Ο Ζώγου Α’ στην πραγματικότητα ήταν ευφυής και πολύ ενεργητικός πλην όμως στερούνταν απελπιστικά στοιχείων διπλωματίας και είχε άγνοια των διεθνών τότε παρασκηνίων, διαπράττοντας αλλεπάλληλα σφάλματα, πιστεύοντας τον κάθε ξένο διπλωμάτη σε ό,τι του έλεγε, που σαφώς εξυπηρετούσε πρώτον τα συμφέροντα της δικής του χώρας, προκειμένου να πετύχει την ανεξαρτησία της χώρας του.
Απομακρύνθηκε των γειτονικών του Βασιλείων θεωρώντας τα όλα εχθρικά. Δεν προώθησε το χέρι φιλίας που πρόσφερε στη χώρα του η Ελλάδα. Αντίθετα θεώρησε φρόνιμο να συνδεθεί στο φασιστικό άρμα της Ιταλίας πιστεύοντας απόλυτα στις ιταλικές μεγαλοστομίες και υποσχέσεις συνομολογώντας μια σειρά αλλεπάλληλων συμφωνιών οικονομικής, στρατιωτικής, ακόμη και πολιτικής φύσεως με τις οποίες κυριολεκτικά αφενός υποδούλωσε τη χώρα του στην Ιταλία, αφετέρου έθεταν σε κίνδυνο της ασφάλεια της ευρύτερης βαλκανικής.
Αγγλική Μετάφραση wikipedia....σαφώς με περισσότερα στοιχεία...
[edit]Background and early political career
Zog was born
Ahmet Muhtar[3] Bej Zogolli in
Burgajet Castle, near
Burrel in the
Ottoman Empire,
[4] second son to
Xhemal Pasha Zogolli, and first son by his second wife
Sadijé Toptani in 1895. His family was a
beylik family of
landowners, with feudal authority over the region of
Mati. His mother's Toptani family claimed to be descended from the sister of Albania's greatest national hero, the 15th-century general
Skanderbeg. He was educated at
Lycée Impérial de Galatasarayin
Constantinople,
[2] then the seat of the decaying
Ottoman Empire, which controlled Albania. Upon his father's death in about 1908, Zogolli became governor of Mat, being appointed ahead of his elder brother,
Xhelal Bey Zogolli.
In 1912, he signed the
Albanian Declaration of Independence as the representative of the Mat District. As a young man during the First World War, Zogolli volunteered on the side of
Austria-Hungary. He was detained at
Vienna in 1917 and 1918 and in Rome in 1918 and 1919 before returning to Albania in 1919. During his time in Vienna, he grew to enjoy a Western European lifestyle. Upon his return, Zogolli became involved in the political life of the fledgling Albanian government that had been created in the wake of the First World War. His political supporters included many southern feudal landowners (called
beys, Turkish for "province chieftain", the social group to which he belonged) and noble families in the north, along with merchants, industrialists, and intellectuals. During the early 1920s, Zogolli served as Governor of
Shkodër (1920–1921), Minister of the Interior (March–November 1920, 1921–1924), and chief of the Albanian military (1921–1922). His primary rivals were
Luigj Gurakuqi and
Fan S. Noli. In 1922, Zogolli formally changed his surname from the turkified Zogolli to
Zogu, which in the
Albanian language means "bird".
[citation needed][edit]President of Albania
Zogu was officially elected as the first
President of Albania by the Constituent Assembly on 21 January 1925, taking office on 1 February for a seven-year term. Zogu's government followed the European model, though large parts of Albania still maintained a social structure unchanged from the days of Ottoman rule, and most villages were serf plantations run by the Beys. On 28 June 1925, Zogu ceded
Sveti Naumto
Yugoslavia as a gesture of recognition to the Yugoslav aid to him.
[5]Zogu enacted several major reforms. Zogu's principal ally during this period was Italy, which lent his government funds in exchange for a greater role in Albania's fiscal policy. During Zogu's presidency, serfdom was gradually eliminated. For the first time since the death of
Skanderbeg, Albania began to emerge as a nation, rather than a feudal patchwork of local Beyliks. His administration was marred by disputes with Kosovar leaders, primarily
Hasan Prishtina and
Bajram Curri.
[edit]Albanian King
On 1 September 1928 General Zogu was crowned
King of the Albanians(
Mbret i Shqiptarëve in
Albanian), and declared
Field Marshal of the
Royal Albanian Army on the same day. He proclaimed a
constitutional monarchysimilar to the contemporary regime in Italy, created a strong police force, and instituted the
Zogist salute (flat hand over the heart with palm facing downwards). He claimed to be a successor of
Skanderbeg, through descent through Skanderbeg's sister. Zog hoarded gold coins and precious stones, which were used to back Albania's first
paper currency.
