands (çeta) and closed Albanian clubs and schools. They also began pressing for Albanian to be written in Arabic script. They convened the Congress of Dibra (23–29 July 1909) to promote the Arabic alphabet, but the Albanian delegates rejected it. The Congress of Elbasan (2–8 September 1909) decided to open a teacher-training school and to set up a society to oversee schools and textbooks. The Normal School of Elbasan opened in December 1909.

The uprisings of 1910–1912

The Young Turks' broken promises sparked major uprisings. They began in Kosovo in 1910, spread to the northern mountains in 1911, and in 1912 grew into a general uprising that forced Istanbul to back down.

1910. The Kosovo uprising saw two main battles. In the Kaçanik gorge Idriz Seferi held the line with about 3,000 fighters. At Carraleva the fighters were led by Isa Boletini. The Ottoman army was under the command of Shefket Turgut Pasha.

1911. On 24 March the whole of Malësia e Madhe rose up. On 6 April the highlanders under Ded Gjo Luli defeated the Ottomans at Tuzi, and the raising of the flag on Mount Deçiq is linked to this event. On 23 June Ismail Qemali and Luigj Gurakuqi drew up the Greçë Memorandum, known as the "Red Book". It was signed by 22 highland chieftains and handed to representatives of the Great Powers in Cetinje.

1912. The general uprising was led by Hasan Prishtina, Nexhip Draga, Bajram Curri and Riza Bey Gjakova. Bajram Curri raised the mountains of Gjakova, and the revolt spread to Central and Southern Albania and to Dibra. In August 1912 the rebels freed Skopje, and on 9 August they put forward 14 demands, known as the "points of Hasan Prishtina". On 4 September the government accepted all of them except the last. Hasan Prishtina himself (1873–1933) came from Vushtrri. Between 1908 and 1912 he was elected three times to the Ottoman parliament for the Vilayet of Kosovo, where he championed Albanian rights.

28 November 1912: Albanian independence

The First Balkan War broke out on 8 October 1912, and the neighbouring states advanced on the Albanian lands, leaving no time to wait for autonomy. On 28 November 1912 the assembly in Vlorë, chaired by Ismail Qemali, proclaimed Albania's independence.

The war moved fast. The Serbian army took Skopje and reached Tirana, Elbasan and Durrës. The Montenegrin army laid siege to Shkodër, and the Greek army took Janina, Sazan and Himara.

On 14 October an assembly in Skopje informed the Great Powers that Albanians would fight for their lands. Ismail Qemali and Luigj Gurakuqi toured European capitals in search of support. On 21 November Qemali reached Durrës, where the Turkish command had issued a warrant for his arrest, and from there he made his way to Vlorë. Meanwhile Elbasan, Tirana, Durrës, Kavaja, Peqin and Lushnja raised the national flag.

On 28 November 1912 the Assembly of Vlorë proclaimed independence. The declaration was signed by 40 delegates, among them Nikollë Kaçorri and Luigj Gurakuqi, and the same day the government notified the chancelleries of the Great Powers. On 4 December a Provisional Government was formed under Ismail Qemali, together with a Council of Elders (Senate) to assist and oversee it. Albania was the last Balkan country to free itself from Ottoman rule.

Recognition

The London Conference of Ambassadors recognised Albania de facto on 17 December 1912. On 29 July 1913 it ruled in favour of Albania's full independence: the country was to be a neutral state, guaranteed by the Great Powers and headed by a European prince.

Ismail Qemali was born in Vlorë in 1844. He served as the first prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, resigned on 22 January 1914 and died in Perugia in 1919.

Next: Albania in 1912–1939. Previous: Skanderbeg and Ottoman Albania.