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| clans =
| headquarters =
| area = [[Albania]] [[Kosovo]] parts of [[North Macedonia]] [[Chameria]] and parts of [[Montenegro]]
| partof = [[Italian protectorate of Albania (1939–1943)]] and [[German occupation of Albania|Albanian kindom (1943-44)]]
| predecessor =
| successor = [["Free Albania" National Committee]]
| dissolved = 1945
| allies = {{nowrap|{{flagicon image|Flag of Albanian National Liberation Movement.svg}} [[National Liberation Movement (Albania)|Albanian Partisans]] (1942–1943)}}<br />{{flagcountry|Fascist Italy (1922-1943)|Italy}} <small>(varied)</small><br /> {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany|Nazi Germany}} (1944)
| opponents = {{flagcountry|Fascist Italy (1922-1943)|Italy}} <small>(1942–1943varied)</small><br />{{flagicon image|Flag of Albanian National Liberation Movement.svg}} [[National Liberation Movement (Albania)|Albanian Partisans]] (1943–1945)<br />{{flagicon|Yugoslav Partisans}} [[Yugoslav Partisans]]<br />{{flagicon|Greece|old}} [[National Republican Greek League|EDES]]/[[National Liberation Front (Greece)|EAM]]<br />{{flagicon|Chetniks}} [[Chetniks]]
| battles = {{tree list}}
*[[World War II in Yugoslavia]]
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**[[Battle of Tirana and Kruja (1943)]]
**[[Liberation of Tepelena]]
**[[German winter offensive in Albania (1943-1944)]]
**[[Albanian Civil War (1943-1944)]]
**[[German invasion of Albania]]
*[[World War II in Greece]]
**[[Battle of Menina]]
**[[Italian Spring Offensive]]
**[[North Epirote Insurgency In South Albania]]
{{tree list/end}}
| status =
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The '''Balli Kombëtar''' (literally ''National Front'') was an [[Albanian nationalist]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Rashke|first=Richard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-0hsC2iFq8C|title=Useful Enemies: America's Open-Door Policy for Nazi War Criminals|date=2013-01-22|publisher=Open Road Media|isbn=978-1-4804-0159-4|pages=214|language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Fischer|1999|p=274}}<ref name="Isakovic 114">{{Cite book|last=Isakovic|first=Zlatko|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4qiaDwAAQBAJ|title=Identity and Security in Former Yugoslavia|date=2019-05-24|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-351-73349-6|pages=114|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ebkAAAAMAAJ&q=Ali+K%C3%ABlcyra|title=European Resistance Movements, 1939-1945|date=1964|publisher=Pergamon Press|language=fr}}</ref> [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborationist]],<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Simpson|first=Christopher|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R3qdAwAAQBAJ|title=Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis and Its Destructive Impact on Our Domestic and Foreign Policy|date=2014-06-10|publisher=Open Road Media|isbn=978-1-4976-2306-4|pages=83|language=en}}</ref> and [[anti-communist]] resistance movement during the [[Second World War]].<ref>Ermenji, A. and Frashëri, M. (1944), 'Manifest i Ballit Kombëtar', Mid'hat Frashëri: Vepra të zgjedhura, Vol.1, pp.597-609. [as cited in the National Archives, War Office 204/13036].</ref><ref>Frashëri, M. (1944), 'Shpifni, shpifni, se diçka do të mbetet!: Komunizmi s'ka asnje ndryshim nga fashizmi', Mid'hat Frashëri: Vepra të zgjedhura, Vol.1, pp.597-609.</ref><ref>Frashëri, M. (1945), 'Balli Kombëtar i keqkuptuar dhe i keqinterpretuar' , Mid'hat Frashëri: Vepra të zgjedhura, Vol.1, pp.615-621.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Frashëri|first=Gjergj|title=Tiranë|date=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|series=Oxford Art Online|doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t085195 |isbn=978-1-884446-05-4 |url=https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000085195}}</ref> It was led by [[Ali Këlcyra]] and by [[Mid'hat Frashëri|Midhat Frashëri]].<ref name=Jelavich>{{cite book|last=Jelavich|first=Barbara|title=History of the Balkans, Vol. 2: Twentieth Century|year=1983|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-27459-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofbalkans0000jela/page/274 274]|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbalkans0000jela/page/274}}</ref> The movement was formed by members from the landowning elite, liberal nationalists opposed to [[communism]], and other sectors of society in Albania.<ref name="Fischer115116260">{{harvnb|Fischer|1999|pp=115–116, 260}}.</ref><ref name="Ramet141142">{{harvnb|Ramet|2006|pp=141–142}}.</ref><ref name="Rossos185186">{{harvnb|Rossos|2013|pp=185–186}}.</ref>
 
