NOTICE: There are some errors in this video that I wish to correct - see the bottom of this document for more info. www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3b2hmstjhjkf3im57v9lb/Europe-s-North-Korea.docx?rlkey=og38lh8ri6ncv0u4fa34igaoq&st=0qfxw7ny&dl=0 This was quite a difficult and tangled topic to cover, and I was unfortunately unable to include all of the intricacies of Hoxha's rule and every single idiosyncrasy of Albania's time as a Communist hermit state. For example, I was unable to include Hoxha's assault on religious institutions within the country, as I didn't have the time and was unable to find a good way of getting it to integrate with the rest of the video. If you'd like some more background info, I'd recommend reading Blendi Fevziu's book "The Iron Fist of Albania" along with Elidor Mëhilli's book "Albania and the Socialist World". Anyways, hope you enjoyed the video. Feel free to use this comment to respond with any suggestions or corrections, which I'll be happy to add to the script's correction section.
This is your worst video yet Albania does have a reason to be afraid of Yugoslavia "Following the Yugoslav-Soviet Union split (1948), local Albanians were viewed by the state as possible collaborators of pro-Soviet Albania and consequently Kosovo became an area of focus for the secret service and police force under Ranković.[20] During Ranković's campaign, members of the Albanian intelligentsia were targeted, whereas thousands of other Albanians underwent trials and were jailed for "Stalinism". Yugoslavia had a literal plan to occupy Albania And lots and lots of information here looks sensationalist than historical This video is better to be unlisted or at least updated, There is a lot of dishonesty about Hoxha, idk if that's your attempt or just an actual mistake but this is a horrible viewpoint to make Hoxha look as bad as possible.
As an albanian I can tell you, growing up and hearing my parents and grandparents stories about that time is bone-chilling to say the least, like sort of living in a dystopian surreal world that you'd only think exists in books. It really gives perspective in life and every time I feel like complaining in my head, there's always that thought "imagine how they had it, this you're dealing with is almost laughable". You really do learn to appreciate things most would take for granted today.
@@ozymandias999 cuz landless farmers were actually given land and bread under Hoxha while the landowners, who often collaborated with Balli Kombetar, had land taken from them. Most landowners were against Hoxha. A landless peasant would be crazy if he was against Hoxha. And it would be especially weird since agriculture collapsed in the 90's in Albania
@@Rezistenza1998 they didn't have much land and it was anyways taken from them, never affiliated with Balli or got vocal against the regime cuz it would be suicide either way. It didn't start all that bad after WWII (as is usual with communism in the early steps) but the more it went on the worse it got, especially during the late '70s and '80s when they basically cut all connections with the outside world like North Korea today.
I once worked for a German ship building company in the early 1980s that had sold a refurbished ship to Albania. Before it was fully handed over to Albanian authorities it was put through all kinds of tests by Albanian and German engineers which took 3 weeks. In that time both sides got to know each other fairly well. The Albanians refused to believe us when we told them that TVs, cars, washing machines, telephones, central heating etc, were basic commodities in the west that everyone could afford. Towards the end of the tests several Albanians finally admitted to me that their disbelief was in reality just pretence, they knew just how backward their country was, but that there was a state agent among them whose only job was to watch out what they say.
My Mom (Kosovo Albanian) did the research for her doctorate in the 70 and 80, and she describes the same situation. Always having minders by your side. In one of her visits she got permission to meet some lost cousins of a friend of hers and give them some presents. They couldn't talk about anything beyond the greetings and introductions. Both parties had minders and the minders told them to keep it short and not talk about anything.
Interesting. One thing I remember reading that was kind of impressive about Hoxha is that he made sure all the debts of Albania were paid off. It had no debt to any other country or corporation.
I was 7 when Hoxha died, and I remember people wailing on the streets. They sent us home early from school, and all I remember is that I was happy to go play outside. My father told me years later that if you didn't show any emotion, they could arrest you on bogus charges
I was about 10 when he died and when our school visited his grave I cracked a joke and made some of my classmates laugh. School called my parents to tell them about the incident but nothing else came off it fortunately.
Fun fact: In the autobiography book written by Hoxha himself, he mentioned a period of his youth where he was stealing fruits from the garden of my Grand grandfather from my father's side. He mentioned my family there and the fact that my grand grandfather was kicking him out of his property. I'm curious how later on, he didn't do anything to him knowing his habit of vendetta or revenge. Edit : Thanks for the likes. I wanted to add to the story also something interesting and paradoxical. My grand grandfather from my mother side was part of the traders and wealthy families who were persecuted and confiscated all the wealth and belongings, aprox 1.7 million of gold napolons at the time. The communists spare his life because he didn't hide his gold so they let him keep the house. I have do have the newspaper from 1944 with the families who were impacted. It's interesting that both of the grand grandfather's could have been killed, and I wouldn't be alive now. Cheers to all
@davidchong5909 that's true, but he usually had a weak point for comrades from his native city, Gjirokastra. The same happened with Ismail Kadare, the known albanian writer with whom he had disputes and contradictions. But he never killed him
And how weird this may think, for how to write that down means it left an impression on him, there’s a good chance even he knew what he was doing was wrong at the time, and hence why he never wanted to take revenge, children tend to have a natural moral compass, only skewed by the horrors of life
Well this video aint gonna teach u shit cuz its full of crap. In 1997 there literally almost was another communist revolution because the 90's were such a shithole. Hoxha and the PPSH built Albania. The capitalist wind of the 90's destroyed everything and now Albania sells out its own cities and beaches for the big tourist industry while the young people have to work in Germany. There now is crime, drugs, dirt and massive depression all across Albania while the very hated and corrupt government only fills the pockets of its compradors. Nostalgia for Hoxha is everywhere, in Labinot-Mal they literally guard his last statue, ive been there myself
I mean there are dozens of countries we don’t hear or know much about really, and what we do have about many is either a few news stories or just media-driven stereotypes - things like “Albanians have mafia connections because The Sopranos told me so”
Because western mainstream media never want to talk bad against themselves, that's why they only talk shit about the global south. Now you are beginning to realise the extent of western propaganda. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Travel more around the world and be wary of media and one's perception and biases, to realise the true extent of western propaganda.
I first learned of Hoxha only a few days ago when reading the wikipedia article on political decoys. That's probably why this video showed up in my recommended. I'm in my 30s
@@CantTellYou After Communism fell a lot of Yugoslavs and Albanians emigrated to the USA and Western Europe. Some of them actually _did_ have mafia connections - the Yugoslav mafia became a big deal in Sweden in the 90s - but most of them were obviously just normal people - or as normal as you can be having lived through the shit they lived through, anyway. Organised crime represented one of the most powerful anti-Communist elements in the socialist world and when Communist regimes collapsed they swooped in to grab everything they could. They effectively ran the government in many formerly Communist countries although by the 00s they had _mostly_ been dealt with.
On a lighter note, Hoxha also stole an entire fleet, including 4 Whiskey class submarines, from the Soviets. In 1961 the Soviets stationed a fleet in Vlorë as part of Russia's endless quest to try and get a warm water port. Then a few thousand Albanian soldiers showed up and said "these are our ships now", the Soviet engineers sabotaged the fleet before being forced to hand it over but Hoxha just brought in engineers from China to fix them. And he got away with it because the Soviets didn't think it was worth going to war with this lunatic over this.
Truly a very good documentary, about the communist era of Albania. It’s crazy to see this, cause as the first Albanian/American child from my family. My father has told me vast stories of him growing up and being in the military in Albania at the time and about my grandfather and great grandfather. My father defected the country in 1988 as a soldier in the alpine division guarding the border between Greece and Albania. Long story short, my grandfather was a high ranking officer. And had gotten the news that my father/his son was a defector and collaborator to the western world, for leaving Albania. To this day I don’t know what happened my father has never truly told me, but from little things I know, civilians and probably people my father knew. where fleeing the country and the officer on the post where my father was, gave orders to kill the civilians fleeing, to not let them cross the border. My father refused and some how the officer ended up dead. The soldiers on duty with my father, from what he said where absolutely lost and scared shitless. Some soldiers next to him joined and fled the country, and some others started shooting at him. He told me the entire southern country was on high alert chasing them for days. After days of running my father ends up in northern Greece where him and a couple of his comrades surrendered to a small Greek police station, My father said when 5 Albanians still dressed in military uniforms walk the street, the people thought it was an invasion. One of my fathers friends at the time was wounded bleeding down his leg, when they walked into the Greek police station, the front lady screamed so loud that every police officer charged out. My father and his comrades still had there AK’s drawn. He told me, that you could hear a feather fall that’s how quite and utterly still everyone was pointing guns at each other. Nevertheless, my father came and surrendered as a refugee fleeing Albania. He ended up staying in a Greek prison for 8 months, getting interrogated..ect for them suspecting he was a spy. To this day he doesn’t have some nails and back teeth. Somehow NATO gets involved, and my dad ends up in America after almost 2 years of traveling from country to country. Unfortunately, my father never got the opportunity to see his dad or my grandfather ever again. For my father being apart of the family of a high ranking military official, from what he told me it brought a lot of government wondering eyes to the family, and shame. My grandfather past away before my father could come back to Albanian, and way before I was born. My father did return to Albanian with my mother in the late 90’s right before I was born, in Vlorë. To visit our family and his mother after 11 years. Unfortunately, during that time the Kosovo conflict was going on, and my father stayed in Albania and fought in Kosovo, while my mother returned to America with me. Ik this was a long comment lol, but I wanted to share this with people. I haven’t been back home in 24 years, and this coming months I will be going back home finally. I have tons of truly old black n white photos of my family dating back to before WW1 to WW2 an later. Albania has alot of history and culture that is not talked about much. Century’s of history and culture. And I appreciate informative videos such as this. Thank you
My grandfather planned to travel from the UK to Greece via Albania. He got a lucky escape when visiting someone in Yugoslavia he was informed "they might let you in, but they won't let you out."
@eldrago19...they might let you in, but they won't let you out doesn't make any sense.....the difficulty was in entering Albania, not in leaving Albania therefore it is the opposite of what the Yougoslavs said
I was told a similar story by someone who was stationed in Germany when they served in the British Army in the 70s. Him and a couple of colleagues had a couple of weeks leave, so they decided to hire a car and take a trip to Greece. They crossed the Yugoslav border no problem from Austria, and, looking at the map, decided that it was a shorter journey if they travelled through Albania. They rocked up with their passports on the Yugoslav side, and explained to the border guards that they were just travelling through and had no intention of stopping, but were given short shrift and told not to be so fkn stupid, they'd get arrested as spies if they tried, take the long way round, and have a great holiday in Greece.
The graphics of this video are about the best I have ever seen. If RUclips video is an art form then this one has to be the epitome of the genre. The writing is flawless, the narration is perfect and the subject underserved generally, is here unfolded and analyzed. "Hats off" to you, mate.
I totally agree, and I just wanted to express the same sentiment. I really appreciate the content, the visuals, and especially how the narrator has this beautifully human voice. It's such a refreshing change compared to other videos where the narrator sounds like they're being chased and speaks at a frantic pace
Im watching this from my dilapidated albanian hill bunker, theres no heat or electricity but ive ran a cord from the neighbour's house. Great video Imperial!
Learning about Enver Hoxha is really something, this guy was an absolute madman. It's actually incredible how someone can be such a hypocritical monster and feel so self-assured to call every other marxist a "revisionist."
Because every other marxist was revisionist. Hoxha was Marxist-Leninist all the way, just like his idol Stalin. There's zero daylight between being a completely orthodox Marxist-Leninist/Stalinist and being both a hypocrite and a monster.
Could you please make a followup on this video? I remember that after the opening of Albania, the people had so little knowledge of the inner workings of a capitalist market that they fell for the lure of pyramid schemes by the millions, until the systems collapsed in 1997, and riots broke out which shook the new democracy to its very roots. Five years before those events, right after the collapse of the Eastern Block, the poverty was so bad that men started hijacking (foreign) ships, and forced the captains to ferry them over to Italy. One AP photograph shows such a ship with about 4,000 people on board, and even more trying to get aboard until they are hanging down from the ropes like grapevines - on the outside. The fashion company Benetton, whose advertisment strategy was to gain attention by placing shocking pictures on their posters, used this photograph in a campaign, which gave it a lasting impression.
Yes, that's true. They fell for a giant pyramid scheme, and like pretty much all other post communist countries, it became a democratic oligarchy. Several people control the strongest companies and brands of the country.
