User:Calthinus/Skeleton for rise

Fill in cites tomorrow

There is some debate among experts regarding when the Albanian nationalist movement, also known as the Rilindja (Albanian for "rebirth" or "renaissance") should be considered to have started. Some sources attribute its origins to the revolts against centralization in the 1830s, others to the publication of the first attempt by Naum Veqilharxhi at a standardized alphabet for Albanian in 1844. Another view is that Albanian nationalism's roots "sprouted" in the reforms of the first decades of the 19th century but Albanian nationalism emerged properly in the 1830s and 1840s as a romantic movement for societal reform that was initially mainly driven by Albanians publishing from abroad, and it transformed into an overt political national movement in the 1870s. However, the Rilindja can also be seen as a continuation of and renewal of the Albanian revolts and cultural activities for independence that took place during the entire Ottoman period. The French Revolution left a socio-economic impact on the Albanian society, with many Albanian intellectuals highlighting ideals of the Revolution and important figures such as Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Background and obstacles


Albanian nationalism would rise around the same time and in the same context as neighboring nationalisms such as Serbian and Greek nationalism during the final decline of the Ottoman Empire. However, despite the fact that Albania had resisted Ottoman conquest most vigorously and for the longest time, and then revolted the most frequently when under Ottoman rule, and also despite Albania's geographic position adjacent to Western Europe and distant from Istanbul, the spread and organization of the Albanian nationalist movement was hindered by a large number of factors, and thus the progress made by the Albanian nationalist movement was delayed considerably.

Geographic isolation
It was actually due to the fact that Albania was remote and close to Western Europe, and the Ottoman government's view of Albania as both a potentially "turbulent" region as well as a "source of cheap cannon-fodder", Ottoman imperial administration did its best to isolate Albania from Western European influences, which included the sources of the romantic and liberationist philosophies that ultimately led to the rise of nationalist movements throughout the Balkans. Albania's proximity to the West was the reason it became isolated from the West by the intentional policy of Ottoman administration. As late as 1913, despite the fact that Albania is visible from the boot of Italy, the French journalist Delaisi wrote that he didn't think "even Tibet" was "more mysterious" than Albania.

Lack of internal unity
A major hindrance for the Albanian national movement, as well as the economic development of the country, was the lack of any single administrative, economic, cultural, or religious center; Ottoman rule tended to systematically instigate differences between regions and religious groups in a policy of divide-and-rule. As a result, competition between different regions became a major hindrance, while the nationalist movement would have to work hard to overcome the religious rivalries that resulted from the millet system.

Under Ottoman rule, contacts between the different regions of Albania were also very poor and the country often teetered on the edge of anarchy with arbitrary local rulers. There were few functioning roads: as late as 1903, there was no passable road from Durres to Tirana, or to Vlora or Shkodra, the main cities along the coast; although Tirana was only 40km from Durres, the trip could take two days by horse and was fraught with dangers. Asdreni remarked that if a man survived a trip on the Ottoman Albanian roads, it was because the man would shoot "just didn't feel like wasting a bullet on the passer-by", while British Intelligence in 1916 similarly remarked that the extreme stagnation of Albania was likely due to the rugged geography and lack of contacts between regions On top of this, Ottoman Albania was divided into four vilayets which acted like de facto autonomous units ruled by local warlords, and to move between them required special safe passes. In the middle of the 19th century, recoiling from the losses of Greece and Serbia, the Ottoman government redrew district boundaries in Albania with the specific goal of hindering any Albanian national instincts, gerrymandering the four vilayets that comprised Albania by adding non-Albanian areas to them so that Albanians did not have a majority in any province.

Illiteracy/
(Albania became "remote" under Ottoman rule, Ottomans redraw district boundaries to prevent Albanian districts, regional fragmentation, clan and regional rivalries, lack of literacy, suppression of Albanian literacy by the Porte and by the Church, poverty, suppression of Albanian nationalism by Porte and Church, etc etc )

mufch more stufff r

Motivating trends
Due to the lack of a religious or secular political structure promoting Albanian nationalism, the movement had to rely on the printing press for propagation; however literacy, especially at first, in the country was extremely limited (cite Misha, I think- Blumi too). Two centers of Albanian literacy emerged: one in the South of the country due to the activity of Greek schools in the region, and the other in the Northwest of hte country due to Austro-Hungarian and Italian education systems. Thus, in the middle of hte century, a new mercantile and mostly Christian middle class arose, which was in contact with Italian, Austro-Hungarian, and Greek ideas, and began to advocate ideals which would mature into Albanian nationalism, being effective especially in the diaspora, and would form the "core, as well as the sponsorship" of early Albanian nationalism (Rrapaj 204). Bektashi Albanians also came into contact with Hellenic influence and became early propagators of Albanian nationalism (Rrapaj 208).

