The League of Prizren (Albanian: Lidhja e Prizrenit) was created on June 10, 1878 in a mosque in Prizren, Kosovo by 300 Albanian nationalist leaders, mostly from Kosovo, Western former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Muslim leaders from Bosnia-Hercegovina and the Sandzak, in order to achieve an autonomous Albanian state, representing the former Ottoman vilayets of Shkodër or Skutari centered near Montenegro, the Illyria region, the Chameria region, Janina or Janjevo centered in Northern Epirus, Bitola in Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo. The League was the first major attempt to create a unified Albanian region since the Middle Ages when Albanian forces under Gjergj Kastrioti, Skanderbeg, had failed. June 10 is the 161st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (162nd in leap years), with 204 days remaining. ... 1878 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... View of Prizren Prizren (Serbian Cyrillic Призрен; Albanian Prizreni) is an historic city located Kosovo (officially Kosovo ) at 42. ... Kosovo and Metohia (Serbian: Косово и Метохија / Kosovo i Metohija, Albanian: Kosovë / Kosova), in English most often called just Kosovo, is a province of Serbia. ... Official languages Macedonian¤,2 Capital Skopje President Branko Crvenkovski Prime Minister Vlado Bučkovski Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % water Ranked 145th  25,713 km²  1. ... This page is about a region in Serbia and Montenegro; for districts of the Ottoman Empire, see Sanjak. ... The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Imperial motto of sultan Abdülaziz El-Muzaffer Daima (Ottoman Turkish for the Ever Victorious) Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital Constantinople (Ä°stanbul) Sovereigns Sultans of the Osmanli Dynasty Population ca 40 million Area 6. ... Shkodër (Albanian: Shkodër or Shkodra, Latin Scutari, German Skutari, Serbian Skadar) is a city located in North West Albania, in the District of Shkodër and it is the capital of the County of Shkodër. ... Serbia and Montenegro (Serbian: Србија и Црна Гора, Srbija i Crna Gora, often abbreviated as SCG) is the name of the union of Serbia and Montenegro, two former Yugoslav republics united since 2003 in a loose confederation. ... In classical history, Illyria or Illyricum or Illyrikon was a region of the western Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the tribes and clans of Illyrians, an ancient people who probably spoke an Indo-European language (the Illyrian languages). ... Ioannina (Greek: Ιωάννινα, often Γιάννενα Giannena, Yiannena or Γιάννινα Giannina, Yiannina ; Albanian: Janinë or Janina; Aromanian: Ianina, Bulgarian: Янина Janina) is a city in and capital of Epirus, Greece, with a population of approximately 100,000 and sitting at an elevation of 600 metres above sea level. ... Prominent issues in Greek foreign policy include a dispute over the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the enduring Cyprus problem, Greek-Turkish differences over the Aegean, and relations with the USA. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Greek refusal to recognize the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia... This article needs to be wikified. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Scanderbeg sculpture Gjergj Kastrioti (Italian: Giorgio Castriota) (1405–January 17, 1468), better known as Skanderbeg or Skenderbej, was an Albanian leader who resisted the expanding Ottoman Empire for 25 years and is today considered a national hero of Albania. ... Scanderbeg sculpture from the Museum in Kruje. ...

History of the League

The league was formed after the Treaty of San Stefano, which had given Albanian-populated lands to Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia after the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Albanian leaders from Pec, Djakovica, Gusinje, Ljuma, and from Dibra and Tetovo met in present-day (former Yugoslav) Republic of Macedonia to discuss how to reclaim their land. Italy sponsored an Italian-Albanian Committee to further Albanian nationalism and gain allies in the Balkans and Turkey did the same with a Central Committee for Defending Albanian Rights in Istanbul in 1877. The Committee's members were Zija Prishtina, Sami Frasheri, Jani Vreto, Pashko Vaso, and Abdul Bey Frasheri, and its manifesto is contained within the Kanararname, or 'Book of Decisions, the statue of the Leaugue. The Treaty of San Stefano was a treaty between Russia and the Ottoman Empire at the conclusion of the last Russo-Turkish War. ... Serbia and Montenegro  â€“ Serbia    â€“ Kosovo and Metohia        (UN administration)    â€“ Vojvodina  â€“ Montenegro Official language Serbian Capital Podgorica Former Royal Capital Cetinje President Filip Vujanović Prime Minister Milo Đukanović Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % water  13,812 km²  n/a Population  â€“ Total (2003)  â€“ Density  616,258  48. ... Serbia and Montenegro  â€“ Serbia    â€“ Kosovo and Metohia        (UN administration)    â€“ Vojvodina  â€“ Montenegro Official language Serbian1 Capital Belgrade Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % water  88,361 km²  n/a Population  â€“ Total (2002)     (without Kosovo)  â€“ Density  7. ... The Russian Federation consists of a great number of different federal subjects, making a total of 89 constituent components. ... 1877 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1878 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Peć (Пећ; Albanian Pejë or Peja) is a city located inKosovo at 42. ... Djakovica or Ðakovica (Serbian Cyrillic Ђаковица; in Albanian Gjakova or Gjakovë) is a city located in Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, at 42. ... Dibra e Madhe (Albanian) or Debar is located in western Macedonia near the city of Gostivar, and the border with Albania. ... Tetovo is a city in the north-west of the Republic of Macedonia, built on the foothills of the Å ar mountain and divided by the Pena (Shkumbim) river. ... The Balkans is the historic and geographic name used to describe southeastern Europe (see the Definitions and boundaries section below). ... The Central Committe for Defending Albanian Rights was formed in the city of Constantinople in 1877 by an influential group of political scientist Albanian intellectuals. ... Shows the Location of the Province Ä°stanbul Suleymaniye Mosque seen from Tepebaşı (January 2005) Istanbul (Turkish: Ä°stanbul; contraction of the citys previous Greek name Constantinople) is the largest city in Turkey, and arguably the most important. ... 1877 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

