V o L u m e I : a d

initiated a series of Five-Year Plans designed to take advantage of Albania’s

abundant natural resources, including oil, copper, and coal. The plans also

included an ambitious program to modernize the country’s electrical and trans-

portation infrastructure.

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s speech of February 1956, in which

he denounced Stalin and his policies, further deepened Albania’s distrust of

the outside world. Hoxha and Shehu condemned Khrushchev’s concept of

peaceful coexistence, choosing to maintain their strict Stalinist stance. At

the same time, Albania condemned Tito’s overtures to the West, and state-

sanctioned political repression increased with the establishment by 1961 of

some fourteen gulag-style camps for political prisoners. Many of the prisoners

were used as slave laborers in nearby mines and industrial centers, leading

one historian to dub Albania “the Mediterranean Gulag.”

Between 1958 and 1960 Albania further ostracized itself by becoming a

player in the emerging Sino-Soviet split. Albania tilted toward the People’s

Republic of China (PRC) and again condemned the notions of peaceful co-

existence, de-Stalinization, and Titoism. At the November 1960 Moscow

conference of world communist representatives, Hoxha verbally attacked the

Soviet Union’s policies. Shortly thereafter, the Soviets ended their technical

and economic support of Albania. The PRC then stepped in and became

Albania’s new patron.

98

Albania

Women picking cotton in Albania, 1956. (Library of Congress)

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True to form, Albania followed China’s lead when Chinese leader Mao

Zedong announced the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. In 1965

Hoxha initiated his own Cultural and Ideological Revolution. The already-

oppressive nature of Albanian life became even more entrenched as gov-

ernment authorities sought to eliminate “professionalism” in the nation’s

bureaucracies, including the army, and forcibly transfer white-collar workers

to the industrial and agricultural sectors. In 1967 the government prohibited

all aspects of religion in the public sphere. As a result, mosques and churches

were seized and transformed into warehouses and workshops as the Hoxha

regime declared Albania “the world’s first atheistic nation.” Meanwhile,

Hoxha’s portrait and alleged writings were plastered throughout Albania,

mimicking Stalin’s and Mao’s cults of personality. In 1968, after the Prague

Spring and subsequent Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Albania cut its

last remaining ties with the Soviets by withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact.

China’s diplomatic overtures to the United States, which began in 1971,

led to a decrease in U.S. commitments to Albania. When U.S. President

Richard M. Nixon made his historic visit to China in February 1972, Albania

pointedly refused to publicize it. To compensate for its faltering relations

with China, Hoxha then revived relations with Yugoslavia and Greece. Dur-

ing 1972–1975, Albania strengthened its commercial, diplomatic, and cul-

tural ties to Western Europe. But Tirana showed the limits of this by refusing

to participate in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe

(CSCE). Albania became the only European nation to boycott the Helsinki

Conference on Human Rights of July 1975.

After Mao’s death in 1976, Albania publicly condemned his successors,

who responded by welcoming Tito with open arms during a 1977 state visit

to China. They then cut off all aid to Albania a year later. As Hoxha con-

tinued to improve relations with Western Europe, he launched yet another

series of purges, culminating in the alleged suicide of his right-hand man

Shehu on 18 December 1981. Historians believe that Hoxha ordered Shehu

killed, and in November 1982 Shehu was posthumously accused of being a

spy for both the United States and the Soviet Union.

Hoxha’s death in April 1985 brought his handpicked successor, Ramiz

Alia, to power. Alia had been acting prime minister since 1983. Alia’s image

soon replaced Hoxha’s on Albanian signs and buildings, and he continued

Albania’s self-imposed isolation even as he established official diplomatic

relations with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany). By

the time the Berlin Wall came down in the fall of 1989, Albania was in des-

perate financial and economic straits, with a repressed and paranoid popula-

tion barely able to cope in the new era of posttotalitarian Eastern Europe.

Chris Tudda

See also

Alia, Ramiz; China, People’s Republic of; Comecon; Cominform; Europe, Eastern;

Gulags; Hoxha, Enver; Mao Zedong; Prague Spring; Security and Cooperation

in Europe, Conference on; Shehu, Mehmet; Sino-Soviet Split; Tito, Josip Broz;

Warsaw Pact

Albania

99

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References

Biberaj, Elez. Albania: A Socialist Maverick. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1990.

O’Donnell, James S. A Coming of Age: Albania under Enver Hoxha. Boulder, CO: East

European Monographs, 1999.

Pipa, Arshi. Albanian Stalinism: Ideo-Political Aspects. Boulder, CO: East European

Monographs, 1990.

Zickel, Raymond E., and Walter R. Iwaskiw, eds. Albania: A Country Study. Washing-

ton, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1992.

King of Belgium since 1993. Albert Félix Humbert Théodore Christian

Eugéne Marie Saxe-Coburg was born on 6 June 1934 in Brussels at the

Château Stuyvenberg, the younger son of King Leopold III (1901–1983) and

his first wife, Princess Astrid of Sweden (1905–1935). At birth, he was given

the title Prince of Liège. When Leopold II abdicated the throne in 1951,

Albert’s older brother, Baudouin, succeeded as king, and Albert became the

heir apparent. In 1959, Albert married Queen Paola, with whom he fathered

three children.

Albert became the sixth king of the Belgians on 9 August 1993, nine

days after Baudouin’s death. Albert II was a consistent supporter of U.S.

Cold War policies and a strong proponent of European economic and politi-

cal integration.

Albert, who served as a vice admiral in the Belgian Navy, was convinced

that Belgian (and European) prosperity was threatened by the Soviet Union.

Throughout his public career, he has been dedicated to making Europe an

economic and diplomatic power. Brussels is the headquarters of the Euro-

pean Community (EC) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),

two institutions that Albert steadfastly championed. He has also maintained

a close diplomatic relationship with the United States. Albert continues to

lure foreign investment to Belgium and to promote export opportunities for

Belgian products.

In 1984, Albert created the Prince Albert Fund, which provides scholar-

ships for students interested in international trade. In the post–Cold War

period, he has encouraged political and economic reform in Eastern Europe

and the former Soviet Union.

Michael R. Hall

See also

Baudouin, King of Belgium; Belgium; Leopold III, King of Belgium

References

Cook, Bernard. Belgium: A History. New York: Peter Lang, 2002.

Neuckermans, Luc. Albert II: Koning na Boudewijn [Albert II: King after Baudouin].

Antwerp: Van Halewijck, 1995.

Witte, Els, Jan Craeybeckx, and Alain Meynen. Political History of Belgium from 1830

Onwards. Amsterdam: Vu University Press, 2001.

100

Albert II, King of Belgium

Albert II,

King of Belgium

(1934–)

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