I visited Albania last month and I can tell you it’s now a BEAUTIFUL and very welcoming country. Stayed on the coast in Durrës which was just DELIGHTFUL. The centre of Tirana is very pleasant as well. Highly recommend anyone visit Albania.
I just found your channel and i have to say your content is on a different level! Keep it going my friend you will grow and suceed! Thanks for your videos🫡
I have a good friend who grew up in Albania during the 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s. He is a very quiet man. When I asked him what it was like, he spoke of Hoxha and life during his rule. He has spoke of some things about the daily life in Alabania during this time. His descriptions of it gave me no idea it was that bad.
I wanted imigrate, my parents would hope more..my enviroment is worse than field of the war... during watching video, it's suspected actor 山下智久harmed me by virtual watching my life by アスベスト。he was malicious witness even last winter's same category incident...triple shock. If I am calm, somebody induce new crime. I conjecture Room sharing man lied my name again. My name is KanakoMatsuno.Mon gangster Pijus partageant la chambre est tellement menteur et égoïste. Je passe du temps avec lui à midi (I spend time with him in midday) Pouvez-vous imaginer comme ci-dessous ? C'est une base factuelle. C'est peut-être mieux pour toi. surveillez ici les habitants qui viennent ici par intermittence comme criminels. Même si vous pouvez arrêter le premier groupe, le groupe suivant viendra ici pour fournir ma personnalité aux criminels... de terribles fauteurs de troubles. Nous ne sommes pas un personnage de film. Même un a été arrêté, les quartiers idiots français m'ont fait du mal par IRM et ont extrait mes ondes cérébrales et ce criminel m'a même fait passer en prison... ils devraient arrêter ces harceleurs intermittents les uns après les autres... apprenez-en plus sur le clonage humain s'il vous plaît. Ils implantent mon moment passé des faits différents...méprisez aussi les fausses relations familiales de PijusBacevicius. N'ignorez pas les victimes situation détestable, recherchez les intimidateurs. S'ils gâchent le temps en regardant la vie de personnes inoffensives, c'est un problème de confidentialité et commencez simplement à regarder correctement la vie des criminels. Vous prenez beaucoup de temps même si vous utilisez le mode rapide... My room sharing gangster is so liar and selfish. Can you imagine like below? It's fact base. 私が神経過敏になろうが全身の造形が物理的に崩れようが絶え間なく起こっている事象です keep watch on here(french Paris rue du Quatrefages14's 8floor, front side of two buildings)'s residents who intermittently coming here as criminal. Even if you can arrest first group, next group come here to provide my personality to criminals...terrible troublemakers. We are not casted character of movie. Even one was arrested, french foolish neighborhoods harmed me by MRIand extracted my brain waves and that criminal pretended me even in the jail...they ought to arrest such intermittent coming harassers one by another... learned about clone human please. They implant my past moment different facts... disdain PijusBacevicius's fake family relationships too. Don't ignore victimes hateful situation, search out bullying people. If they spoil time by viewing harmless people's life, it's privacy problem and just start to watch criminal's life correctly. You take time much even you use rapid mode...松野可奈子はストーカーたちの妄言狂言虚偽実現主義によって徐々に醜くされた。2017年３月一週目が私の姿が崩壊した第一歩だった。フランスに２０２１年にヤクザ達から逃げてきても尚人体劣悪化を謀る狂女達によって酷い嫌がらせを受け続け、今や別人のように妙なプロポーションである。美人とは形容されなくなった。Kanako Matsuno a été progressivement rendue laide par les paroles sauvages et les fausses réalisations de ses harceleurs. La première semaine de mars 2017 a été la première étape au cours de laquelle mon image a été détruite. Même si j'ai échappé aux yakuzas pour venir en France en 2021, j'ai continué à être sévèrement harcelée par des femmes folles qui complotaient pour dégrader le corps humain, et maintenant je ressemble à une personne différente avec des proportions étranges. Je ne suis plus décrite comme belle.
Most old people including my grandparent view it in a good way he does say that it had many problems howver imorality and the people back then were way better he also says how life was simpler but does say in someways its better today
@@Briandervishi i feel like this sort of system makes many people hold in their suffering, and numb themselves to it. thinking about the painful past is so hard sometimes even if your not in a system that encorages this behavoir
I love this dude. The quality is absolutely impeccable yet he manages to get through such different topics, some of which I may not even find interesting- yet I still watch because it's just so good.
I don't know who or what is responsible for those graphics, but as a former graphic designer coming to this channel for the first time, the visuals were highly satisfying
@@bld7549from what I know most of Albanians living in Connecticut are from Korça and Tirana. I'm not saying that there aren't Albanians from other cities but these 2 make the majority there.
Oh shit no way, just saw this - I see your conspiracy takedowns on RUclips and TikTok all the time, they're hilarious. I'm glad you enjoy my content haha
Good video. I think you should also do a video covering Ceausescu's Romania, there are also many similarities with North Korea there, and there's no shortage of strange, if not disturbing, actions taken by his regime to investigate and showcase.
So glad that you site your sources so concisely and readily available. I went to check one of your claims and was able to find where it came from easily. Thank you so much
Hoxhaist Albania once maintained such a good relationship with Maoist China that China even designed an airliner (Shanghai Y-10) to enable direct flight to Tirana. But as China approached and eventually allied with America, Albania gradually distanced itself from China until the eventual split. By the way, Hoxhaism is quite influential in movements of the Third-World countries, like the Ethiopian revolutionaries that overthrew the Derg.
@CrocodileWhispers @belstar1128 Just looked up Wikipedia. Hoxhaism seems to be a fairly large movement in the present and more so in the past, even rivalling Maoism. Hoxha would rejoice in his grave, while Mao would turn in his crystal coffin. 😏
@@33moneyball I believe that if you had lived under the rules of Haile Selassie and Dinaw Mengestu in a succession, you would have opposed both the United States and the Soviet Union. 🤗
I’m an Albanian and when Enver Hoxha died, my parents were crying because they thought it was the end of the country. This man told the people living in the country that everywhere else was poor and trying to be like Albania. He brainwashed the whole population into thinking that we were better off than every other country. Hoxha said he was the only reason Albania was secure and safe, so when he died, everyone feared the worse. It’s horrible because if you showed no emotion (after Hoxha died) you would be arrested under fake charges. This man was seen as a god and we had to pray to him before every meal.
@@subtleusername5475did you watch the video or what? Ever heard of propaganda and having total manipulation of what information the media makes accessible? There was literally no way to know what was going in the other countries ,so tell me how can you know something without having the means to do so(no TV etc..),the regime was truly awful in every aspect
Till this day, I can never understand why there are individuals like them who would be willing to put the rest of society into dismay and hardships just so they can party, enjoy luxuries, expatriate medical services + medications. But this video clearly definitely serves a larger purpose to educate everyone with wholesome history lessons and events. My first time watching a video from this channel and I'm already very impressed with their high-quality production.
You could say the same about the bloke in the Kremlin. Supposedly the richest man in Russia, with palaces, gold and other luxuries. He could have stepped down after invading Crimea in 2014 with the whole of Russia backing him, and lived the rest of his life comfortably. But he chose to stay on. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Because it's profitable. Who is better for the US, dictator Stalin, who literally destroyed the system of colonialism, or democratic Yeltsin/Putin selling resources on the cheap?
@@MAXIMIR-wf7ez Stalin was only useful to the West to defeat Hitler. After that he went back to being a megalomaniac not only to his own people, but leaving eastern Europe under his jackboot. Putin is just a regular dictator compared to his Soviet predecessors.
It's so sad that a people's freedom and liberation from feudalism and tyranny from foreign powers can just be co-opted by such a paranoid hypocrite so quickly. That instead of working to establish an a high standard of living for his people he simply gave up due to paranoia and allowed himself and his closest elites access to it is just even worse.
@@rogink America is much worse with our bankers and elites ruling behind the scenes. They put two corrupt puppets in front of us for us to vote for. Giving us the illusion of a vote. While having the most insane military budget in human history. Almost 1000 military bases across the world in a constant state of war. Suppressing dozens of nations. Our puppet politicians become filthy Rich. While coming up with more and more laws and taxes every year! Time for people to wake up!
As an Albanian, I would like to thank you for making this video. Your video was very educational and informative. Thanks to you, I have learned so many things that weren't even taught in school about communist Albania, like how Enver Hoxha had employed foreign-trained physicians and had his own club with his party members, or the fact that an American journalist had visited in Albania in 1957. My parents have always told me about communism. My mother would barely have anything to eat in the morning and right after she ate breakfast, she would work work all day in the labour camp without taking a break. She also served in the army when she was a teenager and she told me stories about how she was brainwashed by the paranoid propaganda machine about how the Americans or the Soviets were going to invade Albania. Even though it has been more than 30 years that communism has fallen, there are many people that still have a communist mindset or are nostalgic about communism, like my grandfather for an example. He still has the same ideas that Enver Hoxha taught him. I was born a decade after communist Albania had collapsed and when I was growing up I could tell that life was depressing and gloomy around the streets, even though I was just a kid and I didn't know anything about my country's history. Once again, well done with this video. You have just earned a sub! Cheers!
As a communist: Which kind of ideas does your grandfather hold? Because there are many forms of socialism/communism. Is he still believing in isolationism or does he believe in the general idea of communism?
As an Albanian, you shouldn't believe everything your told, especially by RUclipsrs who have not read enough about history. All Albanian are from the same mould. You would have done the same as Hoxha in that era. It was the Cold War.
@@DriverKIT But the results are the same. Tyranny, repression, stagnation and ruin, famine, cult of personality, genocide, persecution, corruption, etc.
Thanks for sharing. My god I can't believe the amount of people claiming communism. Guarantee none of them live in a truly communist country or they would not have that same opinion.
I did research on Albania in college in the mid-70’s. Almost impossible to find information. I did note that Hoxha had all of the land approaches to the country not only blocked but wiped out!
Border between Yugoslavia and Albania was one of most heavyly guarded borders with many incidents, There where dead soldiers and civilians on daily basis, in 70s and specially in 80s Yugoslav borders toward west where quite soft, you cold travel unrestricted anywhere but Albania. Berlin border was walk through the park compared to Yu/Al border.
Only until sundown then everyone went home for supper. In the early 1960s my father was driving along the border and we took a wrong turning and came to a border post unguarded,being just a pole across the road.
@@BozidarZabavnik Maybe near where you and i live, in the western parts of former YU. Ask someone who was in JNA near the Abanian border, ask someone who was conscripted around the time Enver Hoxa died. I never served in JNA, but my father and many relatives where. One hint, what do you think where did YU get samples of AK to reverse engeneer it into M70?
We were visiting from the uk after my father got his British passport. Strange land gypsies still pushed carts and trained baby bears to dance and the women wore exotic trousers@@sinisatrlin840
dead soldiers and civilians on daily basis??? oh really?? until now I believed that they seduced every millisecond wtffffffffffff....but if I ask you to bring me some proof or fact of what you say..ou are certainly not able to prove even a single event of the kind
In 1984 I walked around the border stone that separated Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece, 3 countries in 3 seconds. I don't remember any major incidents!? The whole border line is very mountainous, with peaks going up to 3.000 meters, with no major roads or cities at the Albanian side, basically it was wilderness. There are modern roads today, but not back than.
My father was a devout Hoxhaist. For some infernal reason, Hoxha was really popular in South America and had a real hold on the communist parties there. My dad was convinced that Albania was the one true workers' paradise on earth, so he emigrated to the US and indulged himself up to his eyeballs in having political freedom and resenting it while also taking advantage of it to try to gain converts and spread communism in the US. It was a miserable environment to be raised in, different from other cults only in that there were no other cult members to make it all seem normal. Just mind-bending, existential discord.
That is insane. He sounds like one hell of a dude to have to call “dad”. Thank you for recognizing his hypocrisy in trying to spread communism in the US
I am really sorry you had to go through that. If its any consolation, you are not alone in the U.S. having to be raised in an environment where hypocritical leftists have a nice pay check in one hand and a Big Mac in the other while suffering no government interference or consequence as they scream about Western decadence on a public street.
This is emblematic of the delusion of western communists. Denouncing the "corrupt decadent west" while enjoying a cushy lifestyle only possible in the west, while using first amendment rights to free speech to denounce their own country , which would get them sent to prison or worse in a communist country. Its as ironic as it is ridiculous
Just wow man. I never understood the types like that as they take part and take advantage of the very system they hate. It's amusing going to small stalls or shops here in the US and but they are selling anti capitalist baubles while being a business owner in a capitalist society. The fact they can't see the irony is just astounding.
