The Italian invasion of Albania was a short campaign in which Benito Mussolini's Kingdom of Italy occupied the Balkan country. Italy had long dominated Albania economically and militarily, but Mussolini, seeking to match Hitler's recent conquests, decided to take it outright. Italian forces landed at Durres and other ports, and the small Albanian army offered limited resistance. King Zog fled the country with his family, and the Albanian parliament offered the crown to King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, creating a personal union. Albania then served as a base for the Italian attack on Greece in 1940, and it remained under Italian and, from 1943, German control until the end of the war.
Before and after
- 25 January 1939Establishment of Badlands National Park
- 28 January 1939Death of William Butler Yeats
- from April 1939 to May 1945Adriatic Campaign of World War II
- 7 April 1939Birth of Francis Ford Coppola
- from 7 April 1939 to 12 April 1939Italian invasion of Albania
- 13 April 1939Birth of Seamus Heaney
- 14 April 1939Publication of The Grapes of Wrath
- 19 April 1939Birth of Ali Khamenei
- from 11 May 1939 to 16 September 1939Battles of Khalkhin Gol
More in Wars, politics & history
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- 1944Golden Globes
The era
This moment belongs to the Modern era (1914 CE to 1945 CE), world wars and a changing world. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.