THE RIVALRY BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND ITALY ABOUT THE OIL CONCESSIONS IN ALBANIA (1925)

Authors : Armend Mehmeti

Pages : 91-100

View : 34 | Download : 27

Publication Date : 2024-05-29

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This article elaborates on the importance of oil in geopolitical issues, with a specific focus on interwar Albania. Since it proved to be a better solution than coal for transport and military purposes, oil became an issue of fierce competition between powers. The countries that lacked technology to process oil hoped to benefit politically and economically from oil concessions. It happened so with Albania. Devastated by World War I and trying to maintain the country\'s independence and territorial integrity, the Albanian government welcomed the British proposal to grant oil concessions to British companies. However, the granting of concessions met with the opposition of Italy, which aimed at economic penetration into Albania. Thus, Britain and Italy developed a fierce diplomatic rivalry that ended in 1925 with a political compromise. Using primarily the British perspective, this paper examines the origin, development and outcome of the conflict between Britain and Italy over Albanian oil; it examines how oil affected foreign policy of both states towards Albania and how these clashes affected Albania\'s internal political environment. The basic course of this article is a descriptive historical narrative methodology. The paper is structured in three thematic-chronological themes, besides the introduction. This approach combines historical and archival sources with contemporary literature to provide a fair interpretation of historical developments. As a result of the arguments presented in this paper, we have concluded that regional developments during the interwar period were only one segment of the global policies of the Great Powers.
Keywords : Arnavutluk, Milletler Cemiyeti, Büyük Britanya, Petrol imtiyazları, İngiliz Pers Şirketi, Mussolini, Zogu vb