NOTICE: There are some errors in this video that I wish to correct - see the bottom of this document for more info. tinyurl.com/mya8evca 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.

@GeoBlits

5 ай бұрын

MOMENT OF DAYS

@RiRiDingetjes

5 ай бұрын

Thanks for adding the sources, and even the whole script

@CantTellYou

5 ай бұрын

Say what you want about Hoxha, but we all know he’s the coolest & hottest guy ever to walk this earth

@commander_expendable

5 ай бұрын

source of music?

@user-og3zk8jn9k

5 ай бұрын

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.

@Rezistenza1998

5 ай бұрын

Your grandparents were Balli kombetar or what?

@ozymandias999

5 ай бұрын

@@Rezistenza1998 nah, just regular farmers living in a village

@Rezistenza1998

5 ай бұрын

@@ozymandias999 "regular" landless farmers or "regular" landowners?

@Rezistenza1998

5 ай бұрын

@@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

@ozymandias999

5 ай бұрын

@@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.

@bardhb

5 ай бұрын

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.

@TricaGamer

5 ай бұрын

Now look the shitshow that Albania has become

@mermiez1

5 ай бұрын

REAL fascism and dictatorship. Americans have absolutely no idea what that actually looks like.

@tedgemberling2359

5 ай бұрын

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.

@ahmetzogu3289

5 ай бұрын

Is that the reason crime is rampant in the West, because everyone can afford to buy everything on credit?

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

@plako8047

4 ай бұрын

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.

@BitMan1010

4 ай бұрын

@@plako8047 cus no one liked him LMAO

@GreaterAlbania1

4 ай бұрын

@@BitMan1010 not true

@BitMan1010

4 ай бұрын

@@GreaterAlbania1oh let me guess you like him?

@GreaterAlbania1

4 ай бұрын

@@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

@davidchong5909

5 ай бұрын

That is a relief he didn't come back to settle childhood beef with your great grandfather lol

@swiatlojest9136

5 ай бұрын

@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

@Umadoveracommentg

5 ай бұрын

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

@jpt3640

5 ай бұрын

Well, an autobiography always is written by the subject of interest himself ;) That's why it's called auto - Scnr

@xandyrwlkyr2563

5 ай бұрын

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.

@weirdshibainu

5 ай бұрын

Wow. Just wow.

@CliffCardi

5 ай бұрын

And yet he sucked Mao’s dick.

@rogink

5 ай бұрын

And Kim saw Hoxha as an imperialist lackey.

@ollikoskiniemi6221

5 ай бұрын

​@@roginkHow could an extreme isolationist be an imperialist

@eisbergsyndrom5010

5 ай бұрын

Everyone's a revisionist except for me.

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."

@dzonikx

5 ай бұрын

what happened after

@gavinisdie

5 ай бұрын

​@@dzonikxhe probably just continued through Yugoslavia to get to Greece

@lagjescuni5482

5 ай бұрын

@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

@marekohampton8477

4 ай бұрын

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.

@goatgamer001

4 ай бұрын

@@marekohampton8477 he needn't go through albania, he could just have crossed directly to greece

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

@leiflinder8854

5 ай бұрын

Wow!!!!!

@maybachmilo1105

4 ай бұрын

Much respect to him for staying in Kosovo words cant explain true warrior!

@heartofarebel4098

4 ай бұрын

I genuinely appreciated reading your story. Thank you for sharing!!

@peterpaul8894

4 ай бұрын

Very interesting

@richardl.gonzalez3995

4 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for sharing what life was in Albania. I enjoy reading and hearing about life behind the Iron Curtain.

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."

@GreaterAlbania1

5 ай бұрын

Madman? For protecting his country from enemies

@eric55406

5 ай бұрын

@@GreaterAlbania1 ...enemies imagined or real?

@GreaterAlbania1

5 ай бұрын

@@eric55406 real Yugoslavia Serbs Greece the west trying too overthrow him etc

@sirol97

5 ай бұрын

​@@GreaterAlbania1His enemies or the coutnry enemies? Because there is a huge difference.

@MaggieKeizai

5 ай бұрын

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.

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.

@morganmorse2086

5 ай бұрын

As crazy as Enver Hoxha was, he also had balls. Imagine stealing submarines from a nuclear power.