Another weird nation in Europe during the Cold War was the Socialist Republic of Romania. Although Romania was part of the Warsaw Pact, they had relations with the West and wasn't that loyal to the Soviets, opting to do things their own way. I'd say it was more similar to North Korea than Hoxha's Albania. In fact, North Korea and Albania didn't necessarily like each other, relations first deteriorated during the Sino-Soviet split, and then in the 1970s, Hoxha criticized Kim Il-sung for betraying communism by accepting foreign aid and being revisionist. In the case of Romania, after Nicolae Ceaușescu visited Pyongyang in 1971, he was so impressed with Kim Il-sung that he wanted to emulate everything. For USSR-Romania relations, Romania moving away didn't start with Nicolae but rather Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. After seeing the rapid de-Stalinization going on in the USSR, Gheorghe adopted policies in Romanian national interests rather than Soviet ones and stepped-up measures that greatly increased trade relations with Western countries. Nicolae continued this by calling out the Soviets for invading Czechoslovakia in 1968. Like Albania, they didn't participate. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused Romania to distance itself further. And when the other Warsaw Pact nations boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics, Romania actually attended the games!
@kheidge2ndchannel547 Out of the all communist dictators, he might've been one of the 'good ones' lol. He's still praised by the old timers even to this day.
I visited Albania in 2017 for a few weeks. It was a beautiful country and a truly unique experience. While in the city of Gjirokastra, we toured a soviet eras (1960s) underground bunker built by Hoxha in case of nuclear war. I couldn't get over how laughably simple it was... it was just concrete rooms underground. Not very deep underground either. I didn't see any kind of ventilation systems or attempts at air filtration from radiation, or anything like that. I remember thinking "wow, this guy either didn't know a damn thing about nuclear war, or his government was just incapable of building anything advanced."
The nuclear bunkers were in Tirana and also inside a mountain in Skrapar which was built to keep all government, parliament, and everything needed to run the state in case of war
It's crazy how a video about Albania has 2M views! Thank you so much for explaining everything, hopefully foreign people will see this and understand why albanians are the way they are, my people have been through a lot
As a neighbor of Albania (Greek), the people are very skillful when it come to handcraft and bulding. They are workaholics and very down to Earth, and i think that these ethics were born out of the Hozha Regime in the 80s. A former Albanian colleague used to say "Enver was a ruthless diactator, but was the only one able to keep our people United!". Albanians sought a better future in Greece and other countries, unfortunately leaving their homeland almost void of young people to carry on. In recent years, though, Albania has seen some economic growth and has become an adriatic tourist magnet for those who know about Albanian coasts.
@andrewlainis4727....Scanderbeg was the only one who managed to unite the Albanian princes despite all the intrigues of the Venetians, Serbians etc. in favor of the Ottomans.. instead Enver failed to unite all the Albanian fighting groups in the Mukje conference
but despite some episodes the Albanians did not have a bloody civil war like the Greeks and Yugoslavs did not only because of power games but also because of their ethnic and religious problems....if you are young you probably know nothing about the Greek civil war or the colonel regime etc just curiosity?
They indeed adapts amazingly quick and are amazingly smart. In Switzerland we have one of the world biggest albanian diaspora. I think in a about 25 years they made more money than the portugeses immigrants made in like 40 years in Switzerland. Knowing where they come from and all, it's freaking impressive imo
Just spent 3 weeks in Albania a few months ago, despite their history and current problems, Albania was such a beautiful country and the people were so friendly and welcoming to foreigners.
@northwestpassage6234...all of Albania's Balkan neighbors have more or less the same problems, (economic problems) perhaps they have even more given that in Albania there are no ethnic or religious problems, etc. which have generated horror in the Balkans for more than a century
Im believe a lot of problems are coming from linguistic differences rather than religious ones. I mean, i know enough Albanians (i was in a school with plenty of savage albanians) to know that they don't care much about religion at all. They say themselves they are Shiptars before being Muslims, wich is rather crazy to admit imo @@lagjescuni5482
I visited Albania twice last year. I've had very memorable times there, and I even met my partner in Durres. The country is working hard to modernise and become more tourist friendly. I recommend visiting Vlore and Sarande. Very interesting country, try the local olive oil!
We don’t want too modernize and be weirdos like the west. Enver saved Albania and now it’s becoming shit. Albania for Albanians! True Albanians only marry Albanians
I enjoyed my visit to Albania including Sarande and the magnificent Roman ruins of Butrint . The bunkers are still to be seen throughout the countryside .
Nice im actually from durres born and raised. Ive been in usa for 20years and I could not believe the amount of foreign tourists in there. Looked great
17:16 Other owners of the Mercedes 600 grosser include: - Leonid Brezhnev - Nicole Ceausescu - Idi Amin Dada - Papa Doc Duvalier - Saddam Hussein - Chairman Mao - Kim Il Sung - Kim Jong Il - Ferdinand Marcos - Jeremy Clarkson
"Albania's Enver Hoxha was unusual in being well read in the European literature classics - and Molotov thought his cosmopolitanism a reason for suspicion. But Hoxha was a conventional communist dictator in denying his people access to disapproved alien culture." - Robert Service 🇬🇧
"communist dictator" is an oxymoron, just like "law abiding criminal". Does not exist. There is no dictastorship in communism, and whoever is a dictator can not be a communist, no matter what they say.
Very nice people? Judging by the ones we get in the UK, that's a complete lie. They are the number 1 in the list of top 5 worst nationalities in the UK due to their drug trafficking and violent crime gangs.
@@captainevenslower4400the people are nice but you get to realize the ghost of communism still lingers. the people are very empty inside it's like they're all suffering from pent up ptsd. hoxa also banned religion in 1967 so in one generation almost all sense of spirituality was gone. Albania may become extinct soon, almost all the young people are leaving and have no real hope. the people in government are all people with ties to the communist block. the Albanians are now one of the most powerful and brutal international mafias in the world
Excellent work. You have done your home work well. To give you some insight on the propaganda and the cult of personality of Hoxha’s regime. My mother recalls that when Hoxha died, she cried for him harder than she cried for her own dear father. She remembers feeling that they(the people and the country) were left as orphans with no one to protect them. And the world (our neighbors and the world powers) were going to wipe them off the earth. To this day, his cult of personality persists with those of my parents generation. The nostalgia is strong with that generation. Their counter arguments to the awful things the regime did are: we had rule of law, we had secured place of work, we had great education system and we had a big formidable army for a little country. But when you point out that Albanians current shitty politicians are a byproduct of that nepotistic, ruthless regime they have nothing to say.
yugoslavia the one who gave rights to kosovo and albanians??? and greece was having turkish issues and many were against going to war with them due to soviet threat@@GreaterAlbania1
True story: I had to go to a domestic job turned out the dispute was between two Albanians (neighbor called 911), one of them actually turned around and said to me and I'll NEVER forget this: "Don't you know who we are? We're Albanians." What he was implying was that "don't fuck with us, we're Albanians) meaning that get lost or else. He was saying this to a fully uniformed cop. I was astonished because A: This has never happened to me while in uniform and B: he was making CLEAR & even threatening TWO uniformed officers on the spot. Wow. I was of course, not exactly a rookie and quickly put him in his place and warned him not to do that again or risk being arrested (he didn't). This was about fifteen years and it stuck in my head to this day...
The Albanian mafia unfortunately is quite famous to hit first Italy and later the whole West. When i was young i red a book called "La Orda" It was talking about the immigration in Italy which was and still is an aweful repercussion of their revenge from the second war world of Mussolini invasion which went very wrong ending of a sort of a massacre between the two factions. Later the German had to help the Italians to restoring orders to freedom that dictatorial repressing regime. Perhaps people forgot that in that land happened the largest genocide of all time carried out. When Italy was betrayed by the Italians themselves after having made the "pact of steel" and Mussolini was hanged......5.000 Italian soldiers were cold shot like execution style last more a less a week by the same allies accused of betrayal. Here in UK for example the Albanian mafia dealing with drugs and weapons had reached awkward statistic. Managed to corrupt the police as well for their determination. A Scotland Yard retired expert which has got his own RUclips channel is explaining perfectly how they could still manage to bring old firearms into the border from the WW-II and new as the powerful gangs related are enormous with uncountable deadly fatality still ongoing. With this i hope that giving data and statistic of murders which unluckily after decades not only the authority of this government let this people crossing this land and doing their best to propagate terrors. In many Countries in Europe this phenomenal is quite hidden although is a real threat to humanity. Thanks God i saw by chance this astonishing documentary for making it easier for me to understand this very sad story of poor people who have been through some hard times.
In 1981 when I was 11 we had a family holiday in Albania. At the time they only allowed less than 1000 visas for western tarvellers and Tirana airport only had around 7 international flights per week. We stayed in a beach resort in Durres but took loads of trips around the country including Tirana and the technoiogy museum mentioned in the video. We also visited a history museum in Durres which had an American 'spy' plane on display which had been shot down by the airforce. I'm pretty sure that it was something like a Sabre but I 'm probably wrong. There was also a statue of a heroic restistance fighter which was surrounded by old WW2 era weapons. I wanted to look at a German MP42 but the caretaker would only show me Russian weapons! I also remember the bunkers although TBH they were extremely hard to miss given their numbers. It was a great holiday for us but we could leave after two weeks unlike 99.9% of the population.
Fantastic video! I just want to add that the reason why so many people lived in awful conditions is because the bunkerization of Albania caused a housing crisis in the country. To put it into prespective, the entire project cost twice as much as the Maginot line and consumed three times the concrete
For us in then Yugoslavia Albania was other world ,something we did not know anything about ,mysterious land that has no roads and you dont go there ever
probably my favourite country out of 11 i travelled in across europe this summer. and honestly where i felt the safest as well, everyone was so hospitible!
It certainly felt safe to me. Safer than lots of other places I've been. Go for history and to hike and you'll have a great time. But the tourist tax, creaky infrastructure, generally terrible food and piles of trash everywhere made it frustrating. A photo I took that sums it up features horses bin diving at a supposed beauty spot with the Alps in the background - this was the general vibe wherever we went. The coastline is being destroyed by tacky resorts. Plus some of the worst driving I've ever seen in my life. But good luck to them. The history is appalling and I wish the best for the Albanian people.
One of the horrors, he went through all brands of that evil regime and murdered his way through. His suppression of the religious communities is particularly shocking.
Albanian myself here, however I live in the urban areas of Kosovo. The power-vacuum that was once a result of the German retreat in the mid 40s was one of the most influential turning points of wide-scale Albanian Culture. Due to the nature of the isolationist regime of Enver Hoxha, even Kosovo-Albanians like myself and my family were excluded from the country, and some even deemed "traitorous". Because of that, there was a century long separation in the culture in between, and now the two primary dialects, Gheg and Tosk are almost indecipherable by speakers of one another.
I would argue for the most part the Albanian in Albania as a whole Was changed. Outside of Albania in Albanian populated regions we speak more archaic Albanian. However, it also depends on region as to how much the extent is felt.
the part about gheg and tosk differences is not really true in reality. there are a lot of differences in how tosks and ghegs speak, especially if you compare albanian in gjilan against albanian in sarande where the dialects are already quite different to the dialects of other gheg/tosk regions. maybe if you are raised in an isolated village with an especially deviant dialect then you wouldn't understand the other but most people from the cities and larger villages of both sides can understand each other (also a lot of kosovar music is becoming popular in albania so tosks there are also becoming more familar with kosova's dialect in particular). i think this idea only applies to if you are a gheg speaker trying to understand arbereshe or arvanite and vice versa because those are so different from even the main tosk dialects
@@macjaa Gheg speaker here from Ulqin. My grandmother always says Shkoder and Ulqini are one in the same and the dialects from Tuz, Plav and Gusinje, while being from Montenegro are very different from us. Many times when I speak to a shkoder native I have little to no difficulty in vocabulary differences as I would with a malsor (they use a lot of Slavic vocabulary in their dialect). Also Arberesh and Arvantika depends on the dialect, some I’ve been able to understand very clearly.
True story. Crazy to think that even Albanians from Kosovo weren't allowed in Albania. Like bruh we the same blood 😂 As per dialects, they aren't undecipherable at all. Difficult to the uneducated? Yes. Easy for educated Kosova Albanians to talk in Tosk dialect since it's the standard Albanian taught in schools? Also yes.