Start of the Rilindja -- Albanian literary movement
Although Albanian nationalism drew ideas and symbols from earlier writings and revolts, the initiation of the Albanian nationalist movement is held to have occurred with the writings of Naum Veqilharxhi in the early 1800s. Born as Naum Bredhi in the village of Vithkuq near Korçë, Naum was educated in Greek schools, and moved to Wallachia after the destruction of his hometown  by groups of rural Muslims from the countryside. Naum joined the Filiki Etairia, a resistance organization of Christians in the Ottoman Empire which would later help foment the revolt that led to the Greek War of Independence, and in 1821 also took part in the Romanian uprising in Wallachia. As a member of Filiki Etairia and a graduate of a Greek school, Naum was influenced by Greek nationalism, but he became disillusioned with the Greek nationalist ideology as well as the Greek school system, remarking bitterly that Greek schools were organized to illuminate Greek youth, not Albanians, and that if there was not Albanian language education, there was a danger of Hellenization and cultural loss. He believed the Albanian nation had become backward and stagnated after centuries of Ottoman rule, and needed an Albanian alphabet as well as Albanian langauge schools to illuminate the Albanian people, overcome stagnation and unify the country, so that Albania could contribute to the rest of civilization, comparing Albania to a larva that could one day hopefully become a "butterfly". Naum became wealthy, joined a society in Wallachia which considered the promotion of the Albanian language necessary for the national awakening of Albania. To these ends, he used his wealth, with the pen name Naum Veqilharxhi, to publish his ideas in the Albanian diaspora and in Albania itself, as well as his Vithkuqi alphabet, the first modern attempt at a standardized Albanian alphabet, which he had started in 1824 or 1825. Veqilharxhi wrote of Albania as a "nation" with its own language, customs and history, and territory. Although his hometown had been a victim of sectarian violence, Veqilharxhi argued for harmony and cooperation between Albanians of all faiths, with each faith being practiced by Albanians a little bit differently than it would be by foreignors ; this view would evolve into the Albanian nationalist ideal of Albanian religious harmony, causing Albanian nationalism to ultimately use language, rather than religion as other Balkan nationalisms did, as its primary unifier. Veqilharxhi's writings were circulated in Korça, Berat, and Permet, and generated high demand with requests for "as many more copies as possible". Not long after the publication of his alphabet, however, he was poisoned, likely on orders by the Ecumenical Patriach of Constantinople, while he was trying to set up an Albanian cultural society in Istanbul. This did not kill Veqilharxhi's ideas, however, as they would be renewed by the next generation of Albanian nationalist writers.

Meanwhile, Thimi Mitko produced some of hte first ethnographic works in Albanology (pull from his page). The contributions of the Arbereshe diaspora in Italy also proved critical in formulating early Albanian nationalist ideas, which then spread to Albania itself (pull from Albanian nationalism page, Resnjari has done good work on this).

1878

Explain Eastern Crisis somewhat

Albanians have no representation in Berlin -- pull in Glenny on this

League of Prizren -- Prizren was chosen to dispute Serbian claims to the city (Pahumi), and the league originally had Ottoman backing (cite). Attendees included the entirely Sunni Muslim conservatives, who wanted to defend all Western Balkan Muslims including Bosniaks, the pragmatists, and the radicals, a multiconfessional group of progressives led by Naim Frasheri who advocated a multiconfessional Albanian entity that would be autonomous within the empire (Pahumi).

League invokes the besa, and Albanian tribesmen form people's armies to defend Albania's borders (Glenny) and prevent Montenegro from capturing Ulcinj despite hte Great Powers assigning the city to Montenegro, until the Porte sends its own army to force the Albanians to give up Ulqin. This was a watershed moment for the Albanian Muslim community: although they had previously viewed the Sultan as their protector, many now felt he had betrayed them, providing a mental opening for many of them to embrace Albanian nationalism (Glenny)

Ottoman authorities move to suppress the League of Prizren, from this point antagonizing the Albanian nationalist movement. Albanian nationalism thus arose as a simultaneous response to Serbian, Greek and Ottoman Turkish claims (Rrapaj)

Frasheri begins organizing movement in the wake of this. Convinces Bektashi babas and turns tekkes into mouthpieces (Pahumi, Duijzings, etc) Societies emerge to set up Albanian schooling, but they are suppressed both by the Ottoman authorities and loyalists, as well as the Orthodox Patriarchate, which, after the loss of Bulgaria, was worried about other nationalisms arising in the Balkans, and, especially after 1870, became concentrated on consolidating its power over Southern Albania and geographic Macedonia (citey cite cite cite) Albanians are the only people not allowed to be educated in their own language (Glenny) except in the north in Austro-Hungarian schools (cite). Albanian schools were thus founded in secret in Lunxheri and around Korca, as well as with the help of British and American missionaries (Palairet etc) In Central Albania, Hasan Moglica blablaba (cite smth for this)