@stefanoslavdas9222

5 ай бұрын

The most Albanian thing to do 😂😅

@josevictorionunez9312

5 ай бұрын

That's some GTA level stealing. Geez.

@gimzod76

5 ай бұрын

The lads of top gear found the rusting hulks of them didn't they?

@SlabeshAlboz

5 ай бұрын

​@@gimzod76yes 👍

Bro read 1984 and thought:" Yep. That's what I want to do with my country"

@BetalerIkkeSkatt

5 ай бұрын

used the book as a step by step tutorial

@daedaessosmart6684

3 ай бұрын

nah fr lmfao

@royale7620

3 ай бұрын

Same with Ceausescu

@robertortiz-wilson1588

2 ай бұрын

Commies

@DivadNoodeldehm-lz2gm

2 ай бұрын

California....

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!

@bdleo300

Ай бұрын

Yep and in return Yanks betrayed and backstabbed Ceausescu...

The graphics of this video are about the best I have ever seen. If KZread 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.

@user-ed6mp6jo9p

4 ай бұрын

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

Great video man! I've never really heard much about Albania and this makes it very obvious why, keep up the great work,

@Rezistenza1998

5 ай бұрын

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

@CantTellYou

5 ай бұрын

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”

@silveriver9

5 ай бұрын

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.

@screwyourhandle

4 ай бұрын

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

@rdrrr

7 күн бұрын

@@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.

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.

@riton349

5 ай бұрын

Hanging like grapevine? Did they committed suicode

@gabbyn978

5 ай бұрын

@@riton349Google for Benetton ship Albania, then you will find the picture

@piuthemagicman

5 ай бұрын

​@@riton349No, they were desperately hanging from the ropes because the ship was overfilled with Albanian refugees

@TheAlbaniaGaming

5 ай бұрын

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.

@alexmilea2528

5 ай бұрын

Super interesting, had to google this to see for myself. Thanks for sharing

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.

@zachinthehat1707

5 ай бұрын

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

@xandyrwlkyr2563

5 ай бұрын

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.

@beantea5592

5 ай бұрын

Very interesting

@Legitpenguins99

5 ай бұрын

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

@baronvonjo1929

5 ай бұрын

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.

This whole video was amazing! The storytelling, the motion graphics, the visuals… Thanks for your effort🙏🏻

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!

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

5 ай бұрын

“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!!!

@belstar1128

5 ай бұрын

they always pick the worst people for inspiration in Africa

@user-uh8fu3mb9l

5 ай бұрын

​ @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

5 ай бұрын

Indeed…irredeemable nonsense never goes out of fashion unfortunately

@user-uh8fu3mb9l

5 ай бұрын

@@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 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."

@sumax-nz1je

4 ай бұрын

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

@FreddAlb

4 ай бұрын

He builded lot of thinks. He builded the whole city underground in north Albania.

@WrestlingColin

4 ай бұрын

@@sumax-nz1je Interesting, sounds like the tour guide may have got it wrong when he classified it as a nuclear bunker then.

@A_Ducky

Ай бұрын

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).

This is *exceptionally* well produced and made. Thank you for creating a very well researched primer to this part of recent history.

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.

@rogink

5 ай бұрын

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.

@MAXIMIR-wf7ez

5 ай бұрын

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?

@rogink

5 ай бұрын

@@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.

@soren633

5 ай бұрын

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.

@jeffrutledge1789

5 ай бұрын

@@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!

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.

@user-lo4gi7ht3x

5 ай бұрын

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.

@sinisatrlin840

5 ай бұрын

@@user-lo4gi7ht3x 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?

@user-lo4gi7ht3x

5 ай бұрын

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

@lagjescuni5482

5 ай бұрын

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

@XcT27

4 ай бұрын

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.

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!

@GreaterAlbania1

5 ай бұрын

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

@richardshiggins704

5 ай бұрын

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 .

@BigE.Celula

14 күн бұрын

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

@wrathford

14 күн бұрын

@@BigE.Celula If you were still living in Durres, you would know my ex. Everyone knows him in Durres as a 'lawyer' lol

@BigE.Celula

14 күн бұрын

@@wrathford yea maybe, who is he?