As an Albanian I’m so happy more people are talking about this, my mother who lived in Albania at the time tells me stories about what life was like. They only survived because my grandpa was a truck driver and was able to scrape up just enough money for necessities… every time I see someone defend or agree with communism I always ask if they know about Albania’s experience, and every time they say no. When I visited Albania and saw all those bunkers still there I realized how the country is forever scarred by communism
What the USSR, Hoxha, North Korea, China, etc. all practiced was *not* communism. Point blank, no ifs, ands, or buts. They were oppressive, totalitarian regimes dressed in communist clothing.
because they don't want communism, they want social democracy with the ethics boards given more ability to do something than usual. they dont know the true extent of a pure communist state and its similarities to a pure capitalist one (which is entirely state-mandated anyway).
Well done. Everything you said is absolutely correct. I'm married to an Albanian, so my husband has told many stories of back then. Yes it was the north Korea of Europe. Sad though that know people are still very poor and corruption is off the charts. I have visited Albania and have seen much potential but I fear that nothing will ever happen. I did enjoy my time there. People were super nice and hospitable. They deserve so much better. I really hope that some day someone will take charge and turn this little poor country into what it should be a jewel.
It isn't surprising that there is so much corruption there, as that was always the case throughout Hoxha's reign. Communism falling will not suddenly stop it, just make it less institutionalized and decentralized. Its funny that communists complain about the exploitation of capitalist democracies when only democracy and genuine freedom of speech have the power to hold government accountable.
this much work for youtube video !!!! Man i am impressed by all the motion graphics and 3d animation done in this video. These are not just animations but very impressive art depicting the situation perfectly. I can pause at each frame and it looks excellent. I am a 3d animator myself and i know how hard it is to make 3d animations in blender with good composition, Colour and photorealism. First time watching you ! Subbed !!!!!!!!!
In 1960's Yugoslavia there was a communication tower being built on a mountain. They were close enough to Albania that they were picking up their radio signals. Some of the guys knew Albanian and supposedly the radio was annoucing that "Yugoslavia is building a rocket launcher on our doorstep!!!!"
If you paid any attention at 10:00-10:15 you would know it says. "This formed the basis of his paranoia." It's not contradicting itself it says so in the video that this formed his paranoia. What it's saying is unnecessary is being paranoid of everyone even friends. I mean seriously this video touches on how he murdered people he even fought against Germany besides.
The university I attended here in Canada, the University of Waterloo, had a student newspaper called The Chevron when I attended in the late 1970s. The newspaper was controlled by students who firmly believed that Albania was the best model for the entire world and dismissed both the Soviet Union and the Peoples' Republic of China as being totally compromised in their Marxism. They wrote long articles extolling all the virtues of Albania. Years later, one of these "journalists", Neil Docherty, who had become a documentary film maker, did a film in Albania after it started to open up to the West. His film followed an Albanian doctor who was an avid football (soccer) fan that set up a medical practice in a remote village. Shortly after opening his practice, the doctor's sole piece of medical equipment, a stethoscope, was stolen by local people. Docherty, who narrated the film, talked about his belief in his younger days that Albania was a true workers' paradise and finally seemed to realize how wrong he had been. I would be very surprised if he or any of his comrade journalists had the slightest personal knowledge of Albania at the time they were on the staff of The Chevron yet they posed as experts and apparently even fooled at least a few students at my university. It seems to me that a great deal of today's campus radicalism is just as ill-informed as the "journalists" (propagandists!) at The Chevron were back in my youth, although it is considerably more successful in influencing student opinions. (In my day, nearly everyone dismissed The Chevron as an obvious Communist propaganda sheet.)
I see protesters in both Canada and the UK (dual citizen) fly soviet flags all the time and I just laugh at them. I don't know what sort of reality-distortion field they live behind, but none of them seem to know or care about the horrors of communism. They're LARPers detached from reality.
Albania was the only European nation directly affected by WW2 to protect Jews: 2000 survived. Einstein was given safe passage and being issued an Albanian passport made it to America.
I'm blown away by this video. Thank you so, so much. Legend! So engaging, infornative and moving. I just backpacked around Albania and this context fills in all the gaps I didn't get from the (paranoid?) population in conversation about culture, history, etc. What a collective trauma. Bless those amazingly kind and generous people. And you for making this x
I know a guy who runs a security company who's from Albania, dude has a few stories of how rough it was. He and his parents having to share an egg for dinner, having to sneak over the border to greece in the middle of the night to work for a day then sneak back over. Knowing all that really puts into context why he works as hard as he does at building his business. Don't think I know anybody else so hungry to give his kids more than he had.
Can't have any traditional religions in those regimes; the religion is the State. You worship the State, pray at a shrine with the rulers picture on it, confess your sins in struggle sessions, it's all a religion in of itself. And the religion of communism can't tolerate "competition" in the form of Christianity or Buddhism or any other pre-existing religion.
Albania is one of the only countries where animosity or discrimination based on religion is almost non existent. The Albanians are strong, warm and welcoming people.
Hey love the video! Ive been to Albania the last two years now as my partner is from Tirana, and it has changed so much so fast! I would love to hear your take on the development from the 90s until now. Also how the current prime minister has been doing many smart moves. Did you hear he encouraged women to join the police force, knowing this challenged stereotypes in Albania. Then later as a riot came, he had a wall of all woman police. The general public refused to hit a woman and the demonstration was totally peaceful! Also so many radical changes in a short time, it would be nice to hear more about it from the perspective of your channel! Cheers x
The wildest event that happened in Albanian-USSR relations: The Vlorë incident. As you brought up, Albania criticized the USSR for being too accommodating towards the US and its allies, thus it rejected the détente approach and aligned themselves with China. Nikita Khrushchev hoped that Albania would serve as a military base on the Mediterranean Sea for all the socialist countries and provided equipment and training to the Albanian army, which included a fleet of twelve Whiskey-class submarines. The Soviets wanted to increase its influence in the Mediterranean in order to counter NATO. Albania allowed the USSR to establish a strong military base that housed marines and larger units similar to destroyers. So when this Soviet-Albanian split happened, the Soviets imposed economic sanctions, withdrew eight of the twelve submarines, broke up naval facilities at Vlorë, and encouraged pro-Moscow leaders in Albania to stage a coup against Hoxha. But Hoxha nor his military weren't having it. In 1961, the Albanian government decided to use military force to expel the Soviet forces from Albania and to take control of four of the submarines. So on April 7, Albanian troops began to position the Vlorë base and encircle. Soviets initially resisted, but after days of siege and negotiation, they finally left on April 12th. The Soviets tried to sabotage the submarines, but the Chinese fixed them. After the regime collapsed, the Turkish military rebuilt the base.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
NOTICE: There are some errors in this video that I wish to correct - see the bottom of this document for more info. www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3b2hmstjhjkf3im57v9lb/Europe-s-North-Korea.docx?rlkey=og38lh8ri6ncv0u4fa34igaoq&st=0qfxw7ny&dl=0
This was quite a difficult and tangled topic to cover, and I was unfortunately unable to include all of the intricacies of Hoxha's rule and every single idiosyncrasy of Albania's time as a Communist hermit state. For example, I was unable to include Hoxha's assault on religious institutions within the country, as I didn't have the time and was unable to find a good way of getting it to integrate with the rest of the video. If you'd like some more background info, I'd recommend reading Blendi Fevziu's book "The Iron Fist of Albania" along with Elidor Mëhilli's book "Albania and the Socialist World".
Anyways, hope you enjoyed the video. Feel free to use this comment to respond with any suggestions or corrections, which I'll be happy to add to the script's correction section.
MOMENT OF DAYS
Thanks for adding the sources, and even the whole script
Say what you want about Hoxha, but we all know he’s the coolest & hottest guy ever to walk this earth
source of music?
This is your worst video yet
Albania does have a reason to be afraid of Yugoslavia
"Following the Yugoslav-Soviet Union split (1948), local Albanians were viewed by the state as possible collaborators of pro-Soviet Albania and consequently Kosovo became an area of focus for the secret service and police force under Ranković.[20] During Ranković's campaign, members of the Albanian intelligentsia were targeted, whereas thousands of other Albanians underwent trials and were jailed for "Stalinism".
Yugoslavia had a literal plan to occupy Albania
And lots and lots of information here looks sensationalist than historical
This video is better to be unlisted or at least updated, There is a lot of dishonesty about Hoxha, idk if that's your attempt or just an actual mistake but this is a horrible viewpoint to make Hoxha look as bad as possible.
As an albanian I can tell you, growing up and hearing my parents and grandparents stories about that time is bone-chilling to say the least, like sort of living in a dystopian surreal world that you'd only think exists in books. It really gives perspective in life and every time I feel like complaining in my head, there's always that thought "imagine how they had it, this you're dealing with is almost laughable". You really do learn to appreciate things most would take for granted today.
Your grandparents were Balli kombetar or what?
@@Rezistenza1998 nah, just regular farmers living in a village
@@ozymandias999 "regular" landless farmers or "regular" landowners?
@@ozymandias999 cuz landless farmers were actually given land and bread under Hoxha while the landowners, who often collaborated with Balli Kombetar, had land taken from them. Most landowners were against Hoxha. A landless peasant would be crazy if he was against Hoxha. And it would be especially weird since agriculture collapsed in the 90's in Albania
@@Rezistenza1998 they didn't have much land and it was anyways taken from them, never affiliated with Balli or got vocal against the regime cuz it would be suicide either way. It didn't start all that bad after WWII (as is usual with communism in the early steps) but the more it went on the worse it got, especially during the late '70s and '80s when they basically cut all connections with the outside world like North Korea today.
I once worked for a German ship building company in the early 1980s that had sold a refurbished ship to Albania. Before it was fully handed over to Albanian authorities it was put through all kinds of tests by Albanian and German engineers which took 3 weeks. In that time both sides got to know each other fairly well. The Albanians refused to believe us when we told them that TVs, cars, washing machines, telephones, central heating etc, were basic commodities in the west that everyone could afford.
Towards the end of the tests several Albanians finally admitted to me that their disbelief was in reality just pretence, they knew just how backward their country was, but that there was a state agent among them whose only job was to watch out what they say.
My Mom (Kosovo Albanian) did the research for her doctorate in the 70 and 80, and she describes the same situation. Always having minders by your side. In one of her visits she got permission to meet some lost cousins of a friend of hers and give them some presents. They couldn't talk about anything beyond the greetings and introductions. Both parties had minders and the minders told them to keep it short and not talk about anything.
Now look the shitshow that Albania has become
REAL fascism and dictatorship. Americans have absolutely no idea what that actually looks like.
Interesting. One thing I remember reading that was kind of impressive about Hoxha is that he made sure all the debts of Albania were paid off. It had no debt to any other country or corporation.
Is that the reason crime is rampant in the West, because everyone can afford to buy everything on credit?
This is *exceptionally* well produced and made. Thank you for creating a very well researched primer to this part of recent history.
I was 7 when Hoxha died, and I remember people wailing on the streets. They sent us home early from school, and all I remember is that I was happy to go play outside. My father told me years later that if you didn't show any emotion, they could arrest you on bogus charges
I was about 10 when he died and when our school visited his grave I cracked a joke and made some of my classmates laugh. School called my parents to tell them about the incident but nothing else came off it fortunately.
@@plako8047 cus no one liked him LMAO
@@BitMan1010 not true
@@GreaterAlbania1oh let me guess you like him?
@@BitMan1010 yes for some things
Fun fact: In the autobiography book written by Hoxha himself, he mentioned a period of his youth where he was stealing fruits from the garden of my Grand grandfather from my father's side. He mentioned my family there and the fact that my grand grandfather was kicking him out of his property. I'm curious how later on, he didn't do anything to him knowing his habit of vendetta or revenge.
Edit : Thanks for the likes. I wanted to add to the story also something interesting and paradoxical. My grand grandfather from my mother side was part of the traders and wealthy families who were persecuted and confiscated all the wealth and belongings, aprox 1.7 million of gold napolons at the time. The communists spare his life because he didn't hide his gold so they let him keep the house. I have do have the newspaper from 1944 with the families who were impacted. It's interesting that both of the grand grandfather's could have been killed, and I wouldn't be alive now. Cheers to all
That is a relief he didn't come back to settle childhood beef with your great grandfather lol
@davidchong5909 that's true, but he usually had a weak point for comrades from his native city, Gjirokastra. The same happened with Ismail Kadare, the known albanian writer with whom he had disputes and contradictions. But he never killed him
And how weird this may think, for how to write that down means it left an impression on him, there’s a good chance even he knew what he was doing was wrong at the time, and hence why he never wanted to take revenge, children tend to have a natural moral compass, only skewed by the horrors of life
Well, an autobiography always is written by the subject of interest himself ;)
That's why it's called auto -
Scnr
Thanks for sharing that. Its always interesting to hear strange side stories and personal connections to figures of history whether good or bad.
