Reasonably short; this serves as an introduction as well rather than a time line. My first ATL.
Part I: The Southern Front
During the Second World War, in October 1940, the fascist aggressors of Italy declared war upon, and subsequently invaded the peaceful and non-combatant Republic of Albania. The battles waged for many months. That was until the might of the Italian Empire conquered Tirana and its people, and declared victory over the black eagle.
Following this, neighbouring countries recognized the oncoming threat of fascism and Nazism coming from both Germany and Italy in the West, and Bulgaria in the East, yet they did not cower. Uniting under one banner, Slavs, Albanians and Greeks! Christians, Muslims and Jews! Men, women and children! All Balkan people stood up and cried with defiance - "NO!". United under one man, Goran Nikolovski, a Macedonian whom many dubbed "Alexander Reborn", for there was no leader such as him.
And so they marched, each one standing tall and proud against their oppressors. All of them heroes, settled their differences in order to force their enemies out of what was rightfully Albanian land. And from there, they were triumphant, undivided.
Although this did no come without loss. Day and night Germans from the North would repeatedly use Blitzkrieg warfare upon Balkan cities and people. Belgrade and Sarajevo were devestated, and Athens was the worst hit in the region. Classical monuments, notably as the Parthenon on the Acropolis were left as little more than rubble, along with much of the historic city as a whole.
Assembling once more, the Balkan nations took up their rifles and pursued the Italians further, and set sail across the Aegean Sea into their enemy's homeland. The Balkans had now formed a third wave of attack on the Axis powers - The Southern Front. Hatefully, the reconciled brothers and sisters stormed forwards north as one by one villages, towns and cities were reclaimed in the name of Democracy. Il Duce had no choice but to surrender to the people he once tried to conquer.
Within a year, seeing the united strength of their Balkan neighbours in their triumphs against Benito Mussolini, partisans in Bulgaria stood up against their leaders and rebellion ensued. The Axis-sympathising government could not stand against the over-powering weight of its people, nearly all of whom wished to join their Nikolovski and their Slavic brothers in defeating the fascists. And so they did.
As the Soviet Hammer and Sickle rose upon buildings in Berlin, the laurel wreath flag of the Balkan allies waved proudly and freely not only in Rome, but every home in the Balkan peninsula. A new era for Europe had begun.