The [[motto]] of the Balli Kombëtar was: ''{{lang|sq|Shqipëria Shqiptarëve, Vdekje Tradhëtarëve}}'' (Albania to the Albanians, Death to the Traitors).{{sfn|Pearson|2006|p=272}} Eventually, the Balli Kombëtar joined the [[Nazi Germany]]-established [[puppet government]] as part of the [[German occupation of Albania]] and fought as an ally against communist guerrilla groups.<ref>Agnes Mangerich, Albanian escape, 2010, 6</ref><ref>Bideleux, Robert & Jeffries Ian, The Balkans – A post – communist History, 2007, 525</ref> The Balli Kombëtar engaged in significant acts of terror culminating in atrocities committed against Serb and Greek civilians.<ref name=MasonKing>{{sfncite book |last1=King |first1=Iain |last2=Mason |first2=Whit |date= 2006 |title= Peace at Any Price : How the World Failed Kosovo |trans-title= |url-status= |url-access= |format= |language= English |location=Cornell |publisher= Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 2011|isbn= 978 0 8014 4539 2|url=https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Peace_at_Any_Price/6futDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Peace+at+Any+Price:+How+the+World+Failed+Kosovo&printsec=frontcover |via= |pquote=32 ''In Early 1944, a Kosovar contingent of the Albanian nationalist Balli Kombetar as well as Nazis' hastily formed Skanderbeg SS Division had conducted a reign of terror against any Serbs they found in Kosovo and Montenegro, forcing another 10,000 to flee''.}}</ref>{{sfn|Jankowski|2014}}{{Page needed|date=December 2022}}{{sfn|Johnstone|2002|page=188}}{{Better source needed|date=December 2022}}{{sfn|Mangerich|2010|p=6}}
 
==History==
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==Ideology==
Midhat Frashëri believed that Albanian provinces under the Ottoman Empire were [[Partition of Albania|unfairly partitioned during [[World War I]] amongst Yugoslavia and Greece.<ref>{{cite web|title=Balli Kombëtar: The Ten-Point Programme |author=Robert Elsie |url=http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1915_2.html |access-date=17 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717004908/http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1915_2.html |archive-date=17 July 2011}}</ref> After [[World War II]], Midhat Frashëri began advocating for a [[Greater Albania]]. When Midhat Frashëri formed the Balli Kombëtar, it was based on his nationalist ideas and the old ideologies of his father [[Abdyl Frashëri]], [[Ymer Prizreni]] and [[IsaPashko Vasa]], and the natural progression of the [[Albanian BoletiniVilayet]]. The works of [[Franz Nopcsa]], [[Johann Georg von Hahn]] and [[Milan Šufflay]], helped strengthen the nationalists' cause.<ref>{{cite web|title=Milan von Šufflay: Mediaeval Albania|author=Robert Elsie|url=http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1912_4.html|access-date=16 June 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811035740/http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1912_4.html|archive-date=11 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Baron Franz Nopcsa|author=Robert Elsie|url=http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1913_9.html|access-date=16 June 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111029002602/http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1913_9.html|archive-date=29 October 2011}}</ref> The Balli Kombëtar believed that Albanians were "Aryans of Illyrian heritage".<ref name="Cyprian Blamires">{{cite book|author=Cyprian Blamires|title=World Fascism: A-K|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nvD2rZSVau4C&pg=PA31|year=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-940-9|pages=31–32}}</ref> This helped gaining support by the Nazis.<ref name="Cyprian Blamires"/> The party had also a strong [[Agrarian socialism|agrarian socialist]] wing, which gained the leadership of the party after the war with its leader [[Abas Ermenji|Abaz Ermenji]], and also Zef Pali, Halil Maçi and [[Vasil Andoni]].<ref name="sot.com.al">{{Cite web|url=https://sot.com.al/dossier-politike/cia-zbardh-p%C3%ABr%C3%A7arjet-brenda-ballit-komb%C3%ABtar-hasan-dosti-ishte-njeri-i-d%C3%ABshtuar-p%C3%ABr|title=CIA zbardh përçarjet brenda Ballit Kombëtar, Hasan Dosti ishte njeri i dështuar për amerikanët, ja përplasjet mes konservatorëve dhe socialistëve, roli i dyshimtë i Ali Këlcyrës dhe lëvizjet e Abaz Kupit|date=5 July 2016|website=Agjencia e Lajmeve SOT NEWS|language=en}}</ref>
 
The original objectives of Balli Kombëtar were set out in 1942 in the following ten-point program, also known as the "Decalogue":<ref>{{cite web|title=Mid'hat bey Frashëri:The Epirus Question – the Martyrdom of a People |author=Robert Elsie |url=http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1942.html |access-date=16 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723010338/http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1942.html |archive-date=23 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
{{cquote|The ''Decalogue'' states:<ref>{{cite web|title=Balli Kombëtar: The Ten-Point Programme |author=Robert Elsie |url=http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1942.html |access-date=17 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723010338/http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1942.html |archive-date=23 July 2011}}</ref>