Zog's mother, Sadije, was declared Queen Mother of Albania, and Zog also gave his brother and sisters Royal status as Prince and Princesses Zogu. One of his sisters, Senije, Princess Zogu (c1897–1969), married His Imperial Highness Prince Shehzade Mehmed Abid Efendi of Turkey, a son of Sultan
Abdul Hamid II.
Zog attempted to reinforce his regime's legitimacy further by ruling as a
constitutional monarch. His kingdom's constitution forbade any Prince of the Royal House from serving as Prime Minister or a member of the Cabinet and contained provisions for the potential extinction of the Royal Family. Ironically, in light of later events, the constitution also forbade the union of the Albanian throne with that of any other country. Under the Zogist constitution, the King of the Albanians, like the
King of the Belgians, exercised Royal powers only after taking an oath before Parliament; Zog himself swore an oath on the Bible and the
Qur'an (the king being Muslim) in an attempt to unify the country. In 1929, King Zog abolished
Islamic law in Albania, adopting in its place a
civil code based on the
Swiss one, as
Ataturk's Turkey had done in the same decade.
[6][edit]Life as King
Although born as an
aristocrat and hereditary
Bey, King Zog was somewhat ignored by other monarchs in Europe because he had no links to the well-known European royal families. Nonetheless, he did have strong connections with Muslim
royal families in the
Arab World, particularly Egypt, whose
ruling dynastyhad Albanian origins. As King, he was honoured by the governments of Italy, Luxembourg, Egypt,
Yugoslavia, France, Romania, Greece, Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland,
Czechoslovakia, and Austria.
[2]King Zog of Albania was a heavy smoker. He had been engaged to the daughter of
Shefqet Bey Verlaci before he became king. Soon after his coronation, however, he broke off the engagement. According to traditional customs of
blood vengeance prevalent in Albania at the time, Verlaci had the right to kill Zog. The king frequently surrounded himself with a personal guard and avoided public appearances. He also feared that he might be poisoned, so the Mother of the King assumed supervision of the Royal Kitchen.
[7] During his reign he reputedly survived more than 55 assassination attempts. One of these occurred on 21 February 1931, while visiting the
Vienna State Opera house for a performance of
Pagliacci.
[7] The
attackers struck whilst Zog was getting into his car, and he survived by firing back with a pistol that he always carried. In April 1938 Zog married
Countess Geraldine Apponyi de Nagy-Apponyi, a Roman Catholic
aristocrat who was half-
Hungarian and half-American. The ceremony was broadcast throughout Tirana via Radio Tirana that will be officially launched by the monarchs 5 months later. Their only child, HRH
Crown Prince Leka, was born in Albania on 5 April 1939.
[edit]Relations with Italy
President Zogu's speech for
KF Tirana, football champions of Albania, 1930
The fascist government of
Benito Mussolini's Italy had supported Zog since early in his presidency; that support had led to increased Italian influence in Albanian affairs. The Italians compelled Zog to refuse to renew the
First Treaty of Tirana (1926), although Zog still retained British officers in the
Gendarmerie as a counterbalance against the Italians, who had pressured Zog to remove them.
During the
worldwide depression of the early 1930s Zog's government became almost completely dependent on Mussolini, to the point that the
Albanian national bank had its seat in Rome. Grain had to be imported, many Albanians emigrated, and Italian settlers were allowed to settle in Albania. In 1932 and 1933, Albania was unable to pay the interest on its loans from the Society for the Economic Development of Albania, and the Italians used this as a pretext for further dominance. They demanded that Tirana put Italians in charge of the Gendarmerie, join Italy in a customs union, and grant the Italian Kingdom control of Albania's sugar, telegraph, and electrical monopolies. Finally, Italy called for the Albanian government to establish teaching of the
Italian language in all Albanian schools, a demand that was swiftly refused by Zog. In defiance of Italian demands, he ordered the national budget to be slashed by 30 percent, dismissed all Italian military advisers, and nationalized Italian-run Roman Catholic schools in the north of Albania to decrease Italian influence on the population of Albania. In 1934, he tried without success to build ties with France, Germany, and the Balkan states, and Albania drifted back into the Italian orbit.
[citation needed]Two days after the birth of his son and heir, on 7 April 1939 (
Good Friday), Mussolini's Italy invaded, facing no significant resistance. The Albanian army was ill-equipped to resist, as it was almost entirely dominated by Italian advisors and officers and was no match for the Italian Army. The Italians were, however, resisted by small elements in the gendarmerie and general population. The Royal Family, realising correctly that their lives were in danger, fled into exile. "Oh God, it was so short" were King Zog's last words to Geraldine on Albanian soil.
Count Ciano, the Italian Foreign Minister, arrived the following day; on searching the Palace in Tirana, he found the labour room in the Queen's suite; seeing a pile of linen on the floor, stained by the afterbirth, he kicked it across the room. "The cub has escaped!" he said. Mussolini declared Albania a
protectorate under Italy's King
Victor Emmanuel III. While some Albanians continued to resist, "a large part of the population ... welcomed the Italians with cheers", according to one contemporary account.
