Italian campaign in Albania (World War I)

The Italian Campaign of Albania (in Italian: Campagna Italiana di Albania), took place between 1916 and 1918 in the territory of Albania, as part of the wider events of the Balkans theatre of World War I.

At the outbreak of the war, Albania, which had been independent for less than two years, was in a state of deep internal crisis, with the weak government of Prime Minister Essad Pasha (allied with the Kingdom of Serbia) undermined by armed groups supported by Austria-Hungary and by the territorial claims of neighboring states, particularly Italy and Greece. The defeat of the Serbian army by the Central Powers in October 1915 and its retreat towards the Adriatic coast through northern Albania prompted Austria-Hungary to invade the country and, conversely, Italy to deploy its expeditionary force to protect the Serbian soldiers during the retreat and to maintain possession of the strategic port of Valona (which was occupied in December 1914); the situation stabilized at the end of 1916, with the Austro-Hungarians masters of the northern and central regions and the Italians of the south, where they found support from French forces engaged on the Macedonian front. Meanwhile, to protect the Greek minority, Greek control was established in the southern districts replacing the Northern Epirote units beginning in October 1914, but Italian troops drove the Greeks from southern Albania in 1916.

The Albanian front remained stationary until mid-1918 when, as part of the larger offensives undertaken by the Allies in the Balkans, the Italian forces went on the attack, progressively overrunning the Austro-Hungarians area by October 31, 1918. The signing of the Armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918 marked the end of hostilities with Austria-Hungary.