Fun Fact: Enver Hoxha and Kim Il Sung hated each other because Hoxha criticized Kim Il Sung's brand of Communism as revisionist.
Wow. Just wow.
And yet he sucked Mao’s dick.
And Kim saw Hoxha as an imperialist lackey.
@@roginkHow could an extreme isolationist be an imperialist
Everyone's a revisionist except for me.
Great video man! I've never really heard much about Albania and this makes it very obvious why, keep up the great work,
Well this video aint gonna teach u shit cuz its full of crap. In 1997 there literally almost was another communist revolution because the 90's were such a shithole. Hoxha and the PPSH built Albania. The capitalist wind of the 90's destroyed everything and now Albania sells out its own cities and beaches for the big tourist industry while the young people have to work in Germany. There now is crime, drugs, dirt and massive depression all across Albania while the very hated and corrupt government only fills the pockets of its compradors. Nostalgia for Hoxha is everywhere, in Labinot-Mal they literally guard his last statue, ive been there myself
I mean there are dozens of countries we don’t hear or know much about really, and what we do have about many is either a few news stories or just media-driven stereotypes - things like “Albanians have mafia connections because The Sopranos told me so”
Because western mainstream media never want to talk bad against themselves, that's why they only talk shit about the global south. Now you are beginning to realise the extent of western propaganda. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Travel more around the world and be wary of media and one's perception and biases, to realise the true extent of western propaganda.
I first learned of Hoxha only a few days ago when reading the wikipedia article on political decoys. That's probably why this video showed up in my recommended. I'm in my 30s
@@CantTellYou After Communism fell a lot of Yugoslavs and Albanians emigrated to the USA and Western Europe. Some of them actually _did_ have mafia connections - the Yugoslav mafia became a big deal in Sweden in the 90s - but most of them were obviously just normal people - or as normal as you can be having lived through the shit they lived through, anyway.
Organised crime represented one of the most powerful anti-Communist elements in the socialist world and when Communist regimes collapsed they swooped in to grab everything they could. They effectively ran the government in many formerly Communist countries although by the 00s they had _mostly_ been dealt with.
Kiitos!
On a lighter note, Hoxha also stole an entire fleet, including 4 Whiskey class submarines, from the Soviets. In 1961 the Soviets stationed a fleet in Vlorë as part of Russia's endless quest to try and get a warm water port. Then a few thousand Albanian soldiers showed up and said "these are our ships now", the Soviet engineers sabotaged the fleet before being forced to hand it over but Hoxha just brought in engineers from China to fix them. And he got away with it because the Soviets didn't think it was worth going to war with this lunatic over this.
As crazy as Enver Hoxha was, he also had balls. Imagine stealing submarines from a nuclear power.
The most Albanian thing to do 😂😅
That's some GTA level stealing. Geez.
The lads of top gear found the rusting hulks of them didn't they?
@@gimzod76yes 👍
Truly a very good documentary, about the communist era of Albania.
It’s crazy to see this, cause as the first Albanian/American child from my family. My father has told me vast stories of him growing up and being in the military in Albania at the time and about my grandfather and great grandfather. My father defected the country in 1988 as a soldier in the alpine division guarding the border between Greece and Albania. Long story short, my grandfather was a high ranking officer. And had gotten the news that my father/his son was a defector and collaborator to the western world, for leaving Albania. To this day I don’t know what happened my father has never truly told me, but from little things I know, civilians and probably people my father knew. where fleeing the country and the officer on the post where my father was, gave orders to kill the civilians fleeing, to not let them cross the border. My father refused and some how the officer ended up dead.
The soldiers on duty with my father, from what he said where absolutely lost and scared shitless. Some soldiers next to him joined and fled the country, and some others started shooting at him. He told me the entire southern country was on high alert chasing them for days. After days of running my father ends up in northern Greece where him and a couple of his comrades surrendered to a small Greek police station, My father said when 5 Albanians still dressed in military uniforms walk the street, the people thought it was an invasion. One of my fathers friends at the time was wounded bleeding down his leg, when they walked into the Greek police station, the front lady screamed so loud that every police officer charged out. My father and his comrades still had there AK’s drawn. He told me, that you could hear a feather fall that’s how quite and utterly still everyone was pointing guns at each other.
Nevertheless, my father came and surrendered as a refugee fleeing Albania. He ended up staying in a Greek prison for 8 months, getting interrogated..ect for them suspecting he was a spy. To this day he doesn’t have some nails and back teeth. Somehow NATO gets involved, and my dad ends up in America after almost 2 years of traveling from country to country.
Unfortunately, my father never got the opportunity to see his dad or my grandfather ever again. For my father being apart of the family of a high ranking military official, from what he told me it brought a lot of government wondering eyes to the family, and shame. My grandfather past away before my father could come back to Albanian, and way before I was born.
My father did return to Albanian with my mother in the late 90’s right before I was born, in Vlorë. To visit our family and his mother after 11 years. Unfortunately, during that time the Kosovo conflict was going on, and my father stayed in Albania and fought in Kosovo, while my mother returned to America with me.
Ik this was a long comment lol, but I wanted to share this with people. I haven’t been back home in 24 years, and this coming months I will be going back home finally. I have tons of truly old black n white photos of my family dating back to before WW1 to WW2 an later. Albania has alot of history and culture that is not talked about much. Century’s of history and culture. And I appreciate informative videos such as this. Thank you
Wow!!!!!
Much respect to him for staying in Kosovo words cant explain true warrior!
I genuinely appreciated reading your story. Thank you for sharing!!
Very interesting
Thank you so much for sharing what life was in Albania. I enjoy reading and hearing about life behind the Iron Curtain.
Unreal production quality, respect
My grandfather planned to travel from the UK to Greece via Albania. He got a lucky escape when visiting someone in Yugoslavia he was informed "they might let you in, but they won't let you out."
what happened after
@@dzonikxhe probably just continued through Yugoslavia to get to Greece
@eldrago19...they might let you in, but they won't let you out doesn't make any sense.....the difficulty was in entering Albania, not in leaving Albania therefore it is the opposite of what the Yougoslavs said
I was told a similar story by someone who was stationed in Germany when they served in the British Army in the 70s. Him and a couple of colleagues had a couple of weeks leave, so they decided to hire a car and take a trip to Greece. They crossed the Yugoslav border no problem from Austria, and, looking at the map, decided that it was a shorter journey if they travelled through Albania. They rocked up with their passports on the Yugoslav side, and explained to the border guards that they were just travelling through and had no intention of stopping, but were given short shrift and told not to be so fkn stupid, they'd get arrested as spies if they tried, take the long way round, and have a great holiday in Greece.
@@marekohampton8477 he needn't go through albania, he could just have crossed directly to greece
The graphics of this video are about the best I have ever seen. If RUclips video is an art form then this one has to be the epitome of the genre. The writing is flawless, the narration is perfect and the subject underserved generally, is here unfolded and analyzed. "Hats off" to you, mate.
I totally agree, and I just wanted to express the same sentiment. I really appreciate the content, the visuals, and especially how the narrator has this beautifully human voice. It's such a refreshing change compared to other videos where the narrator sounds like they're being chased and speaks at a frantic pace
As an Albanian born in Canada, it's wild that I learned more from you than from my parents. Thanks for this video, explains a lot about my family.
Im watching this from my dilapidated albanian hill bunker, theres no heat or electricity but ive ran a cord from the neighbour's house. Great video Imperial!
This story telling and editing is top tier. Incredible work!
Thanks for the informative documentary 🎉! I learned something new today! Wishing you luck with other documentaries 😊!
can me get sokethijg i albania?🇦🇱❤️
Learning about Enver Hoxha is really something, this guy was an absolute madman. It's actually incredible how someone can be such a hypocritical monster and feel so self-assured to call every other marxist a "revisionist."
Madman? For protecting his country from enemies
@@GreaterAlbania1 ...enemies imagined or real?
@@eric55406 real Yugoslavia Serbs Greece the west trying too overthrow him etc
@@GreaterAlbania1His enemies or the coutnry enemies? Because there is a huge difference.
Because every other marxist was revisionist. Hoxha was Marxist-Leninist all the way, just like his idol Stalin. There's zero daylight between being a completely orthodox Marxist-Leninist/Stalinist and being both a hypocrite and a monster.
Could you please make a followup on this video? I remember that after the opening of Albania, the people had so little knowledge of the inner workings of a capitalist market that they fell for the lure of pyramid schemes by the millions, until the systems collapsed in 1997, and riots broke out which shook the new democracy to its very roots.
Five years before those events, right after the collapse of the Eastern Block, the poverty was so bad that men started hijacking (foreign) ships, and forced the captains to ferry them over to Italy. One AP photograph shows such a ship with about 4,000 people on board, and even more trying to get aboard until they are hanging down from the ropes like grapevines - on the outside. The fashion company Benetton, whose advertisment strategy was to gain attention by placing shocking pictures on their posters, used this photograph in a campaign, which gave it a lasting impression.
Hanging like grapevine?
Did they committed suicode
@@riton349Google for Benetton ship Albania, then you will find the picture
@@riton349No, they were desperately hanging from the ropes because the ship was overfilled with Albanian refugees
Yes, that's true. They fell for a giant pyramid scheme, and like pretty much all other post communist countries, it became a democratic oligarchy. Several people control the strongest companies and brands of the country.
Super interesting, had to google this to see for myself. Thanks for sharing
I visited Albania last month and I can tell you it’s now a BEAUTIFUL and very welcoming country. Stayed on the coast in Durrës which was just DELIGHTFUL.
The centre of Tirana is very pleasant as well. Highly recommend anyone visit Albania.
Hi there, Albanian here. So glad you had an amazing time. The country’s worth a visit (I might be slightly biased).
I’m looking to go soon! Americans can stay up to 1 year w no visa
I just found your channel and i have to say your content is on a different level!
Keep it going my friend you will grow and suceed!
Thanks for your videos🫡
I have a good friend who grew up in Albania during the 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s. He is a very quiet man. When I asked him what it was like, he spoke of Hoxha and life during his rule. He has spoke of some things about the daily life in Alabania during this time. His descriptions of it gave me no idea it was that bad.
I wanted imigrate, my parents would hope more..my enviroment is worse than field of the war...
during watching video, it's suspected actor 山下智久harmed me by virtual watching my life by アスベスト。he was malicious witness even last winter's same category incident...triple shock. If I am calm, somebody induce new crime. I conjecture Room sharing man lied my name again. My name is KanakoMatsuno.Mon gangster Pijus partageant la chambre est tellement menteur et égoïste. Je passe du temps avec lui à midi (I spend time with him in midday) Pouvez-vous imaginer comme ci-dessous ? C'est une base factuelle. C'est peut-être mieux pour toi. surveillez ici les habitants qui viennent ici par intermittence comme criminels. Même si vous pouvez arrêter le premier groupe, le groupe suivant viendra ici pour fournir ma personnalité aux criminels... de terribles fauteurs de troubles. Nous ne sommes pas un personnage de film. Même un a été arrêté, les quartiers idiots français m'ont fait du mal par IRM et ont extrait mes ondes cérébrales et ce criminel m'a même fait passer en prison... ils devraient arrêter ces harceleurs intermittents les uns après les autres... apprenez-en plus sur le clonage humain s'il vous plaît. Ils implantent mon moment passé des faits différents...méprisez aussi les fausses relations familiales de PijusBacevicius.
N'ignorez pas les victimes situation détestable, recherchez les intimidateurs. S'ils gâchent le temps en regardant la vie de personnes inoffensives, c'est un problème de confidentialité et commencez simplement à regarder correctement la vie des criminels. Vous prenez beaucoup de temps même si vous utilisez le mode rapide... My room sharing gangster is so liar and selfish. Can you imagine like below? It's fact base. 私が神経過敏になろうが全身の造形が物理的に崩れようが絶え間なく起こっている事象です
keep watch on here(french Paris rue du Quatrefages14's 8floor, front side of two buildings)'s residents who intermittently coming here as criminal. Even if you can arrest first group, next group come here to provide my personality to criminals...terrible troublemakers. We are not casted character of movie. Even one was arrested, french foolish neighborhoods harmed me by MRIand extracted my brain waves and that criminal pretended me even in the jail...they ought to arrest such intermittent coming harassers one by another... learned about clone human please. They implant my past moment different facts... disdain PijusBacevicius's fake family relationships too.