[8][edit]Former crown prince
Prior to the birth of Prince Leka, the position of Heir Presumptive was held by Prince of Kosova (
Kosovo)
Tati Esad Murad Kryziu, born 24 December 1923 in Tirana, who was the son of the King's sister, Princess Nafije. He became honorary General of the Royal Albanian Army in 1928, at age five. He was made Heir Presumptive with the style of His Highness and title of "Prince of Kosova" (
Princ i Kosovës) in 1931. After the Royal House's exile, he moved to France, where he died in August 1993, aged 69.
[edit]Life in exile
The grave of Zog I at the Thiais cemetery near Paris
The royal family settled in England, first at The
Ritz in London, followed by a brief stay in the Sunninghill/south Ascot area in
Berkshire in 1941 (near where Zog's nieces had been at school in Ascot). In 1941 they moved to Parmoor House,
Parmoor, near
Frieth in Buckinghamshire with some staff of the court living in locations around Lane End.
[9]In 1946, King Zog and most of his family left England and went to live in
Egypt at the behest of
King Farouk, who was
overthrown in 1952. The family left for France in 1955. In 1951, Zog bought the
Knollwood estate in
Muttontown, New York. The sixty-room estate was never occupied and Zog sold the estate in 1955.
He made his final home in France, where he died at the Hôpital Foch,
Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine
[2] on 9 April 1961, aged 65, after being seriously ill for some time. He was survived by his wife and son, and is buried at the
Thiais Cemetery in Paris. On his death, his son Leka was pronounced H.M. King Leka of the Albanians by the exiled Albanian community.
His widow, Queen Geraldine, died of natural causes in 2002 at the age of 87 in a military hospital in
Tirana, Albania. Albania's communist rulers abolished the monarchy in 1946, but, even in exile, the royal family insisted that Leka Zogu was Albania's legitimate ruler until his death on 30 November 2011.
[edit]Political legacy
During
World War II, there were three resistance groups operating in Albania: the nationalists, the royalists and the communists. Some of the Albanian establishment opted for collaboration. The communist partisans refused to co-operate with the other resistance groups and took control of the country. They were able to defeat the last Nazi remnants as the war ended, with the help of British arms and aid.
[citation needed]Zog attempted to reclaim his throne after the war. Sponsored by the British and Americans, some forces loyal to Zog attempted to mount
invasions and incursions, but most were ambushed due to intelligence sent to the Soviet Union by spy
Kim Philby - Albania now had a Communist government led by
Enver Hoxha, who remained in power for 45 years. A referendum in 1997 proposed to restore the monarchy in the person of Zog's son
Leka Zogu who, since 1961, has been styled "Leka I, King of the Albanians". The official but disputed results stated that about two-thirds of voters favoured a continued republican government. HM King Leka, believing the result to be fraudulent, attempted an armed uprising: he was unsuccessful and was forced into exile, although he later returned and lived in Tirana until his death on 30th November 2011. A main street in Tirana was later renamed "
Boulevard Zog I" by the Albanian government.
[edit]Honours and awards
National honours
[edit]Ancestry
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]Bibliography
- Fischer, Bernd. King Zog and the Struggle for Stability in Albania, (East European Monographs, Boulder, 1984)
- Pearson, O.S. Albania and King Zog I.B. Tauris. 2005 (ISBN 1-84511-013-7).
- Robyns, Gwen. Geraldine of the Albanians (ISBN 0-584-11133-9)
- Tomes, Jason. King Zog, Self-Made Monarch of Albania, 2003 (ISBN 0-7509-3077-2)
- Rees, Neil. A Royal Exile – King Zog & Queen Geraldine of Albania including their wartime exile in the Thames Valley and Chilterns, 2010 (ISBN 978-0-9550883-1-5)
- Patrice Najbor. "La dynastie des Zogu", 2002
- Patrice Najbor. "Histoire de l'Albanie et de sa Maison Royale 1443-2007", 2008 (ISBN 978-2-9532382-1-1)
[edit]Further reading
- Bobev, Bobi. “The Dictatorship of Ahmed Zogou.” Etudes Balkaniques 29, no. 2 (1993): 16-33.
- Fischer, Bernd J. “Albanian Highland Tribal Society and Family Structure in the Process of Twentieth Century Transformation.”East European Quarterly 33, no. 3 (1999): 281-301.
- Tomes, Jason. ”The Throne of Zog.” History Today 51, no. 9 (2001): 45-51.
- Patrice Najbor. " Les réalisations du roi Zog", "Monarkia Shqiptare 1928-1939", 2011, (ISBN 978-99943-1-721-9)
[edit]External links
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