Essad Pasha forms a government in Durrës

At the beginning of October 1914 Essad Pasha Toptani entered Durrës, the provisional capital of Albania. Barely a month after Prince Wilhelm of Wied had left the country, the former Minister of War returned from exile and became head of a new government. The British chronology of the war records the formation of this government under 4 October. According to other sources Essad had taken Durrës by 3 October and exercised power as prime minister from 5 October.

Return from exile

Essad, one of the richest landowners in central Albania, had been accused in May 1914 of conspiring against the prince and forced to leave for Italy. After Wied’s departure chaos reigned in the country. In Durrës power was held by a senate set up by Muslim rebels who demanded the restoration of the Sultan’s sovereignty. Essad sought support from the neighbours. In September, on 17 September according to most sources, he concluded a secret agreement in Niš with the Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić. Serbia promised him money and weapons, hoping that a ruler in Albania friendly to it would give it access to the Adriatic. The Italians also gave him money.

With Serbian help Essad gathered several thousand armed men around Dibra and marched on Durrës. He took the town without a fight. He proclaimed himself head of the government and commander-in-chief of the Albanian army. His authority, however, extended only to the central part of the country. The north remained outside his control, and in the south, in Northern Epirus, Greek troops moved in again at the end of October.

Between the powers

Essad’s government was dependent on foreign powers from the start. Serbia and Italy supported him because each hoped for influence in Albania. At the end of October the Italians occupied the island of Sazan, and in December they landed at Vlorë. Among the Albanians Essad had many opponents. The Muslim rebels who had earlier fought Wied soon turned against him too. In 1915 they reduced his authority almost to Durrës alone, and their revolt was suppressed only by Serbian intervention in June.

In 1915 Essad finally threw in his lot with the Entente. According to some sources he declared war on Austria-Hungary at the end of that year. When in the winter of 1915 the shattered Serbian army retreated through Albania towards the coast, his men helped it. In February 1916, as Austro-Hungarian troops approached Durrës, Essad left the country. He spent the rest of the war mainly in Salonika, where he maintained a semblance of a government in exile. In 1920 he was shot dead in Paris by a young Albanian nationalist, Avni Rustemi.