Map: Balkan History 1815 to 1839: After the Congress of Vienna. 1914: Eve of the First World War. Between the Two World Wars. Nov. 1942: Height of Axis Occupation. 1945 to 1990: Cold War Stability. 1991 to 1995: Open Warfare. [eng]
Map of Ethnic Albania (1878) / the Four Vilayets The central theme of Albania's history is that of the struggle and suffering of a fiercely independent but hopelessly outnumbered people against
the tide of conquest in Europe. Albania's greatest triumph, under the direction of its leader and military genius, Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg, was the decimation, year
after year, of huge Turkish armies that were sent by the Sultans in Istanbul to crush him and to conquer Albania. [eng]