…Italy had been promised a protectorate over Albania in the Treaty of London. Having occupied the whole of the country over the course of the war, the Italian Occupation was confirmed based on facts on the ground at the Paris Peace Conference. An Albanian delegation, from a meeting of a provisional Albanian Government at Durres, had traveled to Paris, but had been refused recognition. This fact outraged the Albanian populace, who began organizing against the Italians.
The Italians at the same time found themselves in a bind. They could not maintain their wartime strength given the need to release men to the civilian economy even without the huge economic devastation of the war. Furthermore there were large demands on the remaining troops, Libya had revolted during the war and troops were needed to pacify it again. The new Yugoslavia was unhappy in the extreme with the Italian gains on the Adriatic and forces were needed to deter them from any adventurism. Finally given the war in Turkey, Adalia could not be abandoned. This left Albania at close to the bottom of Italy’s priority in troop allocation getting the dregs of the Italain ARmy.
Thus the Italians withdrew from the vast majority of the country, leaving only a garrison of 25,000 in and around Valona. The Albanians of course wanted the Italians out completely and demanded they leave entirely, though were willing to compromise on the island of Saseno. The Italians predictably refused.
Lacking an army, the Albanians organized a force of irregulars, theoretically numbering 10,000 in total once all was said and done and including volunteers from as far afield as the United States. These troops were poorly armed, some with only sticks and stones, and many would not actively participate in the fighting.
The Albanians began by attacking outlying detachments of the Italian Army. Despite being heavily outnumbered, by forces armed with artillery and machine guns the Albanians won victories. Many of the Italian troops were down with Malaria, and morale among the remainder was at rock bottom due to communist infiltration, lack of leadership and poor conditions. Fights that should have been easily winnable for the Italians became routs. Within a month of fighting the Italian forces refused to leave their defense lines, with many refusing to leave their barracks. A force of 4,000 irregulars was effectively besieging 25,000 regulars.
The Italian Army attempted to gather reinforcements, but when ordered to take ship at Ancona for Valona elements of the elite Bersagliere mutinied. Additional forces had to be called in to put down the Bersagliere. It was quickly determined that any forces likely to obey orders to go to Albania were needed elsewhere too badly, given the fighting in Libya and the Communist Agitation within Italy.
After a month of standoff the Italian government agreed to withdraw from mainland Albania. Diverting loyal forces from elsewhere would lead to reverses in Libya or possible revolt at home. Sending in questionable forces would likely result in large scale mutinies that could break out into civil war. Allowing the forces in Valona to be destroyed or surrender would do the same and humiliate Italy at the same time. A peace treaty was sen as the least bad decision that could be made
Albania quickly leveraged this into full recognition by the states of Western Europe.
At home news of the withdrawal generated outrage among the Italian far right. That Italy was forced to withdraw by Albanian Irregulars was seen as an intolerable humiliation. The withdrawal was called an Albanian Caporetto by the new leader of the Fascist Party, who used it as a rallying cry in the coming days…
-Excerpt from European Wars for Americans, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2004
…The US presidential election of 1920 was controversial from the start. Despite being the incumbent President Thomas Marshall faced an uphill battle. Marshall was heavily associated with Wilson and his unpopularity, leading to strong challenges. From the Progressive side he faced former secretary of the Treasury William McAdoo, along with Governor James Cox of Ohio. From the conservative side he faced the opportunistic senator Furnifold Simmons of North Carolina.
The first ballot at the DNC in San Francisco saw Simmons take a surprising lead as the other 3 candidates having tapped into a groundswell of backlash against progressive politics as typified by Woodrow Wilson. Simmons however had relatively little support of the party bosses. His lead remained narrow as support shifted from the minor candidates to the big four.
