History of Kosovo from the First Balkan War to the End of World War II (1912–1945)

After the First and Second Balkan Wars (1912–1913) the territory of Kosovo was annexed to the Kingdom of Serbia. This action was made in spite of the fact that the former vilayet of Kosovo definitely had Albanian majority at the time. However, the political elite of the Kingdom of Serbia did not have time to integrate Kosovo, as World War I started in July 1914. After the First World War (1914–1918) the territory of Kosovo was annexed to Yugoslavian state. Serbians regarded the Albanians of Kosovo as a foreign body within the Yugoslavian state. In accordance with this standpoint, the Serbian political elite leading the Yugoslavian state took measures against the Albanians of Kosovo in every field of the political-economic life. Such activities of the Serbs can be described under the following categories: 1. the issue of regional administration; 2. the topic of minority rights; 3. the field of economics. In the first part of our essay we examine what happened in the above mentioned three fields in Kosovo between 1918 and 1941. It was in April 1941 when, due to the attacks by Germany and its allies, the first Yugoslav state collapsed in two weeks. In the second part of our essay we investigate the consequences of this event. We survey the birth of Greater Albania.