e
ch. 2, Historical Setting).

Organized military action also played an almost negligible part in
attaining independence. Some revolutionary activity occurred during the
rise of national feeling in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. There were clashes between insurgents and Turkish forces as
early as 1884 but, at the same time that the Albanians were resisting
Turkish practices they considered oppressive against themselves, they
were defending the Turks in their hostilities with the Greeks or the
Slavs. They continued to be recruited into, and to serve in, the Turkish
army.

By 1900 about 8,000 armed Albanians were assembled in Shkoder, but they
were unopposed, and a situation resembling anarchy more than revolution
prevailed in the country during the early 1900s. There were arrests,
incidents of banditry and pillage, and many futile Turkish efforts to
restore order. Guerrilla activity increased after about 1906, and
several incidents occurred, which produced martyrs but which were not
marked by great numbers of casualties. Nevertheless, although it was
unorganized and never assumed the proportions of a serious struggle, the
resistance was instrumental in maintaining the pressure that attracted
international attention and led the great powers, when they intervened
after the Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913, to recognize the independent
state of Albania.

World War I began before the country could establish a viable
governmental body--much less form, train, and equip a military
establishment. During the war years it was occupied by the warring
parties, and the last of them remained into 1920.

Ahmet Zogu--as minister of the interior and minister of war until 1922
and prime minister from 1922, except for a brief exile in 1924, until he
became King Zog in 1928--created the first national forces of any
consequence. Before 1925, so that he would have some assurance of their
loyalty, these consisted of about 5,000 men from his home tribal
district. Starting in about 1925 with Italian assistance and a
considerable degree of Italian control over the forces, men were drawn
through universal conscription. The first drafts called about 5,000 to
6,000 annually from the approximately 10,000 young men who became
eligible for the draft each year. Italian aid equipped the forces, and
Italian officers provided most of the training and tactical guidance, to
the point that they had effective control over their employment.