The League of Prizren was meant as a political and military organization that would help Albania receive international recognition, though initially as an autonomous region. The San Stefano treaty was superseded by the Treaty of Berlin at the insitence of Austria-Hungary and Britain. This latter Treaty, however, still meant that Albanian lands could be split amongst other nations. The Treaty of Berlin was the final Act of the Congress of Berlin (June 13-July 13, 1878), by which the United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Turkey revised the Treaty of San Stefano signed on March 3 of the same year. ... Austria-Hungary, also known as the Dual monarchy (or: the k. ...

In July of 1878, the 60 member board of the league, led by Abdul Bey Frasheri, sent a letter to the Great Powers at the Congress of Berlin, asking for the settling of the Albanian issues resulting from the Turkish War. The memorandum was ignored by the congress, which gave territory that Albanians considered theirs to Serbia and Montenegro. The league feared that Albanians would also lose Epirus to Greece, and organized an armed resistance in Gusinje, Shkodër, Prizren, and Janina. In the context of international relations and diplomacy, power (sometimes clarified as international power, national power, or state power) is the ability of one state to influence or control other states. ... Hosted in 1878 by Otto von Bismarck, after having been demanded by the rivals of the Russian Empire, particularly by Austria-Hungary and Great Britain, a number of the nations of Europe met to revise the Treaty of San Stefano and to attend to other pressing matters. ... Epirus - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... Shkodër (Albanian: Shkodër or Shkodra, Latin Scutari, German Skutari, Serbian Skadar) is a city located in North West Albania, in the District of Shkodër and it is the capital of the County of Shkodër. ... View of Prizren Prizren (Serbian Cyrillic Призрен; Albanian Prizreni) is an historic city located Kosovo (officially Kosovo ) at 42. ... Ioannina (Greek: Ιωάννινα, often Γιάννενα Giannena, Yiannena or Γιάννινα Giannina, Yiannina ; Albanian: Janinë or Janina; Aromanian: Ianina, Bulgarian: Янина Janina) is a city in and capital of Epirus, Greece, with a population of approximately 100,000 and sitting at an elevation of 600 metres above sea level. ...

The Albanian resistance was successful enough to alter the borders established by the Great Powers and regain some of the lost lands, however some lands were still ceded to Greece by 1881. 1881 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

The Prizren League had 16,000 armed members under its control who launched a revolution against the Ottoman Empire after the debacle at the Congress of Berlin and the official dissolvement of the League ordered by the Ottomans who feared the League would seek total independence from the empire. The Albanian insurgents were able to kill Mehmed Ali Pasha, the Turkish emissary, in Djakovica in August, 1878. The League took over control from the Turks in the Kosovo-Metohija towns of Vucitrn, Pec, Kosovska Mitrovica, Prizren, and Djakovica. Guided by the autonomous movement, the League rejected Turkish authority and sought complete secession from Turkey. The Ottoman Empire sought to suppress the League and they dispatched an army led by Turkish commander Dervish Pasha, that by April 1881 had captured Prizren and crushed the resistance at Ulcinj. The leaders of the league and their families were either killed or arrested and deported. 1881 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Ulcinj (Albanian: Ulqin) is a mainly Albanian inhabited coastal town of the Republic of Montenegro in Serbia and Montenegro. ...

While it was active, the league managed to bring Albanian national interests before the Great Powers and paved the way for the Pec League of 1899, which had greater foreign support from both Italy and the Austria-Hungarian Empire, and the Second League of Prizren which formed with help from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in 1943. Austria-Hungary, also known as the Dual monarchy (or: the k. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ...

See also

• History of Albania
• Second League of Prizren
• History of Serbia

This article briefly outlines each period of History of Albania only; details are presented in separate articles (see the links in the box and below). ... Coat of Arms of Serbia Sabars and their migrations The original Serbs and Croats were Central Asian Sarmatian nomads who entered Europe with the Huns in the fourth century A.D. The Sarmatian Serbs settled in a land designated as White Serbia, in what is now Saxony and Western Poland. ...

External Links

• Nation Master Encyclopedia Entry
• The City of Prizren
• The Free Dictionary Prizren Entry
• "The Birth of Albania"
• Kosovo Chronicles