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.

@MasterChees117

5 ай бұрын

It’s not the other way around.

@gaynormca8992

5 ай бұрын

Try living next door to them. I had 4 years of Hell!

@torikeqi8710

5 ай бұрын

History of Albania is very rich and "current " problems are easier to fix than problems of the west

@lagjescuni5482

5 ай бұрын

@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

@KOjoe1k67

5 ай бұрын

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 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.

@zoominmonkey278

5 ай бұрын

Thought you were talking about Hoxha for a minute lol

@robloxmemedudes

5 ай бұрын

LMFAO@@zoominmonkey278

@screwyourhandle

4 ай бұрын

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

@robloxmemedudes

4 ай бұрын

mhm@@screwyourhandle

@bdleo300

Ай бұрын

@@zoominmonkey278 Hoxha banned all lawyers... so he wasn't that bad 😀

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.

@bay0r

5 ай бұрын

that's a good neighbour right here. yassou file mou!

@lagjescuni5482

5 ай бұрын

@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

@lagjescuni5482

5 ай бұрын

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?

@KOjoe1k67

5 ай бұрын

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

@JG-tt4sz

4 ай бұрын

Ironically, it was Mussolini who unified all of Albania and Albanian Kosovo into one state.

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!

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🫡

This story telling and editing is top tier. Incredible work!

"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 🇬🇧

@cecilDisharoon

5 ай бұрын

Is that the Canadian poet? Where can I read his critique of Albania? I only know him by his wilderness poems.

@Baibakov88

5 ай бұрын

@@cecilDisharoon No, different Robert Service.

@fixipszikon6670

5 ай бұрын

"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.

@shauncameron8390

4 ай бұрын

@@fixipszikon6670 Sure there isn't!

@ems4884

4 ай бұрын

How certain are we about that part of his biography. He does not speak like sometimes well-read.

Keep making these history documentries, they are brilliant. Thank you so much for this 👍

This is great, already subscribed. Thank you for this.

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

@leestirling4623

5 ай бұрын

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.

@IMPERIALYT

5 ай бұрын

Very true, Albania today is lovely and I hope to visit someday.

@captainevenslower4400

5 ай бұрын

Agree, the people are amazing and the landscapes are breathtaking. They are one of the most hospitable folks I have ever met.

@akhan4727

5 ай бұрын

​@@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

@Tokarev.-

5 ай бұрын

"nice people"

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!

@GreaterAlbania1

5 ай бұрын

Ur grandfather is right

@DriverKIT

5 ай бұрын

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?

@ahmetzogu3289

5 ай бұрын

As an Albanian, you shouldn't believe everything your told, especially by KZreadrs 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.

@shauncameron8390

4 ай бұрын

@@DriverKIT But the results are the same. Tyranny, repression, stagnation and ruin, famine, cult of personality, genocide, persecution, corruption, etc.

@dano1307

4 ай бұрын

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.

Great video and stunning visuals. Thanks heaps!

Great Editing! Nicely done :)

Amazing Video, just from the start the music the editing and narration is absoultely wonderful. So modern yet nostolgic, keep up the good work.

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.

@peterheinzo515

5 ай бұрын

i think he already did

@VeteranAlpha

4 ай бұрын

​@@peterheinzo515Nope.

insane quality on your animations and everything. very well done, great video!!

Fantastic doc. Especially on subjects I've never heard of, absolutely subbed.

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.

@GreaterAlbania1

5 ай бұрын

Enver saved Albania lavdi

@illiria2000

5 ай бұрын

I’m not understanding what you’re trying to say.

@GreaterAlbania1

5 ай бұрын

@@illiria2000 without Enver being strict and strong military Yugoslavia and Greece would have split Albania

@Chris-qb8kg

5 ай бұрын

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

@reed582

4 ай бұрын

@@GreaterAlbania1 bot

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

Only a few mins and I like the way it's presented, just a voice-over and straight to points and nice mapping and graphics and photos 😎👍👍

Great video, awesome quality like always!

