This essay analyses the way in which the Italian occupation of Albania was conducted between
1939 and 1943 and the consequent generation of several Resistance groups which made
the Italian control of the State more and more unstable, until the tragic conclusion of the 8th
September 1943.
The union between Italy and Albania was only formally equal, but in fact Albania was
subordinate to the Italian political and economical interests of Fascism. This element helped to
cool any enthusiasm which eventually aroused when the Royal Army landed in Durres.
At the beginning of the Albanian occupation it sufficed to Italy to employ the same means used at
home to keep dissent under control (imprisonment, confinement, epuration), but when the Italy-
Greece conflict cast a shadow on the Fascist fighting ability and the military fortunes of the
Axis turned for the worse, the several Resistance groups which had spread in Albania became
stronger, thus forcing the occupant to recur to a massive use of violence. The entire country was
ultimately declared zone of military operations. This marked the failure of the Italian attempt to
pacifically export Fascism.
