Albania had seen quite a bit of troubles during the inter-war years, experiencing both coups, counter-coups and even several invasions. Eventually, after being under foreign influence ever since its formation, Albania was invaded by Italy in April 1939, and then placed in a personal union with Italy under the Italian king.
At first slowly, then, as the Italians suffered defeat on defeat on other fronts, faster and faster, an Albanian partisan movement (the ALNA) began emerging, strongly controlled by the communists. As in Greece, it only really started to gain strength during 1943, when it began to form its first divisions, but from then on it began expanding rapidly, finally to emerge as the only partisan movement having freed its country totally on it self from the Axis, and also having helped to liberate neighboring Yugoslavia.