In World War I, Albania had been an independent state, having gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, on 28 November 1912, following the First Balkan War. It was recognised by the Great Powers as the Principality of Albania, after Turkey officially renounced all its rights in May 1913. Being a fledgling new country, it quickly unravelled and just a few months after taking power, its German ruler, Prince Wilhelm, was forced to flee. After World War I broke out, anarchy took hold of the country as tribes and regions rebelled against central rule. To protect the Greek minority, Greek control was established in the southern districts replacing the Northern Epirote units beginning in October 1914. In response to this, Italy, although officially neutral at the time, also sent troops into the port of Vlorë, while Serbia and Montenegro took control of northern regions. In 1915 Serbia was overrun by combined German, Austro-Hungarian, and Bulgarian forces; the Serbian army retreated across the mountain passes of northern Albania, towards the Adriatic. Italian troops drove the Greeks from southern Albania and brought almost all Albanian territory under their control. Austrian forces invaded in June 1916; Austro-Hungarian forces remained in Albania until the end of the war when a multinational Allied force broke through and pushed them out in 1918.
Background
Albania was a country only created a few years before World War I. In the aftermath of the Balkan Wars Serbia, Montenegro and Greece all occupied and claimed parts of Albania. It was decided that Wilhelm of Wied, a German prince, would become the leader of the new Principality of Albania. The principality under Wilhelm was established on 21 February 1914 and Prince Wilhelm arrived in Albania at his provisional capital of Durrës on 7 March 1914 along with the royal family. The security of Albania was to be provided by a gendarmerie commanded by Dutch officers. Inside Albania he was called King Wilhelm; outside Albania, Prince Wilhelm.
The southern part of the country, Northern Epirus, which had a large Greek population, grated at being part of Albania and when the Greek soldiers left, it rose up against William. Under pressure from the great powers the Greeks backed down on independence demands and negotiations were carried out on the island of Corfu, where on 17 May 1914 Albanian and Epirote representatives signed an agreement known as the Protocol of Corfu. According to its terms, Northern Epirus would acquire complete autonomous existence (as a corpus separatum) under the nominal Albanian sovereignty of Prince William. The agreement of the Protocol was ratified by the representatives of the Great Powers at Athens on 18 June and by the Albanian government on 23 June.
World War I
Just one month after Protocol of Corfu was signed by the Albanians on June 23, 1914, war broke out in Europe. Officially starting on July 28, 1914, the war threw Albania into disarray. Throughout the war, occupying forces, of both Central and Allied powers, massacred the Albanian population on multiple occasions.
Revolt and departure of Prince William
One month after accepting the throne on 7 March, King William arrived in his provisional capital of Durrës and started to organise his government, appointing Turhan Pasha Përmeti to form the first Albanian cabinet. The Muslim uprising in central Albania was one of the factors that led to the Prince's withdrawal from the country and the fall of the so-called six-month kingdom on the eve of the First World War. This first cabinet was dominated by members of the nobility (prince Essad Pasha Toptani, defence and foreign affairs, prince George Adamidi bey Frachery, finances, and prince Aziz pacha Vrioni, agriculture).