Don't ignore victimes hateful situation, search out bullying people. If they spoil time by viewing harmless people's life, it's privacy problem and just start to watch criminal's life correctly. You take time much even you use rapid mode...松野可奈子はストーカーたちの妄言狂言虚偽実現主義によって徐々に醜くされた。2017年３月一週目が私の姿が崩壊した第一歩だった。フランスに２０２１年にヤクザ達から逃げてきても尚人体劣悪化を謀る狂女達によって酷い嫌がらせを受け続け、今や別人のように妙なプロポーションである。美人とは形容されなくなった。Kanako Matsuno a été progressivement rendue laide par les paroles sauvages et les fausses réalisations de ses harceleurs. La première semaine de mars 2017 a été la première étape au cours de laquelle mon image a été détruite. Même si j'ai échappé aux yakuzas pour venir en France en 2021, j'ai continué à être sévèrement harcelée par des femmes folles qui complotaient pour dégrader le corps humain, et maintenant je ressemble à une personne différente avec des proportions étranges. Je ne suis plus décrite comme belle.
Most old people including my grandparent view it in a good way he does say that it had many problems howver imorality and the people back then were way better he also says how life was simpler but does say in someways its better today
My dad from Kosovo who was in yogoslavia would also talk about as if it was nice. I always took it with a grain of salt tho
@@Briandervishi i feel like this sort of system makes many people hold in their suffering, and numb themselves to it. thinking about the painful past is so hard sometimes even if your not in a system that encorages this behavoir
I love this dude. The quality is absolutely impeccable yet he manages to get through such different topics, some of which I may not even find interesting- yet I still watch because it's just so good.
Thought you were talking about Hoxha for a minute lol
LMFAO@@zoominmonkey278
I don't know who or what is responsible for those graphics, but as a former graphic designer coming to this channel for the first time, the visuals were highly satisfying
mhm@@bananawitchcraft
@@zoominmonkey278 Hoxha banned all lawyers... so he wasn't that bad 😀
Bro read 1984 and thought:" Yep. That's what I want to do with my country"
used the book as a step by step tutorial
nah fr lmfao
Same with Ceausescu
Commies
California....
I live In Waterbury Connecticut and we have a huge Albanian population here in the city
Are they all from Albania? There were as many albanians in living outside Albania, such as Kosova, North Macedonia, and Montenegro.
@@bld7549 we are mix nga molle e kuqe deri ne cameri.
@@bld7549Albanian is an ethnic group. Many are Albanians from Montenegro, Kosovo, and NMace.
@@bld7549from what I know most of Albanians living in Connecticut are from Korça and Tirana. I'm not saying that there aren't Albanians from other cities but these 2 make the majority there.
sorry to hear that broski
Amazing Video, just from the start the music the editing and narration is absoultely wonderful. So modern yet nostolgic, keep up the good work.
Another quality video. Bravo!👏
Oh shit no way, just saw this - I see your conspiracy takedowns on RUclips and TikTok all the time, they're hilarious. I'm glad you enjoy my content haha
surprising that this only has 68 likes
Of course it's quality. The aliens scripted it for him, afterall.
I never expected the mini minute man here
MINIMINUTEMANN????
Everything about how this video is animated is just mindblowing! Why doesn't this guy have at least 1 milion subs?
It’s mainly just free stock images but I agree
Good video. I think you should also do a video covering Ceausescu's Romania, there are also many similarities with North Korea there, and there's no shortage of strange, if not disturbing, actions taken by his regime to investigate and showcase.
i think he already did
@@peterheinzo515Nope.
So glad that you site your sources so concisely and readily available. I went to check one of your claims and was able to find where it came from easily. Thank you so much
Congratulations on this video. The animation and the data is priceless. Thank you, it’s important to spread the word about this stories
What do you know about Albania?
Hoxhaist Albania once maintained such a good relationship with Maoist China that China even designed an airliner (Shanghai Y-10) to enable direct flight to Tirana. But as China approached and eventually allied with America, Albania gradually distanced itself from China until the eventual split.
By the way, Hoxhaism is quite influential in movements of the Third-World countries, like the Ethiopian revolutionaries that overthrew the Derg.
“Hoxhaism” that is not a thing. He had no ideology. It inspired no one. No one emulated it because there was nothing. He didn’t do anything!!!
they always pick the worst people for inspiration in Africa
@CrocodileWhispers @belstar1128 Just looked up Wikipedia. Hoxhaism seems to be a fairly large movement in the present and more so in the past, even rivalling Maoism. Hoxha would rejoice in his grave, while Mao would turn in his crystal coffin. 😏
Indeed…irredeemable nonsense never goes out of fashion unfortunately
@@33moneyball I believe that if you had lived under the rules of Haile Selassie and Dinaw Mengestu in a succession, you would have opposed both the United States and the Soviet Union. 🤗
I'd really like a part 2 to this video, covering Albania to the modern day.
Rough part of the world over there.
We chilling now big dawg
@@bnegaalarb8906u ain’t big dawg more lik a small cat
@@crazygamingyt7245 Go play roblox kid
I’m an Albanian and when Enver Hoxha died, my parents were crying because they thought it was the end of the country. This man told the people living in the country that everywhere else was poor and trying to be like Albania. He brainwashed the whole population into thinking that we were better off than every other country. Hoxha said he was the only reason Albania was secure and safe, so when he died, everyone feared the worse. It’s horrible because if you showed no emotion (after Hoxha died) you would be arrested under fake charges. This man was seen as a god and we had to pray to him before every meal.
so Albanians believe whatever they hear lol
@@subtleusername5475did you watch the video or what?
Ever heard of propaganda and having total manipulation of what information the media makes accessible?
There was literally no way to know what was going in the other countries ,so tell me how can you know something without having the means to do so(no TV etc..),the regime was truly awful in every aspect
@@subtleusername5475You must’ve been sleeping during the video.
Hoxha sounds like my overly-protective father.
@@subtleusername5475 have you not been paying attention to what the far right has been doing most everywhere? Maroni, Trump, Farrage...
Till this day, I can never understand why there are individuals like them who would be willing to put the rest of society into dismay and hardships just so they can party, enjoy luxuries, expatriate medical services + medications. But this video clearly definitely serves a larger purpose to educate everyone with wholesome history lessons and events. My first time watching a video from this channel and I'm already very impressed with their high-quality production.
You could say the same about the bloke in the Kremlin. Supposedly the richest man in Russia, with palaces, gold and other luxuries. He could have stepped down after invading Crimea in 2014 with the whole of Russia backing him, and lived the rest of his life comfortably. But he chose to stay on. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Because it's profitable. Who is better for the US, dictator Stalin, who literally destroyed the system of colonialism, or democratic Yeltsin/Putin selling resources on the cheap?
@@MAXIMIR-wf7ez Stalin was only useful to the West to defeat Hitler. After that he went back to being a megalomaniac not only to his own people, but leaving eastern Europe under his jackboot.
Putin is just a regular dictator compared to his Soviet predecessors.
It's so sad that a people's freedom and liberation from feudalism and tyranny from foreign powers can just be co-opted by such a paranoid hypocrite so quickly. That instead of working to establish an a high standard of living for his people he simply gave up due to paranoia and allowed himself and his closest elites access to it is just even worse.
@@rogink America is much worse with our bankers and elites ruling behind the scenes. They put two corrupt puppets in front of us for us to vote for. Giving us the illusion of a vote. While having the most insane military budget in human history. Almost 1000 military bases across the world in a constant state of war. Suppressing dozens of nations. Our puppet politicians become filthy Rich. While coming up with more and more laws and taxes every year! Time for people to wake up!
As an Albanian, I would like to thank you for making this video. Your video was very educational and informative. Thanks to you, I have learned so many things that weren't even taught in school about communist Albania, like how Enver Hoxha had employed foreign-trained physicians and had his own club with his party members, or the fact that an American journalist had visited in Albania in 1957.
My parents have always told me about communism. My mother would barely have anything to eat in the morning and right after she ate breakfast, she would work work all day in the labour camp without taking a break. She also served in the army when she was a teenager and she told me stories about how she was brainwashed by the paranoid propaganda machine about how the Americans or the Soviets were going to invade Albania.
Even though it has been more than 30 years that communism has fallen, there are many people that still have a communist mindset or are nostalgic about communism, like my grandfather for an example. He still has the same ideas that Enver Hoxha taught him.
I was born a decade after communist Albania had collapsed and when I was growing up I could tell that life was depressing and gloomy around the streets, even though I was just a kid and I didn't know anything about my country's history.
Once again, well done with this video. You have just earned a sub! Cheers!
Ur grandfather is right
As a communist: Which kind of ideas does your grandfather hold? Because there are many forms of socialism/communism. Is he still believing in isolationism or does he believe in the general idea of communism?
As an Albanian, you shouldn't believe everything your told, especially by RUclipsrs who have not read enough about history. All Albanian are from the same mould. You would have done the same as Hoxha in that era. It was the Cold War.
@@DriverKIT
But the results are the same. Tyranny, repression, stagnation and ruin, famine, cult of personality, genocide, persecution, corruption, etc.
Thanks for sharing. My god I can't believe the amount of people claiming communism. Guarantee none of them live in a truly communist country or they would not have that same opinion.
I did research on Albania in college in the mid-70’s. Almost impossible to find information. I did note that Hoxha had all of the land approaches to the country not only blocked but wiped out!
Border between Yugoslavia and Albania was one of most heavyly guarded borders with many incidents, There where dead soldiers and civilians on daily basis, in 70s and specially in 80s Yugoslav borders toward west where quite soft, you cold travel unrestricted anywhere but Albania.
Berlin border was walk through the park compared to Yu/Al border.
Only until sundown then everyone went home for supper. In the early 1960s my father was driving along the border and we took a wrong turning and came to a border post unguarded,being just a pole across the road.
@@BozidarZabavnik Maybe near where you and i live, in the western parts of former YU.
Ask someone who was in JNA near the Abanian border, ask someone who was conscripted around the time Enver Hoxa died.
I never served in JNA, but my father and many relatives where.
One hint, what do you think where did YU get samples of AK to reverse engeneer it into M70?
We were visiting from the uk after my father got his British passport. Strange land gypsies still pushed carts and trained baby bears to dance and the women wore exotic trousers@@sinisatrlin840
dead soldiers and civilians on daily basis??? oh really?? until now I believed that they seduced every millisecond wtffffffffffff....but if I ask you to bring me some proof or fact of what you say..ou are certainly not able to prove even a single event of the kind
In 1984 I walked around the border stone that separated Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece, 3 countries in 3 seconds.
I don't remember any major incidents!? The whole border line is very mountainous, with peaks going up to 3.000 meters, with no major roads or cities at the Albanian side, basically it was wilderness. There are modern roads today, but not back than.
As a Greek I met a lot Albanian immigrants that came to Greece. They're very nice people, simple, hard hardworking and very similar to Greeks.
Same people, only heterosexual
@@EricTheActor805 that's irrelevant
@EricTheActor805 Thats offending and not true you 🤬
Albanians are similar to italians
@AbruzzoRockers77 On what? In culture yeah in what other?
My father was a devout Hoxhaist. For some infernal reason, Hoxha was really popular in South America and had a real hold on the communist parties there. My dad was convinced that Albania was the one true workers' paradise on earth, so he emigrated to the US and indulged himself up to his eyeballs in having political freedom and resenting it while also taking advantage of it to try to gain converts and spread communism in the US.
It was a miserable environment to be raised in, different from other cults only in that there were no other cult members to make it all seem normal. Just mind-bending, existential discord.
That is insane. He sounds like one hell of a dude to have to call “dad”. Thank you for recognizing his hypocrisy in trying to spread communism in the US
I am really sorry you had to go through that. If its any consolation, you are not alone in the U.S. having to be raised in an environment where hypocritical leftists have a nice pay check in one hand and a Big Mac in the other while suffering no government interference or consequence as they scream about Western decadence on a public street.
Very interesting
This is emblematic of the delusion of western communists. Denouncing the "corrupt decadent west" while enjoying a cushy lifestyle only possible in the west, while using first amendment rights to free speech to denounce their own country , which would get them sent to prison or worse in a communist country. Its as ironic as it is ridiculous
Just wow man.
