Essad Pasha's government leaves Durrës

On 24 February 1916 Essad Pasha Toptani, head of the government that since October 1914 had ruled central Albania from Durrës, left the country. The day before, Austro-Hungarian troops had attacked the Italian positions in front of the town and pushed the defenders back onto the peninsula on which the port lies. On the afternoon of 24 February the Italian consul Piacentini reported from on board the destroyer Impetuoso that the evacuation of Durrës had begun and that at noon he had sailed for Brindisi together with Essad, five members of his entourage, members of the Italian colony and the legation’s archives. About three hundred of Essad’s soldiers were to follow them by steamer.

An ally without an army

Essad held on to power thanks to the help of Serbia and Italy. When in the winter of 1915 the Serbian army retreated through Albania, his position became very difficult. After the departure of the Serbs, who left Durrës on the last ship on 9 February, only the Italians remained with Essad, while from the north Austro-Hungarian troops were approaching together with thousands of Albanian volunteers. Many of Essad’s former opponents went over to the Austrians. Most of his armed men melted away. The Austrian official history writes that as early as 12 February Essad asked to be embarked quickly, considering his cause lost.

On 14 February Essad officially declared to the Italian consul that the time had come for him to leave Durrës. He wanted to sail on an Italian warship, but let it be understood that if Rome did not agree, he would accept the offer of the French. They, through the Serbian prime minister Nikola Pašić, were offering him, his officials and his soldiers the same evacuation terms as the Serbs and Montenegrins had received. The Italians did not want to allow this. The commander of the Italian corps in Albania, General Emilio Bertotti, advised bringing Essad to Italy and keeping an eye on him there, as he suspected that the French were influencing him through his wife, who lived in Nice. On 19 February the foreign minister, Sidney Sonnino, ordered the navy to send a ship for Essad. The pasha, encouraged by the consul, replied however that as a soldier he would stay with the Italian troops as long as possible. Sonnino stipulated that his departure must not look as ceremonious as that of the King of Serbia or the King of Montenegro.

To Rome

When on 23 February the Austrians broke through the Italian lines, there was no room for further delay. According to the British historian Owen Pearson, on the same day that he left Durrës Essad again declared war on Austria-Hungary. An Italian communiqué issued in Rome on 26 February stated that the Italian brigade had withdrawn from Durrës after the Albanian government had left it. That day Essad arrived in Rome. At the station he was welcomed by the Italian minister to his government, Baron Carlo Aliotti. According to a dispatch from Rome quoted by the “New York Times”, Essad was closely guarded at his hotel. In an interview with the Italian press the pasha insisted that the Austrian occupation of Albania would be only temporary. A few days earlier the Ottoman government, which Essad had served years before as an officer, had announced that it was stripping him of his military rank and dismissing him from the army.

Essad never returned to Albania as head of government. The Italians placed his soldiers on the island of Ponza, while he himself sought recognition in Italy, France and Britain as the representative of Albania. In 1916, according to the British chronology in September, he moved to Salonika, where with French and Serbian support he set up a semblance of a government in exile.