Discovery by Gjon Mark Ndue.
Summary
The April 10, 1916 issue of The Independent highlights the severe situation in Albania during World War I. It describes Albania as devastated by invasions from neighboring states, including Greece, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria, while its population faced widespread deprivation and possible starvation. The article criticizes the Italian blockade of Albanian ports and promotes the activities of the Friends of Albanian Independence, an organization seeking to inform American public opinion. It argues that Albanians should retain their territory and warns that partitioning Albania among neighboring powers could intensify ethnic and national rivalries, potentially contributing to another Balkan conflict.
Cited:
“April 10, 1916
One of the little nations overrun by the war has been almost ignored by the outside world. Albania, which the European powers less than three years ago pledged themselves to protect, has been invaded by the troops of all the neighboring countries, Greece, Italy, Germany, Austria, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria.
The people had been previously reduced to destitution by the two Balkan wars and now that the invading soldiers have seized their provisions they are in danger of general starvation. The relief ship which was sent to their relief was shut out by the Italian Government, which is maintaining an illegal blockade of Albanian ports. To get these facts before the American public an association, The Friends of Albanian Independence, has been formed. From its publicity manager we receive the following:
If the territory of Albania is given to any other race than its legitimate owners, from their almost impregnable mountains, the warlike Albanians will maintain such a desperate resistance that it could only be ended by their extermination. The civilized world ought not to allow these descendants of the ancient Illyrians and Pelasgians to perish, for in the days when they had a fair chance, they made contributions to the world’s welfare which show that their natural abilities are high.
Under the banner of Scanderbeg—a black double-headed eagle on a red background, they beat back the Turk in the fifteenth century, and their race has produced Pyrrhus, Alexander the Great, Saint Jerome, Constantine, five other Roman emperors, Pope Clement XI, of Crispi, Marco Bozzaris and other heroes of the Greek war for independence.
Albania occupies such a strategic position that it is coveted by all of the neighboring races, but none of them would be willing to see it possest by any rival. Hence the surrender of Albania to any one race, or any possible division of it among several races, would cause such national and racial jealousies to arise in the Balkans, that another Balkan war would be inevitable which might again embroil all Europe.
Among those who have enrolled themselves as The Friends of Albanian Independence are:
Miss Jane Addams, of Hull House, Chicago; Prof. Emily G. Balch, of Wellesley; Mr. George W. Coleman, of the Ford Hall Foundation, Boston, Massachusetts; Prof. Samuel T. Dutton, of the World Peace Foundation, New York City; Doctor Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa), of Amherst, Massachusetts; Mr. Charles Wellington Furlong, the explorer, of Boston, Massachusetts; Mrs. Mary Antin Graham, of Scarsdale, New York; Mr. Hamilton Holt, of The Independent; Mrs. Haviland H. Lund, of the National Forward to the Land League, New York City; Dean Kelly Miller, of Howard University; Miss Mary White Ovington, of Brooklyn, New York; Prof. Herschel Parker, of New York City; Prof. Edward A. Steiner, of Grinnell, Iowa; Prof. Radoslav A. Tsanoff, of River Forest, Illinois.
The Independent
Volume LXXXVI”.
Source
“Albania,” The Independent, April 10, 1916, vol. 86.
