Albania: The Cold War Years.

During World War II the country was occupied by the Germans. When they retreated in 1944, a leader of the Communist-led resistance movement, Enver Hoxha, became head of the Albanian government. In 1946 a people's republic was declared; private land was confiscated and industry nationalized. After the war Yugoslavia controlled Albania. When Yugoslavia left the Soviet bloc in 1948, Albania broke its ties with that country and became an ally of the Soviet Union, joining the Warsaw Pact …

…Albania began to take an active role in Balkan affairs. In December 1990 the Democratic party was established, and in March 1991 the first multiparty elections in 68 years were held. A non-Communist multiparty regime took control in June 1991, but this regime fell in December 1991. Thousands of Albanian refugees fled to Italy in August 1991, but few were allowed to remain there. In April 1992 Sali Berisha, a heart surgeon, was elected Albania's first non-Communist president since World War II.