Another quality video. Bravo!👏

@IMPERIALYT

3 ай бұрын

Oh shit no way, just saw this - I see your conspiracy takedowns on KZread and TikTok all the time, they're hilarious. I'm glad you enjoy my content haha

@spytf2-pb3yo

2 ай бұрын

surprising that this only has 68 likes

@linkly9272

2 ай бұрын

Of course it's quality. The aliens scripted it for him, afterall.

Couldn't resist becoming your donator, keep doing your important and qualitative content. P.S. With love from Ukraine

@thediaz07

5 ай бұрын

I HATE to be that guy but how's life over there rn?

@thediaz07

5 ай бұрын

And I'm asking with all due respect

@JoeRogansForehead

4 ай бұрын

Hey shouldn’t you be on the frontlines ?

@mackenziemoore5088

4 ай бұрын

Slava Ukraini Slava Heroyam 🇺🇦🇺🇦

@Yuki_Ika7

4 ай бұрын

I hope you are doing okay, I have a friend who is Ukrainian and lives outside of Kharkiv. Slava Ukraini! Heroyam Slava!

Congratulations on this video. The animation and the data is priceless. Thank you, it’s important to spread the word about this stories

Music, story telling video i love everything brother. Subscribed

Albania and Romania both suffered horribly under Communism

@Myzeqari69

5 ай бұрын

I'm an aromanian in Albania, and have some cousins in bukurest. My father visited them in 92. You guys were lucky to have a dunce for a dictator, bukuresti looked like NYC compared to our biggest cities here.

@comraderomania7988

5 ай бұрын

@@Myzeqari69 Aromanian? Based af. I agree București might have been better than any Albanian cities, but at the end of the day, it was all a really big construction site for an illiterate psychopath. Ruined the whole city for his Giant boulevards and Massive Palace

@CrocodileWhispers

5 ай бұрын

Did anyone do well under communism?

@kzcciynk

5 ай бұрын

@@CrocodileWhispersthe dictators who ruled communist nations

Great video, fascinating topic.

wow, this editing is epic. congrats for the excellence and tks for the great history content

Great video. Thanks for the info. Well done, "solo creater from Switzerland"!

Also Enver banned all religions throughout the country. He destroyed most religious structures and praying wasn't allowed

Interesting, love your content man

Amazing content bro honestly 🔥

The grafics are on a master level! Subscribed just for that alone !

Small brain: align with USSR because you fear the West Medium brain: align with Yugoslavia because you fear the USSR Big brain: align with China because you fear Yugoslavia Hoxha brain: align with 170,000 bunkers because you fear China

@bnegaalarb8906

3 ай бұрын

There's levels to this shit 😂

@dirckthedork-knight1201

6 күн бұрын

*because you fear everyone

Great video. Would be cool to see a deep dive on Ceausescu next.

Unreal production quality, respect

This is extremely impressive, extensive & stunningly well-made

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.

@j.dunlop8295

Ай бұрын

Thanks, good information of conflict of dictators trying for autonomy, to control their people's destiny and borders? Tricky! Ask, Ukrainians?

Thank you so very much for producing this particular mini-documentary. As a life-long student I embrace and cherish every opportunity to learn, and understand!!

Insane production quality here

These videos are so high quality, keep it up

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.

the animation looks really great in this one. Also great topic

amazing video quality and information. wouldn't even be upset one bit if you had a sponsor ad read.

Very good images and over voice, it makes the story very pleasant to follow and easy to understand.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" - George Orwell , Animal Farm

Amazing documentary, and thank you for making this incredible video on Albania, my homeland.

This is my first video of your channel and I must say, I am extremely impressed by the production value and research done for this video. Keep up the great work! I must also commend your approach to sharing notes and corrections.

Thanks for the video, I learned alot!

