1909 Albanian Military Revolt in Constantinople

Albanian troops of the Ottoman Army rebelled against the Ottoman government on April 13, 1909. Loyal troops suppressed the rebels after a five-hour battle.

Mavi Boncuk | Albanian Military Revolt in Constantinople (1909)

1909 was an interesting year for the Ottoman Empire. Constantinople recognized Austrian annexation of Bosnia and Herzogovina and Vienna paid the Turks a £2.2 million indemnity, the Russians cancel a £20-million Turkish indemnity in return for Constantinople's recognition of Bulgarian independence.

The 76-year-old grand vizier Kamil is deposed February 13 and replaced by Huseyin Hilmi, 50, and the Baghdad-born general Mahmud Sevket, 51, suppressed a religious uprising against the Young Turk government in what will be remembered as the 31st of March Incident. The 1st Army Corps revolts at Constantinople April 13; composed chiefly of Albanians, forcing Hilmi to resign. A 25,000-man army of liberation arrives from Macedonia April 24, a 5-hour battle ensues, and leaders of the April 13 revolt are executed. The sultan Abdul Hamid II favors a return to absolutism and is imprisoned in his palace, his 4,000-man Albanian guard surrenders to the Young Turks April 25 and gives up its arms, and the sultan is deposed April 26 at age 66 after a 33-year reign by unanimous vote of the Ottoman parliament. His helpless 64-year-old brother will reign until 1918 as Mohammed V, and Gen. Sevket is promoted to inspector general of the first three army corps and minister of war

See Also: Mediterranean Quarterly
Volume 17, Number 3, Summer 2006 | E-ISSN: 1527-1935 Print ISSN: 1047-4552
Mediterranean Quarterly - Volume 17, Number 3, Summer 2006, pp. 26-42

Psilos, Christophoros.
Albanian Nationalism and Unionist Ottomanization 1908 to 1912

In the second half of the nineteenth century, more than three-quarters of a million Albanians lived in the Ottoman Empire. Residing in Albania proper, in the western departments of the Macedonian provinces (vilayets) of Monastir, Kosovo, and Epirus, the Albanian people were divided into Christian Orthodox, Catholics, and Muslims, the last forming the majority. Tribal fragmentation, religious divisions, and geographical barriers in conjunction with the lack of an independent church and separate language had precluded Albanian attempts at the construction of a national identity and statehood. Unlike their neighboring Balkan states, the Albanians were devoid of both statehood and Great Power protection. Notwithstanding these shortcomings, this isolated Balkan people had preserved its customary way of living based on a horizontal, clan-dominated societal system. In their campaign for ethnic assertiveness and self-determination, the Albanians were not without means. For centuries, the Ottoman government had been deploying Albanian paramilitary units in the southern Balkans to police, curb, and often oppress its recalcitrant Slav and Greek subjects.