Who are the Albanians?
Like Greece, Albania is a modern nation. Albania was created by Austro-Hungary, Britain, France and Italy and became a nation for the first time in 1912 (December London Conference). Before that, Albania was occupied by the Ottoman Empire and would have fallen victim to Serbia and Greece had it not been for Western power intervention. She too would have suffered the same fate as Macedonia had it not been for Austro-Hungary’s desire to keep Russia away from the Adriatic waters. Serbia, a Russian ally wanted parts of Albania for herself so she could have access to the Adriatic. None of the Western superpowers, however, wanted Russia to have access to the Mediterranean Sea. So to block Russia out, the Western superpowers created a “Western Protectorate” along the Adriatic coast and named her Albania. The name is a modern term without historical significance. Like the Greeks who wanted to be called Helene, the Albanians wanted to be called Illyrians, after the ancient Illyrians who two mil
