Italian Invasion of South Albania 1914-1920

During WWI, the region of South Albania, was in a bad condition economically, politically and socially. Moreover in November 1914, this region was invaded by the Italians. This invasion worsened the situation, despite the fact that initially the inhabitants were under the impression that the Italians helped them to get rid of the Greek invaders. But it did not take long before the relations between the inhabitants and the new invaders aggravated. However, faced with this situation the Albanian patriots started to organize and act swiftly. There were strong reactions on their part especially concerning the issue of re-opening Albanian schools. Because of their efforts in 1917, was founded an organisation called The Spears of Civilisation. This same organisation was re-organized and took the name The National Defence on 10 march 1920, under the auspices of Osman Haxhiu. This Committee unanimously decided that the issue of the liberation of the Albanian territories from the Italian invader could be solved only in one way, through the use of weapons