On April 26, 1915 , the Secret Treaty of London was signed, an agreement by representatives of Great Britain, France, and Russia on one side and Italy on the other. It was an agreement reached during the First World War to be implemented at its end. With this act, the four signatory powers trampled the national rights of the Albanian people for their own interests. They openly violated the independence and territorial integrity of Albania, recognized by them almost two years ago, in the decisions of July 29, 1913 of the Conference of Ambassadors. The content of this Treaty paved the way for a new fragmentation of the Albanian lands, as well as the disappearance of the independence of the Albanian state. Out of the 16 points of this Treaty, 3 of them (5, 6 and 7) were primarily related to the expansionist claims of Italy in Albania and the plans of the Entente Powers (England, France and Russia), which wanted to satisfy the greed of the three neighboring Balkan monarchies with the territories of the Albanian state: Serbia and Montenegro, which had been fighting on their side for several months, as well as neutral Greece, which they hoped to draw into their bloc. According to point 5 of the Treaty, the Albanian coast from the mouth of Buna in the north to the mouth of the Drin in the south was supposed to pass to Serbia and Montenegro, including the port of Shëngjin. According to point 6, the representatives of London, Paris and Petrograd agreed that Vlora, the island of Sazan, as well as a rather wide triangle of land, the borders of which were determined only in general lines, should pass to Italy under its full sovereignty. This triangle in the north and east would have the Vjosa river as its border, while its southern border would start from Vjosa, near Tepelena, and would go to Himara through Kurveleshi. According to point 7 of the Treaty, Italy agreed that the northern and southern parts of Albania should be given to Montenegro, Serbia and Greece. (In the photo: Approximate areas according to the Secret Treaty of London.)
Text : History of the Albanian people – Vol. III , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Toena”, Tirana, 2007, page 78-80.
Photo: © Andria Radovitch; Collections of the Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, Washington DC.
Graphic processing: AHCF