Society for hte Publication of Albanian Writings

 Skendi notes that the direction that Albanian nationalism took was shaped by the multiconfessional nature of the country and the need to appeal to Albanians of all faiths, despite hte fact that all faiths had different leaders and were often hostile to each other  As a result, Albanian nationalism developed into a multiconfessional movement, with Albanians arguing that religious fanaticism was or should be alien to Albanian culture, and promoting a "civic faith" of Albanianism, epitomized by Pashko Vasa's stanza, "the faith of the Albanian is Albanianism" which was to become a motto of hte movement. This aspect of Albanian nationalism has been argued to date back to the writings of Veqilharxhi (Fedhon), and helped bring about the ideological beginnings of Albanian secularism, finding its voice in Sami Frasheri's Shqipëria ç'ka qenë, ç'është dhe ç'do të bëhet which envisioned an independent Albania with no official religion and secular education (cite from Secularism in Albania) Bektashi Albanians, due to traditional Bektashi tolerance, played an important role as a "bridge" between the previously hostile Albanian Orthodox and Sunni communities (cite), and Bektashi tekkes served as meeting places for Albanian nationalists and mouthpieces of hte movement (cite -- probably Duijzings)

Catholic and Orthodox Albanians, as well as Bektashi Albanians (Rrapaj page 208), began the modern movement of Albanian nationalism after the influence of ideas from Greece, Austro-Hungary, and Italy (Rrapaj 204). The movement began among the Orthodox community of the South (Kelmendi), and soon spread as Bektashi-Orthodox cooperation on the matter emerged, while also soon afterward emerging in the North among the Catholic community.

In the South, Albanian nationalism grew both under the influence of and in reaction to Hellenism (cite). In the late 18th and 19 centuries, Greek schools were the only way Orthodox children could become educated and at Greek schools children were indoctrinated with Greek nationalist views; this was combined with intensive propaganda on the part of the Greek Orthodox Church. However, rather than losing their Albanian identity, Orthodox Albanians from Southern Albania would instead come to play an active and often leading role in the Albanian national independence movement, often at great cost to themselves and their families. The prominent role of Bektashis in the Albanian nationalist movement led to a growth of the order (cite Duijzings page 196), and Bektashi followers associated the Ottoman state with Sunni domination (Duijzings 161). Although initially strongly loyal to the Sultan at first, Albanian Sunnis began to question this traditional loyalty after the Eastern Crisis of 1878 in which the actions of the Porte were denounced by many in the Albanian Muslim community as a betrayal, and after this point Albanian Sunnis as well began joining the growing ranks of the Albanian nationalist movement (cite Glenny, Psilos, others), and Albanian "Turcomans" became uneasy about hte growing anger directed at the Porte (Pahumi, Skendi). In the late Ottoman Empire, Albanian Orthodox were identified as Greeks and Albanian Muslims (cite one view) or Albanian Sunnis (other-- Duijzings 153) were identified as Turks, in both cases resulting in confusion and internal strife in these communities. At the end of hte Ottoman Empire, more progressive Albanian Orthodox (cite Psomas) and more progressive Albanian Sunni Muslims (cite Carcani-- make sure he says this, else find another), as well as most Albanian Bektashi Muslims (citation dump: Doja, Duijzings, Doja, Doja, more Doja etc) mostly sympathized with the Albanian nationalist movement, while more conservative Orthodox (cite Psomas) sympathized with the Greeks and more conservative Sunnis (cite Psilos, Bozbora, Clayer 1992: 296, Duijzings 164, Krasniqi 4-5, Babuna) remained loyal to the Empire. On the other hand, Catholics and Bektashis did not have any competing nationalist identities besides the Albanian one (relocate this one).

The centralist Tanzimat reforms, which were aimed at replacing local Albanian functionaries and suppression of Albanian culture sowed the seeds of the Rilindja. In that period an intellectual and merchant class with the new ideas that were emerging in Europe was shaped, empowering the existing struggle against the Ottoman rule. Political nationalism and economic liberalism were two modern platforms that inspired many Albanian intellectuals. During that time, the destruction of the Pashalik of Yanina and the growing Greek nationalist ambitions fueled reaction of Albanian intellectual elite. The son of one merchant family, Naum Veqilharxhi, started his work to write an alphabet intended to help Albanians overcome religious and political issues in 1824 or 1825. Veqilharxhi thought that the continuous occupations had caused many problems to Albanian education. His work facilitated the difussion of national awareness based on the unity of kin, identity of language and traditions. Some Albanian patriots, among them many from the Arbereshe communities in Italy, built contacts with Italian democratic and revolutionary forces. This helped the Rilindja movement to expand beyond the frame of Albanian-Ottoman relations, and become an international issue. The Risorgimento actually served as an inspiration for the movement.