I never understood the types like that as they take part and take advantage of the very system they hate.
It's amusing going to small stalls or shops here in the US and but they are selling anti capitalist baubles while being a business owner in a capitalist society. The fact they can't see the irony is just astounding.
Another weird nation in Europe during the Cold War was the Socialist Republic of Romania. Although Romania was part of the Warsaw Pact, they had relations with the West and wasn't that loyal to the Soviets, opting to do things their own way. I'd say it was more similar to North Korea than Hoxha's Albania. In fact, North Korea and Albania didn't necessarily like each other, relations first deteriorated during the Sino-Soviet split, and then in the 1970s, Hoxha criticized Kim Il-sung for betraying communism by accepting foreign aid and being revisionist. In the case of Romania, after Nicolae Ceaușescu visited Pyongyang in 1971, he was so impressed with Kim Il-sung that he wanted to emulate everything.
For USSR-Romania relations, Romania moving away didn't start with Nicolae but rather Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. After seeing the rapid de-Stalinization going on in the USSR, Gheorghe adopted policies in Romanian national interests rather than Soviet ones and stepped-up measures that greatly increased trade relations with Western countries. Nicolae continued this by calling out the Soviets for invading Czechoslovakia in 1968. Like Albania, they didn't participate. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused Romania to distance itself further. And when the other Warsaw Pact nations boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics, Romania actually attended the games!
Yep and in return Yanks betrayed and backstabbed Ceausescu...
Ceausescu was called "the Romanian Fuhrer" for a reason, he even had an iron scepter made for himself
how the hell am i learning this from youtube comments when i did AP world history and took more advanced international studies in college????????????
and this is the reason why Romania is nowadays much further ahead than most of the balkan ex socialist countries
@kheidge2ndchannel547 Out of the all communist dictators, he might've been one of the 'good ones' lol. He's still praised by the old timers even to this day.
Couldn't resist becoming your donator, keep doing your important and qualitative content.
P.S. With love from Ukraine
I HATE to be that guy but how's life over there rn?
And I'm asking with all due respect
Hey shouldn’t you be on the frontlines ?
Slava Ukraini
Slava Heroyam 🇺🇦🇺🇦
I hope you are doing okay, I have a friend who is Ukrainian and lives outside of Kharkiv. Slava Ukraini! Heroyam Slava!
I visited Albania in 2017 for a few weeks. It was a beautiful country and a truly unique experience. While in the city of Gjirokastra, we toured a soviet eras (1960s) underground bunker built by Hoxha in case of nuclear war. I couldn't get over how laughably simple it was... it was just concrete rooms underground. Not very deep underground either. I didn't see any kind of ventilation systems or attempts at air filtration from radiation, or anything like that. I remember thinking "wow, this guy either didn't know a damn thing about nuclear war, or his government was just incapable of building anything advanced."
There was only 3 nuclear bunkers in Albania the rest were only for bombs the 3 ones are located in tirana and are underground and huge
He builded lot of thinks. He builded the whole city underground in north Albania.
@@sumax-nz1je Interesting, sounds like the tour guide may have got it wrong when he classified it as a nuclear bunker then.
Say what you will but those old simple cold war bunkers saved a lot of people's lives in ex-Yugoslavia during the war (90s).
The nuclear bunkers were in Tirana and also inside a mountain in Skrapar which was built to keep all government, parliament, and everything needed to run the state in case of war
It's crazy how a video about Albania has 2M views! Thank you so much for explaining everything, hopefully foreign people will see this and understand why albanians are the way they are, my people have been through a lot
Great video, fascinating topic.
As a neighbor of Albania (Greek), the people are very skillful when it come to handcraft and bulding. They are workaholics and very down to Earth, and i think that these ethics were born out of the Hozha Regime in the 80s. A former Albanian colleague used to say "Enver was a ruthless diactator, but was the only one able to keep our people United!". Albanians sought a better future in Greece and other countries, unfortunately leaving their homeland almost void of young people to carry on. In recent years, though, Albania has seen some economic growth and has become an adriatic tourist magnet for those who know about Albanian coasts.
that's a good neighbour right here. yassou file mou!
@andrewlainis4727....Scanderbeg was the only one who managed to unite the Albanian princes despite all the intrigues of the Venetians, Serbians etc. in favor of the Ottomans.. instead Enver failed to unite all the Albanian fighting groups in the Mukje conference
but despite some episodes the Albanians did not have a bloody civil war like the Greeks and Yugoslavs did not only because of power games but also because of their ethnic and religious problems....if you are young you probably know nothing about the Greek civil war or the colonel regime etc just curiosity?
They indeed adapts amazingly quick and are amazingly smart.
In Switzerland we have one of the world biggest albanian diaspora. I think in a about 25 years they made more money than the portugeses immigrants made in like 40 years in Switzerland. Knowing where they come from and all, it's freaking impressive imo
Ironically, it was Mussolini who unified all of Albania and Albanian Kosovo into one state.
Thanks!
Just spent 3 weeks in Albania a few months ago, despite their history and current problems, Albania was such a beautiful country and the people were so friendly and welcoming to foreigners.
It’s not the other way around.
Try living next door to them. I had 4 years of Hell!
History of Albania is very rich and "current " problems are easier to fix than problems of the west
@northwestpassage6234...all of Albania's Balkan neighbors have more or less the same problems, (economic problems) perhaps they have even more given that in Albania there are no ethnic or religious problems, etc. which have generated horror in the Balkans for more than a century
Im believe a lot of problems are coming from linguistic differences rather than religious ones. I mean, i know enough Albanians (i was in a school with plenty of savage albanians) to know that they don't care much about religion at all. They say themselves they are Shiptars before being Muslims, wich is rather crazy to admit imo @@lagjescuni5482
I visited Albania twice last year. I've had very memorable times there, and I even met my partner in Durres. The country is working hard to modernise and become more tourist friendly. I recommend visiting Vlore and Sarande. Very interesting country, try the local olive oil!
We don’t want too modernize and be weirdos like the west. Enver saved Albania and now it’s becoming shit. Albania for Albanians! True Albanians only marry Albanians
I enjoyed my visit to Albania including Sarande and the magnificent Roman ruins of Butrint . The bunkers are still to be seen throughout the countryside .
Nice im actually from durres born and raised. Ive been in usa for 20years and I could not believe the amount of foreign tourists in there. Looked great
@@BigE.Celula If you were still living in Durres, you would know my ex. Everyone knows him in Durres as a 'lawyer' lol
@@wrathford yea maybe, who is he?
17:16 Other owners of the Mercedes 600 grosser include:
- Leonid Brezhnev
- Nicole Ceausescu
- Idi Amin Dada
- Papa Doc Duvalier
- Saddam Hussein
- Chairman Mao
- Kim Il Sung
- Kim Jong Il
- Ferdinand Marcos
- Jeremy Clarkson
John Lennon and Jay Leno also. Jay Leno has a video on RUclips showing his.
augusto pinochet???
Me
Why is it so popular among despicable people?
"Albania's Enver Hoxha was unusual in being well read in the European literature classics - and Molotov thought his cosmopolitanism a reason for suspicion. But Hoxha was a conventional communist dictator in denying his people access to disapproved alien culture." - Robert Service 🇬🇧
Is that the Canadian poet? Where can I read his critique of Albania? I only know him by his wilderness poems.
@@cecilDisharoon No, different Robert Service.
"communist dictator" is an oxymoron, just like "law abiding criminal". Does not exist.
There is no dictastorship in communism, and whoever is a dictator can not be a communist, no matter what they say.
@@fixipszikon6670
Sure there isn't!
How certain are we about that part of his biography. He does not speak like sometimes well-read.
Amazing documentary, and thank you for making this incredible video on Albania, my homeland.
Keep making these history documentries, they are brilliant. Thank you so much for this 👍
I did not have "King Zog" on my Bingo card today.
albania nowadays is amazing, truely a place to visit, beautiful lands and very nice people. Whilst its got far to go stil its really nice to go to
Very nice people? Judging by the ones we get in the UK, that's a complete lie. They are the number 1 in the list of top 5 worst nationalities in the UK due to their drug trafficking and violent crime gangs.
Very true, Albania today is lovely and I hope to visit someday.
Agree, the people are amazing and the landscapes are breathtaking. They are one of the most hospitable folks I have ever met.
@@captainevenslower4400the people are nice but you get to realize the ghost of communism still lingers. the people are very empty inside it's like they're all suffering from pent up ptsd. hoxa also banned religion in 1967 so in one generation almost all sense of spirituality was gone. Albania may become extinct soon, almost all the young people are leaving and have no real hope. the people in government are all people with ties to the communist block. the Albanians are now one of the most powerful and brutal international mafias in the world
"nice people"
By far one of the best youtube video I’ve watched in a while dude. Subscribed.
Excellent work. You have done your home work well.
To give you some insight on the propaganda and the cult of personality of Hoxha’s regime.
My mother recalls that when Hoxha died, she cried for him harder than she cried for her own dear father. She remembers feeling that they(the people and the country) were left as orphans with no one to protect them. And the world (our neighbors and the world powers) were going to wipe them off the earth.
To this day, his cult of personality persists with those of my parents generation. The nostalgia is strong with that generation. Their counter arguments to the awful things the regime did are: we had rule of law, we had secured place of work, we had great education system and we had a big formidable army for a little country.
But when you point out that Albanians current shitty politicians are a byproduct of that nepotistic, ruthless regime they have nothing to say.
Enver saved Albania lavdi
I’m not understanding what you’re trying to say.
@@illiria2000 without Enver being strict and strong military Yugoslavia and Greece would have split Albania
yugoslavia the one who gave rights to kosovo and albanians??? and greece was having turkish issues and many were against going to war with them due to soviet threat@@GreaterAlbania1
@@GreaterAlbania1 bot
Great video. Would be cool to see a deep dive on Ceausescu next.
The grafics are on a master level! Subscribed just for that alone !
True story: I had to go to a domestic job turned out the dispute was between two Albanians (neighbor called 911), one of them actually turned around and said to me and I'll NEVER forget this: "Don't you know who we are? We're Albanians." What he was implying was that "don't fuck with us, we're Albanians) meaning that get lost or else. He was saying this to a fully uniformed cop. I was astonished because A: This has never happened to me while in uniform and B: he was making CLEAR & even threatening TWO uniformed officers on the spot. Wow. I was of course, not exactly a rookie and quickly put him in his place and warned him not to do that again or risk being arrested (he didn't). This was about fifteen years and it stuck in my head to this day...
The Albanian mafia unfortunately is quite famous to hit first Italy and later the whole West. When i was young i red a book called "La Orda" It was talking about the immigration in Italy which was and still is an aweful repercussion of their revenge from the second war world of Mussolini invasion which went very wrong ending of a sort of a massacre between the two factions. Later the German had to help the Italians to restoring orders to freedom that dictatorial repressing regime. Perhaps people forgot that in that land happened the largest genocide of all time carried out. When Italy was betrayed by the Italians themselves after having made the "pact of steel" and Mussolini was hanged......5.000 Italian soldiers were cold shot like execution style last more a less a week by the same allies accused of betrayal. Here in UK for example the Albanian mafia dealing with drugs and weapons had reached awkward statistic. Managed to corrupt the police as well for their determination. A Scotland Yard retired expert which has got his own RUclips channel is explaining perfectly how they could still manage to bring old firearms into the border from the WW-II and new as the powerful gangs related are enormous with uncountable deadly fatality still ongoing. With this i hope that giving data and statistic of murders which unluckily after decades not only the authority of this government let this people crossing this land and doing their best to propagate terrors. In many Countries in Europe this phenomenal is quite hidden although is a real threat to humanity. Thanks God i saw by chance this astonishing documentary for making it easier for me to understand this very sad story of poor people who have been through some hard times.
😂 ,we bad temper but honest ,we don't do behind your back...
Its very typical of them
I went there often for a holiday. It was and is one my favorite destinations. I loved the warmness of people, and it’s a beautiful country.
This was such a beautifully crafted video. I am extremely impressed by the quality and storytelling. Great job
the animation looks really great in this one. Also great topic
This is extremely impressive, extensive & stunningly well-made
The map graphics are some of the best I’ve seen on history RUclips channels. Well done.