Good video but some clarifications: CORRECT: Albania in the 80s was exactly like North Korea today. I tell this to people all the time. The isolation is the same, news were propaganda the same way, poverty was the same, lack of independent thought was the same. It will be a great experiment to see what happens if North Korea opens up abruptly to the world like Albania did after decades of isolaton. But, the communism fall happened in a geopolitical context. Rumanian communists fell just a short year before, and their leader was executed. The Albanian leaders knew they could end up the same. On those days, I remember people saying "Now we are the only communist country in the world.". Second, the poverty reached extreme levels, food was rationed massively, all the economy shut down because there was nothing left to keep the industry going (replacement parts for old russian and chinese machines could not be found). And people were demoralized. The propaganda machine came up with a slogan: "8 hours of work, not 8 hours at work", in the attempt to make people work. But nobody gave a damn anymore if food was rationed and you could not buy a TV or a washing machine without waiting for years to get the "authorization" or restocking. Communism fell in Albania because it reached a boiling point when the children of the elite, which populated the university campus, started to strike and demand changes. Those students were not just some lowlifes or disgruntled people, they were the spoiled children selected by the regime to get educated (you could not enter the university if your family was against the regime). At that point, the communist party could not jail or kill them like it would have done with any other group. The miners started to protest too, but they were shy because they knew that the regime would kill them all if needed. The student's protest came from within the party lines, proof of which is that the head of the new opposition (Sali Berisha) was a communist with access to the Block and to Enver Hoxha's house. Many other people in the new party formed in 1991 were descendants of communist families, or just plain communists switching sides. Sali Berisha proceeded to rule the country with communist methods for years to come. He started a civil war in 1997, and ordered government to open fire on demonstrators in Jan 2011 (he killed 4). Sali Berisha is now on house arrests, after the UK and USA declared him non-grata in 2021, and local prosecutors started to have the courage to investigate him. It is a well known theory - proven to some extent - that communists never left power, they just changed the name of it. And this process always works unless the regime change is associated with elimination of existing elites (which communists did well in 1945). If you just change the type of government or regime, you will get the same elites ruling the people, changing only a few necessary rules to make it seem the regime is different. Sali Berisha continued to use the secret service to kill and spy on people until 1997, when the insurrectionists took revenge on the communist-style secret agents that the communist Sali Berisha had spread throughout the country.

@BigE.Celula

14 күн бұрын

Sali berisha was not perfect but the democratic party was way way better than the real descendants of the communist party the socialist party which again every single one is going to jail not house arrest

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.

Damn this production quality is amazing.

Excellent video! I learned quite a bit. Faleminderit! 👍

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.

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!

Compelling, dramatic graphics. Creative and informative from one who used to design such things, long ago.

A very engaging video. I knew nothing about Albania; sat and watched the whole thing. A+

Great video, man! Keep it up. You really have something special.

I did not have "King Zog" on my Bingo card today.

Wow man, great video, awesome graphics!

The map graphics are some of the best I’ve seen on history KZread channels. Well done.

Woke up from a nap. Saw IMPERIAL upload. Decided it was gonna be a good day

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.

@GreaterAlbania1

5 ай бұрын

Albanians marry Albanians so ur husband isn’t real Albanian

@xandyrwlkyr2563

5 ай бұрын

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.

The quality of this video, with its 3D renders and editing magic, is extremely impressive considering the relatively small size of the channel. You've just gained a new subscriber. Phenomenal material.

I didn’t know any of that. Thank you for the video.

Thanks for the amazing video, keep up the good work.

I'd really like a part 2 to this video, covering Albania to the modern day. Rough part of the world over there.

@bnegaalarb8906

3 ай бұрын

We chilling now big dawg

Very informative. Thank you.

Great video editing.

Such an amazing KZreadr man! Great narration (both the info and overall voice), super well researched and just great great editing!! ❤

The amount of people that still to this day defend Hoxha is as baffling as it is disgusting

@Marquis-Sade

5 ай бұрын

Those people exist?

@GreaterAlbania1

5 ай бұрын

Enver Hoxha saved Albania o kar

@ZeroResurrected

5 ай бұрын

@@GreaterAlbania1 From what? Basic human rights?

@lukee-dg4ql

5 ай бұрын

e mbyti ne varferi,spiunllek e prapambetje kulturore po ju aq mbushni@@GreaterAlbania1

@a.q.2330

5 ай бұрын

​@@GreaterAlbania1ça thua ti ore të mos ishte ai ndoshta nuk do ishim copë copë si jemi tani

The presentation and visuals are exceptional.

Subbed, fantastic writing in this video.

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.

Another great video dude, you are smashing it. Its really good to see a new high quality educational youtube creator come a long, i cant wait to see you up there with the big dogs sitting on a few million subs.

Amazing production.