The situation in Albania was VERY complex at the time and had a whole host of different factions vying for power within the nation. I recently did a video about Albania during WW1. Below is part of my script.
Albanian independence movements had been active for centuries, but their support grew after nations such as Serbia and Bulgaria gained their independence from the Ottoman empire. Several of these states saw Albanian land as their own and theirs for the taking. The Albanians largely supported the Ottomans during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877, and the treaty of San Stivano that ended the war, gave Albanian land to Montenegro and Greece. As the century turned, Albanian demands for greater rights, and autonomy within the empire grew, and came to their peak with the Young Turk Revolution in 1908. The changes to the Albanian section of the empire including the increase of taxes, forced conscription and other issues, caused the Albanians to rise up in revolt, once in 1910 and again in 1912. The revolt of 1912 was caused by not only the failure during the Italo-Turkish war, but also by the Balkan war. With Albanian land and cities being occupied in all directions by Serbs, Greeks, Montenegrins and Bulgarians. This led to the Albanian declaration of Independence on November 28th, 1912. A declaration that was completely ignored by the occupying powers. Serbia and Montenegro’s occupation of Kosovo and Macedonia in late 1912, coupled with Greece’s pestering throughout Southern Albania, set in motion a number of indigenous struggles. All these groups sought patronage from outside interests, including the Ottoman Empire, which still had considerable support among Albanians, least in compassion to their neighbors. The resulting scramble for influence in the region proved the critical element to the emergence of many new kinds of activism. Unfortunately most of the activism took Albania further and further away from political and economic stability. This further de-centralization meant it was difficult to create a viable local government to represent the region as a whole, leading to multiple competing factions who were beholden to the whims of foreign interests. These conditions opened the door for both outright occupation by rival neighboring for the first year of the war and gave the Great Powers an opportunity to dangle Albania as a prize to the most cooperative partner. But when the war ended in May of 1913, Albanian independence was recognized in the London Conference and Treaty of Bucharest. However, only about 40% of the ethic Albanian land was incorporated into this state, and most of the nation was occupied by great powers forces.
A government was eventually formed under German prince William Zu Wied with Essad Pasha as Minister of War, Tribal leaders pledged loyalty to Wied, but he lost a large amount of support through his policies and reforms such as the separation of Church and State, giving autonomy to the Greeks in Epirus who had proclaimed their own republic, and having Pasha arrested and sent to Italy for alleged double service and conspiracy. Days after this, central Albania was in open rebellion. Wien left the country on September the 3rd 1914, having lost control of most of the country. Essad Pasha returned to Albania and seceded most of Northern Albania, which was primarily catholic to Serbia in return for military support and financial aid. This region had been claimed and heavily influenced by the Austrians for years, who had established deep connections with the Catholics in the region. With some Austrian support, a group known as the kachcuz operated gurellia fighting against the Serbs in late 1915.
Once the European war started in 1914, the tensions that had barely been silenced by the Treaty of Bucharest the previous year and the London Conference reignited in the Balkans. These separate spheres of influence became areas of complex local politics where competing external forces shaped the extent to how each zone functioned. The Italian influences over local affairs were limited in those areas deemed essential to Rome’s strategic concerns. Similar territorial limitations existed for the Austrians which had already established connections within areas that were pre-dominatly Catholic. As for Serbia and Greece, while seemingly in agreement over the extent their spheres of influence would take, Macedonia was still an area of heavy dispute between the two.
The rivalries inside the loose central Albanian coalition claimed by Essad Pasha formed the "Central Albanian Senate." It is this body that attempted to deal with all the major powers and particularly the Ottoman Sultan, seeking recognition in order to negotiate a viable solution to the political conflict. For the most part, this group failed due to Pasha forging multiple alliances with seemingly contradictory partners.
Factions did break from Essad Pasha, creating an entity in the Kruja region that ultimately overthrew Essad’s administration. It is largely understood that this Serbian expansion into Essad’s region accounts for why the Italians responded to Serbian encroachments. This intervention led to a larger scramble for Albanian territories by all the regional states.
The Greeks had formed a deal with British Foreign secretary Edward Grey that allowed Greece to officially invade Southern Albania. Shortly after, Muslims leaders, as well as political factions opposed to Pasha, rose up in Central Albania near Kurja. These forces managed to pin Pasha at the nations Capitol, Durazzo by late November of 1914. Pasha was rescued by Italian war-ships and Italy itself invaded Valonea in late December, soon holding the coast line from Valonea to Durazzo. No great power opposed this move, as they wished Italy to join their side.
When the pact of London was signed in April of 1915, that saw Italian entry into the war, they were given central Albania as a protectorate controlling the whole region south of Vlora, while the Serbs occupied the Northern section, and the Greeks the southern section. Tensions between the Serbs and Greeks in the region grew steadily and the French had to send troops into the region to prevent all out fighting from occurring. This occupation hoped to assure that the advancing armies of Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary did not entirely overrun the Entente positions in Salonika while also trying to get Greece to join their side.