Kingdom of Albania in personal union with Italy

The Kingdom of Albania was in personal union with the Kingdom of Italy (Fascist Italy) following the Italian invasion of Albania in 1939 and until the German occupation in September 1943. It is also referred to as Italian Albania or Greater Albania, and was a state controlled by Fascist Italy. The monarch was Italian King, Victor Emmanuel III, who was represented in Albania by Italian governors. During this time, Albania ceased to exist as an independent country and became an autonomous part of the Italian Empire.

In the Treaty of London during World War I, the Triple Entente had promised territories in Albania to Italy as a reward for fighting against the Central Powers. Italian Fascists claimed that Albanians were ethnically linked to Italians through association with the prehistoric populations, and that the major influence exerted by the Roman and Venetian empires over Albania gave Italy the right to possess it. In addition, several hundred thousand ethnic Albanians had already been absorbed into southern Italy, which was used to justify annexation as a measure that would unite all Albanians into one state. Italy supported Albanian irredentism, directed against the predominantly Albanian-populated Kosovo in Yugoslavia; Albanian nationalists also sought Italian support against Epirus in Greece, particularly in the border area of Chameria, but didn't receive it. Seeing Albanians as inferior, Italy sought to move Italians into Albania and turn it into a colony.

The Italian and German occupiers were responsible for 28,000 dead, 12,600 wounded, 43,000 interned in concentration camps, 61,000 homes burned, 850 villages destroyed in Albania.