On November 27, 1926, the First Tirana Pact was signed.

The General Directorate of Archives reminds us that this Italian-Albanian pact, also known as the Treaty of Peace and Security, had a validity of five years. The pact obligated official Tirana to accept Italian officers into the ranks of its army and police forces for supervision and training.

Both signatory nations pledged mutual military and economic support. Several provisions of the pact stipulated that:

• Anyone opposing the existing Albanian “status quo” would be considered an enemy of both the Albanian and Italian states.
• Neither country would enter into any political or military agreements that could harm the interests of the other.
• Both parties were subject to a special settlement process if issues arose that could not be resolved through diplomatic orders.

The pact drew reactions from former Yugoslavia, which launched a military action against Albania’s northern border with French support. This Yugoslav-French alliance was considered by Mussolini as an act against Italy.

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