Albanian Nation-Building and Austria–Hungary. The Development of a Southeast European People into a Modern Nation

Abstract

Diplomatic, political, economic, cultural, and scientific relations between Hungary and Albania date back to before 1918. At the time, Hungary was considered to possess and control half of a great power: the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The Austro-Hungarian Joint Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ballhausplatz) played a crucial role in the strengthening of the Albanian national movement at the turn of the century and in preparing the members of that movement for the tasks to be performed as leaders of an independent nation-state. Based on archival sources yet to be published and relying on previous literature, the present study takes a historiographical approach in demonstrating how the so-called Albanian question gained increasing importance and became a priority of foreign policy for the Ballhausplatz while the interests of the Albanian national movement intertwined with the aspirations of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy as a great power. The paper also shows what roles the experts of the Austrian and the Hungarian part of the Monarchy and certain members of the Albanian national movement played in this joint venture. The paper concludes that the Austrians played a key role in building the Albanian statehood, while Hungarian scholar Lajos Thallóczy, representing Hungarian political and historical thought, made an unparalleled contribution to the modern Albanian nation-building process.