After 46 rounds of voting negotiations between Marshall and McAdoo bore fruit, and McAdoo agreed to support Marshall in exchange for the vice presidency. Senator Simmons decided to shift support to Marshall on the next round as a way to buy influence and on the 48th ballot Thomas Marshall was selected as the Democratic candidate for the presidency…
…The Republican National convention started off as a contest between General Leonard Wood and Governor Frank Lowden of Indiana. Wood embodied the progressive faction while Lowden the conservative faction. At the opening of the convention it was widely speculated that a dark horse candidate could take the nomination, such as senators Warren Harding of Ohio or Philander Knox of Pennsylvania.
General Wood took an early lead at the convention, having been an outspoken critic of Wilson he was fairly popular in the anti-Wilson backlash and was considered the heir to the Roosevelt wing of the party. He remained in the lead over Lowden for six ballots, lost on the seventh and drew on the eighth. During this time Warren Harding was gaining strength, as a moderate conservative compromise candidate. With his steady increase in delegate count and strong lobbying Harding looked to take the lead on the next ballot and ultimately win the nomination.
To Senator Hiram Johnson of California this was unacceptable. Johnson while progressive was an isolationist, putting him at odds with both Lowden and Wood. However he also had a strong personal dislike of Harding. He had been the third-place candidate for the first six ballots before Harding overtook him and still had significant influence. Thus he threw his support behind his personal friend Philander Knox on the Ninth ballot.
Knox’s entry into the race halted Harding’s growth and allowed Wood to retake the lead. Over the next several ballots Wood remained in the lead while Knox and Harding cannibalized Lowden’s delegates.
The fourteenth ballot saw Senator Robert “Fighting Bob” Lafollete of Wisconsin bring his delegates over to Wood, the outspoken progressive deciding Wood was the lesser of three evils. This kept Wood with a narrow lead in the next few ballots, however Harding was increasingly picking away at the supporters of Knox. Given Harding’s well-known popularity among the rank and file he would probably win over time.
Given his dislike of Harding, Johnson reached out to Wood. After an assurance that Wood would not actively support entry into the League of Nations or equivalent organization, Johnson shifted his delegates support to Wood. On the twentieth ballot, to the surprise of many Leonard Wood received 472 votes and clinched the nomination.
To balance the ticket with a conservative Warren Harding was nominated as Vice President on the first ballot, the other leading candidate being Governor Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts who was ruled out as being another New Englander…
…The contest between Marshall and Wood was fought not on issues in the main, as both were progressive, but on feelings. Marshall had inherited Wilson’s legacy while Wood was able to make a new legacy. Using the slogan “America First,” coined by VP Harding, Wood evoked nationalistic feelings in an electorate weary from the war. Marshall attempted to point to his success in shepherding the passage of the 18th, 19th and 20th amendments, covering presidential incapacity, prohibition and women’s suffrage, but his more sophisticated arguments made little headway…
…Wood and Harding ran a traditional “front porch” campaign, relying on a well-developed campaign infrastructure to gain support. Marshall and McAdoo by contrast launched a vigorous whistle-stop campaign, touring the country to build support. However their infrastructure was lackluster, the Republicans outspent them 5 to 1 in advertising…
…Two traditional bulwarks of the democratic party failed them. Irish Americans had been a key Democratic constituency for decades, yet Wilson’s favoritism of Britain and Marshall’s refusal to support the Irish revolutionaries cost them. The Irish did not defect to the Republicans, but they stayed home en masse.
The German Americans were another story. Wilson and the Democrats had massively alienated them during the war, accusing them of not being patriotic, being potential spies and general disloyalty. Immense indignities had been suffered by them and they blamed the Democrats. Not a single German American newspaper failed to endorse the Republicans…
…On Election night 1920 Wood and Harding won perhaps the greatest landslide in American history. 61% of the popular vote was for them, compared to 34% for Marshall and McAdoo. Electorally they won 417 to 114, with the Democrats not winning a single state outside the borders of the old Confederacy. Tennessee had gone Republican for the first time since 1868. The Republicans had further brought their majorities up to 60 and 310 in the senate and house respectively…
-Excerpt from Unfinished Business: The Making of the Second World War, New American Press, Chicago, 2007