Albania Invaded — King Zog

For years, the Albania of King Zog I has lived under the growing economic and military tutelage of Fascist Italy, which financed his regime. In the spring of 1939, Mussolini, jealous of Hitler's successes and eager for a triumph of his own, demands an outright protectorate: military presence, colonisation, total control.

Zog plays for time and brushes aside the agreements put to him in exchange for complete Italian control. But his means are derisory: the Albanian army numbers only a few thousand ill-equipped men, and no outside help is forthcoming.

On 7 April 1939 — a Good Friday — Italy lands its troops. Zog, whose wife gave birth just 3 days earlier, must decide within hours. The fate of the dynasty, of the state's reserves and of Albanian independence is decided on the very day of the landing. Attempt a desperate resistance with a tiny army, in the name of national honour? Accept the Italian protectorate to keep a vassal throne? Or leave the country to preserve his family and, perhaps, a legitimacy in exile?