Albania has been ruled by one foreign country after another for more than two thousand years.
Except for brief periods it was never really independent until the year 1912.
The Roman Empire made Albania (then called Illyria) a colony about 100 years before the time of Christ.
When Rome fell to German invaders in the 5th century, Albania fell with it.
After that, for about a thousand years, the Slavs of F.
urope and the East Roman emperor in Byzantium would occasionally fight over Albania, and one after the other would control it.
Finally, in 1444, the Turks invaded Albania.
A great Albanian hero named George Castriota fought them bravely, but they finally conquered.
In the centuries that followed the Albanians adopted the Turkish ways that they still have, but from time to time they still fought for independence.
Turkey finally became so weak that this had to be granted in 1912.
After World War I, a leader named Ahmed Zogu rose to power, and in 1928 he made himself King Zog.
He is remembered in America partly because his queen, whom he married in 1938, was half American.
In 1939, when Italy invaded and then annexed Albania, Zog had to flee with his wife and baby son, who was only two days old.
In World War II, while Albania was occupied by Italians and then by Germans, Albanian "partisans" fought them under the command of Enver Hoxha.
He was a Communist, and was supported by Soviet Russia.
After the war, it was easy for him to set up a Communist government