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The Birth of Albania: Ethnic Nationalism, the Great Powers of World War I and the Emergence of Albanian Independence Hardcover – July 17, 2012

3.1 3.1 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

The ""Albanian question"" remains one of the major unresolved questions in south-eastern Europe, with the potential to disrupt the region, with grave consequences for the international community. The exodus of refugees from Kosovo into Albania in the late 1990s - and Kosovo's subsequent declaration of independence in February 2008 - rejuvenated interest in Albania and Kosovo and their place in the Balkans and Yet despite growing interest in the region's recent history, until now Albania's period of independence around World War I has been largely neglected.



The Birth of Albania explores how an independent Albania first came into existence in the early twentieth century, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Nicola Guy explains how and why Albanian independence was finally achieved, in the context of the prevailing contemporary ideas of ethnicity and national identity, elaborated most famously by President Woodrow Wilson as ""national self-determination."" The Birth of Albania is the definitive account of this period and an essential contribution to our understanding of an important but often overlooked, part of the world.


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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nicola Guy gained her PhD in History from Durham University. She has published a number of articles in academic and presented papers at international conferences in the UK, USA and Greece. She has also worked as a lecturer on courses in modern European history at Durham University and the University of York and studied Albanian at Indiana University.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ I.B. Tauris; 1st edition (July 17, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1848853688
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1848853683
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.7 x 1.33 x 9.92 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.1 3.1 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

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Nicola Guy
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Customer reviews

3.1 out of 5 stars
3 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2019
Interesting but isn't for me. All the political negotiations stuff isn't my fortr. But is important to know.
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2013
This is an excellent account of the most crucial period of the mocern Albanian History, i.e. the period following the declaration of Albanian independence in 1912. The author has a perfect knowledge of bibliography contemporary and modern and has used the matterial from the British Foreign Office effectively. She has reached important conclusions and made new contributions. A full scientific analysis would be needed here, to prove this point. However, it is also a nice piece of history amusingly read even by non-specialists.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2023
The author claims that the Albanians never cared to be independent, and that the independence of the country just happened while the great powers had disagreements among themselves. This is totally wrong. The Albanians fought for centuries for freedom. Most of the leaders of the movement for freedom were killed by the Serbs, the Greeks, and the Ottomans. Just to give one example, an Albanian priest was stabbed to death only because he was speaking in the Albanian language in an Orthodox Church.

The author says, basically, that the Albanians had been under the foreign rule, and they did not deserve independence. At one point most of Europe was under Roman rule, including Britain, France, and Germany. Don't these nations deserve to be free? Similarly, many countries were ruled by Germany during WWII, is it wrong that these countries are free now? Albanians are the oldest inhabitants in Europe and have been dwelling in the entire Balkan region since prehistoric times. Nations that we know today as Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and even Greece (whose inhabitants came from an area near Iran) were created in Ilirian (now called Albanians) territories.

Religions changed over time, but Albanians remain the same race. Albanians, everywhere in the Balkans, deserve to be united in one nation. It is a shame for a historian to attempt to mislead the reader like this author. I can provide undeniable evidence for everything I stated.
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