In 1981 when I was 11 we had a family holiday in Albania. At the time they only allowed less than 1000 visas for western tarvellers and Tirana airport only had around 7 international flights per week. We stayed in a beach resort in Durres but took loads of trips around the country including Tirana and the technoiogy museum mentioned in the video. We also visited a history museum in Durres which had an American 'spy' plane on display which had been shot down by the airforce. I'm pretty sure that it was something like a Sabre but I 'm probably wrong. There was also a statue of a heroic restistance fighter which was surrounded by old WW2 era weapons. I wanted to look at a German MP42 but the caretaker would only show me Russian weapons! I also remember the bunkers although TBH they were extremely hard to miss given their numbers. It was a great holiday for us but we could leave after two weeks unlike 99.9% of the population.
Fantastic video! I just want to add that the reason why so many people lived in awful conditions is because the bunkerization of Albania caused a housing crisis in the country. To put it into prespective, the entire project cost twice as much as the Maginot line and consumed three times the concrete
Oh my God, your animations are so beautiful. I’m sorry for completely ignoring the topic with this comment.
For us in then Yugoslavia Albania was other world ,something we did not know anything about ,mysterious land that has no roads and you dont go there ever
probably my favourite country out of 11 i travelled in across europe this summer. and honestly where i felt the safest as well, everyone was so hospitible!
It certainly felt safe to me. Safer than lots of other places I've been. Go for history and to hike and you'll have a great time. But the tourist tax, creaky infrastructure, generally terrible food and piles of trash everywhere made it frustrating. A photo I took that sums it up features horses bin diving at a supposed beauty spot with the Alps in the background - this was the general vibe wherever we went. The coastline is being destroyed by tacky resorts. Plus some of the worst driving I've ever seen in my life. But good luck to them. The history is appalling and I wish the best for the Albanian people.
Thank you for covering this part of history many wish to forget. And realy well presented, despite a detail here and there missing, its great 👍
One of the horrors, he went through all brands of that evil regime and murdered his way through. His suppression of the religious communities is particularly shocking.
Woke up from a nap. Saw IMPERIAL upload. Decided it was gonna be a good day
wow, this editing is epic. congrats for the excellence and tks for the great history content
Albanian myself here, however I live in the urban areas of Kosovo. The power-vacuum that was once a result of the German retreat in the mid 40s was one of the most influential turning points of wide-scale Albanian Culture. Due to the nature of the isolationist regime of Enver Hoxha, even Kosovo-Albanians like myself and my family were excluded from the country, and some even deemed "traitorous".
Because of that, there was a century long separation in the culture in between, and now the two primary dialects, Gheg and Tosk are almost indecipherable by speakers of one another.
I would argue for the most part the Albanian in Albania as a whole
Was changed. Outside of Albania in Albanian populated regions we speak more archaic Albanian. However, it also depends on region as to how much the extent is felt.
the part about gheg and tosk differences is not really true in reality. there are a lot of differences in how tosks and ghegs speak, especially if you compare albanian in gjilan against albanian in sarande where the dialects are already quite different to the dialects of other gheg/tosk regions. maybe if you are raised in an isolated village with an especially deviant dialect then you wouldn't understand the other but most people from the cities and larger villages of both sides can understand each other (also a lot of kosovar music is becoming popular in albania so tosks there are also becoming more familar with kosova's dialect in particular). i think this idea only applies to if you are a gheg speaker trying to understand arbereshe or arvanite and vice versa because those are so different from even the main tosk dialects
@@macjaa Gheg speaker here from Ulqin. My grandmother always says Shkoder and Ulqini are one in the same and the dialects from Tuz, Plav and Gusinje, while being from Montenegro are very different from us. Many times when I speak to a shkoder native I have little to no difficulty in vocabulary differences as I would with a malsor (they use a lot of Slavic vocabulary in their dialect). Also Arberesh and Arvantika depends on the dialect, some I’ve been able to understand very clearly.
True story. Crazy to think that even Albanians from Kosovo weren't allowed in Albania. Like bruh we the same blood 😂 As per dialects, they aren't undecipherable at all. Difficult to the uneducated? Yes. Easy for educated Kosova Albanians to talk in Tosk dialect since it's the standard Albanian taught in schools? Also yes.
As an Albanian I’m so happy more people are talking about this, my mother who lived in Albania at the time tells me stories about what life was like. They only survived because my grandpa was a truck driver and was able to scrape up just enough money for necessities… every time I see someone defend or agree with communism I always ask if they know about Albania’s experience, and every time they say no. When I visited Albania and saw all those bunkers still there I realized how the country is forever scarred by communism
that’s not communism. that’s corruption and totalitarianism.
What the USSR, Hoxha, North Korea, China, etc. all practiced was *not* communism. Point blank, no ifs, ands, or buts. They were oppressive, totalitarian regimes dressed in communist clothing.
because they don't want communism, they want social democracy with the ethics boards given more ability to do something than usual. they dont know the true extent of a pure communist state and its similarities to a pure capitalist one (which is entirely state-mandated anyway).
It's worse when albanians that lived through that time agree with communism They're still brainwashed
Was it communism, or was it authoritarianism that did the damage?
AMAZING VIDEO, I lve the editings/graphics so much too!
Well done. Everything you said is absolutely correct. I'm married to an Albanian, so my husband has told many stories of back then. Yes it was the north Korea of Europe. Sad though that know people are still very poor and corruption is off the charts. I have visited Albania and have seen much potential but I fear that nothing will ever happen. I did enjoy my time there. People were super nice and hospitable. They deserve so much better. I really hope that some day someone will take charge and turn this little poor country into what it should be a jewel.
Albanians marry Albanians so ur husband isn’t real Albanian
It isn't surprising that there is so much corruption there, as that was always the case throughout Hoxha's reign. Communism falling will not suddenly stop it, just make it less institutionalized and decentralized. Its funny that communists complain about the exploitation of capitalist democracies when only democracy and genuine freedom of speech have the power to hold government accountable.
For anyone that travels to Tirana I recommend visiting the House of Leaves Museum (its basically this documentary but as a building and much more)
Amazing video production quality! Impressed
I know a lot of people from there. They are the only people I've met who have exclusively talked about their country of origin in a bad way.
this much work for youtube video !!!! Man i am impressed by all the motion graphics and 3d animation done in this video. These are not just animations but very impressive art depicting the situation perfectly. I can pause at each frame and it looks excellent. I am a 3d animator myself and i know how hard it is to make 3d animations in blender with good composition, Colour and photorealism. First time watching you ! Subbed !!!!!!!!!
Insane production quality here
In 1960's Yugoslavia there was a communication tower being built on a mountain. They were close enough to Albania that they were picking up their radio signals. Some of the guys knew Albanian and supposedly the radio was annoucing that "Yugoslavia is building a rocket launcher on our doorstep!!!!"
We could pick your radio signals too. Beograd2 was one the channels
For anyone who wants some more on Enver Hoxha, the fantastic Real Dictators podcast is set to do a series of episodes on him as their next topic.
amazing video quality and information. wouldn't even be upset one bit if you had a sponsor ad read.
Great video, man! Keep it up. You really have something special.
so US and UK tried to overthrow him, but he's "super paranoid" for "no reason". This is contradicting in itself!
It's obvious Albania was a threat to noone, both militarily, economically and diplomatically.
If you paid any attention at 10:00-10:15 you would know it says. "This formed the basis of his paranoia."
It's not contradicting itself it says so in the video that this formed his paranoia.
What it's saying is unnecessary is being paranoid of everyone even friends. I mean seriously this video touches on how he murdered people he even fought against Germany besides.
What a great video, what an amazing channel. Great job!
The university I attended here in Canada, the University of Waterloo, had a student newspaper called The Chevron when I attended in the late 1970s. The newspaper was controlled by students who firmly believed that Albania was the best model for the entire world and dismissed both the Soviet Union and the Peoples' Republic of China as being totally compromised in their Marxism. They wrote long articles extolling all the virtues of Albania. Years later, one of these "journalists", Neil Docherty, who had become a documentary film maker, did a film in Albania after it started to open up to the West. His film followed an Albanian doctor who was an avid football (soccer) fan that set up a medical practice in a remote village. Shortly after opening his practice, the doctor's sole piece of medical equipment, a stethoscope, was stolen by local people. Docherty, who narrated the film, talked about his belief in his younger days that Albania was a true workers' paradise and finally seemed to realize how wrong he had been. I would be very surprised if he or any of his comrade journalists had the slightest personal knowledge of Albania at the time they were on the staff of The Chevron yet they posed as experts and apparently even fooled at least a few students at my university. It seems to me that a great deal of today's campus radicalism is just as ill-informed as the "journalists" (propagandists!) at The Chevron were back in my youth, although it is considerably more successful in influencing student opinions. (In my day, nearly everyone dismissed The Chevron as an obvious Communist propaganda sheet.)
These western commies wouldn't have survived here for a day 😂
Hahaha damn cool story
I see protesters in both Canada and the UK (dual citizen) fly soviet flags all the time and I just laugh at them. I don't know what sort of reality-distortion field they live behind, but none of them seem to know or care about the horrors of communism. They're LARPers detached from reality.
Albania was the only European nation directly affected by WW2 to protect Jews: 2000 survived. Einstein was given safe passage and being issued an Albanian passport made it to America.
I'm blown away by this video. Thank you so, so much. Legend! So engaging, infornative and moving. I just backpacked around Albania and this context fills in all the gaps I didn't get from the (paranoid?) population in conversation about culture, history, etc. What a collective trauma. Bless those amazingly kind and generous people. And you for making this x
I know a guy who runs a security company who's from Albania, dude has a few stories of how rough it was. He and his parents having to share an egg for dinner, having to sneak over the border to greece in the middle of the night to work for a day then sneak back over. Knowing all that really puts into context why he works as hard as he does at building his business. Don't think I know anybody else so hungry to give his kids more than he had.
hopefully he raises them to be good people as well. I've seen a lot of examples of the opposite where they become spoilt brats exactly because of that
You know, at 3:04 the picture isn`t from the balkans. Tokaj is a town located in Hungary, famous of it`s great wine`s
insane quality on your animations and everything. very well done, great video!!
Also Enver banned all religions throughout the country. He destroyed most religious structures and praying wasn't allowed
"And no religion, too" John Lennon
Can't have any traditional religions in those regimes; the religion is the State. You worship the State, pray at a shrine with the rulers picture on it, confess your sins in struggle sessions, it's all a religion in of itself. And the religion of communism can't tolerate "competition" in the form of Christianity or Buddhism or any other pre-existing religion.
Albania is one of the only countries where animosity or discrimination based on religion is almost non existent. The Albanians are strong, warm and welcoming people.
@@Solivigant. They are muslim
@@pdd60absorbed12 they r moslem
Hey love the video! Ive been to Albania the last two years now as my partner is from Tirana, and it has changed so much so fast! I would love to hear your take on the development from the 90s until now. Also how the current prime minister has been doing many smart moves. Did you hear he encouraged women to join the police force, knowing this challenged stereotypes in Albania. Then later as a riot came, he had a wall of all woman police. The general public refused to hit a woman and the demonstration was totally peaceful! Also so many radical changes in a short time, it would be nice to hear more about it from the perspective of your channel! Cheers x
It's a good day when IMPERIAL uploads
The wildest event that happened in Albanian-USSR relations: The Vlorë incident. As you brought up, Albania criticized the USSR for being too accommodating towards the US and its allies, thus it rejected the détente approach and aligned themselves with China. Nikita Khrushchev hoped that Albania would serve as a military base on the Mediterranean Sea for all the socialist countries and provided equipment and training to the Albanian army, which included a fleet of twelve Whiskey-class submarines. The Soviets wanted to increase its influence in the Mediterranean in order to counter NATO. Albania allowed the USSR to establish a strong military base that housed marines and larger units similar to destroyers.
So when this Soviet-Albanian split happened, the Soviets imposed economic sanctions, withdrew eight of the twelve submarines, broke up naval facilities at Vlorë, and encouraged pro-Moscow leaders in Albania to stage a coup against Hoxha. But Hoxha nor his military weren't having it. In 1961, the Albanian government decided to use military force to expel the Soviet forces from Albania and to take control of four of the submarines. So on April 7, Albanian troops began to position the Vlorë base and encircle. Soviets initially resisted, but after days of siege and negotiation, they finally left on April 12th. The Soviets tried to sabotage the submarines, but the Chinese fixed them. After the regime collapsed, the Turkish military rebuilt the base.
Thanks, good information of conflict of dictators trying for autonomy, to control their people's destiny and borders? Tricky! Ask, Ukrainians?