Pelasgian blurb: might be appropriate elsewhere on hte page Albanian nationalism In 1777 Nikollë Keta, an Arbëreshë from Sicily, was the first Albanian to connect the Albanians with the Pelasgians, giving rise to a tradition transferred from Albanian communities in Italy to the Balkans. The themes of the Pelasgians and Skanderbeg were present in Arbëreshë culture before the emergence of the Rilindja movement, and represented a cultural reflection of intellectuals which played an instrumental role during the entire Rilindja. The myths generated about the Pelasgians were an argument for independence and self-determination, countering with claims according to which Albanians had no right for having their own country.

1908

Congress of Elbasan -- grab from other pages

1911

Albanian uprisings severely threaten Ottoman rule

Kosovo and Macedonia uprising

Malesor uprising

1912

Ottomans grant autonomy way too late -- Glenny

Balkan league attacks

Balkan Wars-- mention

From Albanian nationalism : Albanian writers of the period felt that they had counter arguments that came from the Greek side and from Slavic circles. The Greeks claimed that Albanians did not constitute a people, their language was a mixture of different languages and that an Albanian member of the Orthodox church was "really a Greek", while Slav publicists claimed that Kosovar Albanians were "really" Slavs or they were "Turks" who could be "sent back" to Anatolia. Apart from Greek nationalism being viewed as a threat to Albanian nationalism, emphasizing an antiquity of the Albanian nation served new political contexts and functions during the 1880s. It also arose from the Albanian need to counter Slavic national movements seeking independence from the Ottomans through a Balkan federation. In time the Pelasgian theory was replaced with the Illyrian theory regarding Albanian origins and descent due it being more convincing and supported by some scholars. The Illyrian theory became an important pillar of Albanian nationalism due to its consideration as evidence of Albanian continuity in territories such as Kosovo and the south of Albania contested with the Serbs and Greeks.

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Deleted from Albanian nationalism, to integrate here and restore once in line with NPOV:

Hellenism, Orthodoxy and Albanian nationalism
For Orthodox Albanians, Albanianism was closely associated with Hellenism, linked through the faith of Orthodoxy and only during the Eastern crisis and thereafter was that premise rejected by a few Orthodox Albanianists. In southern Albania during the late Ottoman period being Albanian was increasingly associated with Islam, while from the 1880s the emerging Albanian National Movement was viewed as an obstacle to Hellenism within the region. Some Orthodox Albanians mainly from Korçë and the nearby regions began to affiliate with the Albanian National movement by working together with Muslim Albanians regarding shared social, geopolitical Albanian interests and aims causing concerns for Greece. Contribution to the national movement by Orthodox Albanian nationalists was mainly undertaken outside the Ottoman state in the Albanian diaspora with activities focusing on educational issues and propaganda. As Orthodoxy was associated with Greek identity, the rise of the Albanian national movement caused confusion for Orthodox Albanians as it interrupted the formation of a Greek national consciousness.

At the onset of the twentieth century the idea to create an Albanian Orthodoxy or an Albanian expression of Orthodoxy emerged in the diaspora at a time when the Orthodox were increasingly being assimilated by the Patriarchate and Greece through the sphere of politics. The Orthodox Albanian community had individuals such as Jani Vreto, Spiro Dine and Fan Noli involved in the national movement and some of them advocated for an Albanian Orthodoxy in order to curtail the Hellenisation process occurring amongst Orthodox Albanians. In 1905, priest Kristo Negovani who had attained Albanian national sentiments abroad returned to his native village of Negovan and introduced the Albanian language for the first time in Orthodox liturgy. For his efforts Negovani was murdered by a Greek guerilla band on orders from Bishop Karavangelis of Kastoria that aroused a nationalist response with the Albanian guerilla band of Bajo Topulli killing the Metropolitan of Korçë, Photios. In 1907, an Orthodox Albanian immigrant Kristaq Dishnica was refused funeral services in the United States by a local Orthodox Greek priest for being an Albanian nationalist. Known as the Hudson incident, it galvanised the emigre Orthodox Albanian community to form the Albanian Orthodox Church under Fan Noli who hoped to diminish Greek influence in the church and counter Greek irredentism. For Albanian nationalists, Greek nationalism was a concern toward the end of the 19th century due to overlapping territorial claims toward the ethnically mixed vilayet of Yannina. Those issues also generated a reaction against Greek nationalists that drove the Albanian desire to stress a separate cultural identity.