gnty by excessive reliance on outside powers:
first on Yugoslavia, which was heavily involved in the establishment of
the Communist Party in Albania, and then on the Soviet Union.
Catastrophe was averted in each instance by a split between Communist
nations. When Joseph Stalin expelled Yugoslavia from the Communist bloc
of nations in 1948, Enver Hoxha switched his allegiance to the Soviet
Union and ended his country's economic reliance on Yugoslavia, which had
all but incorporated Albania into its federation. For the next several
years Albania was a Soviet satellite but, as the rift between the Soviet
Union and Communist China widened, Hoxha continually sided with the
Chinese and, when the break came in 1961, Albania severed its Soviet
ties and became an ally of Communist China.

The lack of resources and an undeveloped economy, the same economic
problems that had plagued newly independent Albania in the 1920s,
continued to be problems in 1970, and foreign aid was still a
necessity. Communist China provided an undetermined amount of assistance
during the 1960s and into 1970 but, from the Albanian point of view, the
danger of loss of sovereignty to distant China was much less than it had
been during the periods when the country was a client state of nearby
Italy, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union.

The lack of easily defended national boundaries was an additional
concern in the maintenance of territorial integrity. Although the
boundaries originally established in 1913 remained relatively unchanged
and were not officially disputed in 1970, they were not considered
satisfactory in some sectors. About 1 million Albanians lived in
adjacent areas of Yugoslavia, mostly in the Kosovo region, and Albania
revealed her dissatisfaction that they were not included within its
territory. Neither Albania nor Greece was content with the demarcation
along the two most southerly districts of Albania. The lack of sharply
defined terrain features in most places along the northern and eastern
borders with Yugoslavia and the southeastern and southern delineation
between Albania and Greece increased the potential for dispute (see ch.
2, Historical Setting; ch. 3, Physical Environment).

The topography of the land is generally rugged, and access to inland
areas is difficult. Except for the narrow strip of lowlands along the
Adriatic coast, the country is made up of mountains and hills,
intermittently intersected by streams that flow in a gene