Valdemar II
Banned
How would the rule of King William Friedrich Heinrich of Wied, if WWI hadn't happen, had been? Would his Christian faith had been a problem?
How would the rule of King William Friedrich Heinrich of Wied, if WWI hadn't happen, had been? Would his Christian faith had been a problem?
I think it would have been.
Albania has been under Italian control, without revolting nor having problems.
OTOH, WI Albania was threatened with dismemberment by Italy and its neighbors and the only thing standing in their way was CP support for a German prince?
That might get the Prince installed, but it won't help him from having to face endless rebellion.
Gulp. When? Albania has always been a serious problem for occupiers. It's 70% Muslim. A few Catholics and Orthodox are not going to be enough to support a Protestant prince.
Besides, we have only to look at the actual historical example of William's reign, which was a total disaster and disintegrated almost instantaneously.
Coming late to this thread, but...
Albanians are not particularly devout Muslims (or anything else). Most of them cheerfully drink beer and rakia, and almost nobody wears the veil. And they're very tolerant; when Benedict was elected Pope, church bells rang all over Tirana.
Wilhelm's reign was a disaster, sure enough, but for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with religion. And when he arrived in Albania, he was welcomed by adoring crowds, and all the leading notables of the country -- Muslim, Catholic, whatever -- lined up to swear loyalty to him.
Don't make assumptions about Albania based on Turkey or other countries in the region. Albania is... unusual.
Doug M.
It's also not a good idea to make assumptions about a group in the past based upon its current behavior. In any case, AHP's one of the few people truly well-read and well-versed on the Balkans here, and happens to be part Albanian, IIRC.Don't make assumptions about Albania based on Turkey or other countries in the region. Albania is... unusual.
It's also not a good idea to make assumptions about a group in the past based upon its current behavior. In any case, AHP's one of the few people truly well-read and well-versed on the Balkans here, and happens to be part Albanian, IIRC.
Six Albanians arrested in plot to kill soldiers at Fort Dix.I'm sorry, but that last post made no sense to me.
I am merely demonstrating the value of anecdotal evidence. It would appear that I have proven my point.The Fort Dix Six: four are ethnic Albanians, one Jordanian, and one Turk. (Clearly this shows Turkey is a land of slavering Islamist terrorists.)
One defendant (Albanian) has pled to a minor weapons charge and is off the case. The other five have been awaiting trial for over a year now; no trial has been scheduled. A number of holes have appeared in the government's case; it's starting to look like another one of /those/ terrorism cases, you know?
"Glib" is not the first word that comes to mind.
How would the rule of King William Friedrich Heinrich of Wied, if WWI hadn't happen, had been? Would his Christian faith had been a problem?
Alright, I don't really have much of a dog in this fight, but I decided to pursue it further to determine whether what you had said was correct and whether AHP was simply wrong, as you insist. The truth be told, there doesn't appear to be much on William of Wied, but 2005 saw the publication of a volume entitled The Six Month Kingdom: Albania 1914 by Duncan Heaton-Armstrong, and edited by Gervase Belfield and Bejtullah D. Destani at the Centre for Albanian Studies. I presume that this is the book from which you drew your quote from Duncan Heaton-Armstrong, William of Wied's Irish secretary. What the editors of the book have to say substantially confirms your observations - for the first three months of King William's six month reign.Wilhelm's reign was a disaster, sure enough, but for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with religion. And when he arrived in Albania, he was welcomed by adoring crowds, and all the leading notables of the country -- Muslim, Catholic, whatever -- lined up to swear loyalty to him.
During the first couple of months of William's reign, outwardly it seemed that the Albanians were immensely grateful to the Powers; the Albanian diplomat, linguist, and eye-witness to the events of 1914, Constantine Chekrezi (1892-1959), summed up the mood on the king's arrival: "during that supreme moment of delirious happiness, the past, present, and future misfortunes of the people and country were entirely lost sight of" and William was greeted as the "Savior of Albania."
Now, the question becomes whether what the editors of this volume have said is broadly accurate, or whether you have reasons to doubt their conclusions, because I've having severe difficulties reconciling the two accounts.As the unity of the Great Powers rapidly disintegrated, the strength of the Moslem rebellion in central Albania increased. The main demand of the rebels was that William be replaced by a Moslem prince. In selecting William to rule the country, the Great Powers failed to realize how different Albania was to its Balkan and east European neighbors, and how inappropriate was their choice of sovereign. William had unwisely chosen his capital city on the doorstep of the most fanatical and "Ottomanised" community of Sunni Moslems, many of whom were descendants of refugees from Bosnia in 1878. The picture of these war-like Moslems facing the Christian prince chosen by Austria symbolizes the agony and difficulty the new nation was experiencing in deciding its true identity [...] in this sense, the main theme of the reign of William of Wied was civil war.
2005 saw the publication of a volume entitled The Six Month Kingdom: Albania 1914 by Duncan Heaton-Armstrong, and edited by Gervase Belfield and Bejtullah D. Destani at the Centre for Albanian Studies. I presume that this is the book from which you drew your quote from Duncan Heaton-Armstrong, William of Wied's Irish secretary. .