The Treaty of Serbian–Albanian Alliance, also known as the Treaty of Niš, was a secret treaty signed in

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...

between Albanian politician

Essad Pasha Toptani Essad Toptani (1863/1875 – 13 June 1920) was an Albanian politician who served as the third prime minister of Albania from 1914 to 1916. He previously established the Republic of Central Albania based in Durrës. An Ottoman army officer, he ...

and Serbian Prime Minister

Nikola Pašić Nikola Pašić ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Пашић, ; 18 December 1845 – 10 December 1926) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat. During his political career, which spanned almost five decades, he served five times as prime minis ...

on 17 September 1914.

Background

On 17 May 1914

was accused of assisting the Peasant Revolt against Prince William of Wied. He was exiled to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 20 May without trial. In Italy, he was received with honor since both Italian and Austrian representatives played roles in intrigues that surrounded the revolt. Only a week after prince

Wilhelm of Wied Wilhelm, Prince of Albania (Wilhelm Friedrich Heinrich; , 26 March 1876 – 18 April 1945) was sovereign of the Principality of Albania from 7 March to 3 September 1914. His reign officially came to an end on 31 January 1925, when the country w ...

's departure from Durrës on 3 September 1914, another violent revolt arose. The rebels managed to lay siege on Durrës, imprison Wied's supporters, to call for a Muslim prince and to establish a Senate for Central Albania. Essad Pasha Toptani

The Treaty

In autumn 1914 Essad Pasha decided to accept the invitation of the Senate of Central Albania to return and lead them. First he travelled to

Kingdom of Serbia The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...

, where he and Serbian prime minister

signed the secret treaty of Serbian-Albanian alliance on 17 September 1914. The treaty was signed in Banovina building (which has been part of the

University of Niš The University of Niš () is a public university in Serbia. It was founded in 1965. As of the 2018-19 school year, it consists of 13 faculties with 1,492 academic staff and around 20,500 students. It has a university library "Nikola Tesla"; th ...

since 1966), which is close to Niš fortress. The treaty had fifteen points which set up Serbian-Albanian political and military institutions and the

military alliance A military alliance is a formal Alliance, agreement between nations that specifies mutual obligations regarding national security. In the event a nation is attacked, members of the alliance are often obligated to come to their defense regardless ...

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

and the

. The treaty envisaged a rail-road to

Durrës Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the List of cities and towns in Albania#List, second most populous city of the Albania, Republic of Albania and county seat, seat of Durrës County and Durrës Municipality. It is one of Albania's oldest ...

, the financial and military support of the Kingdom of Serbia to Essad Pasha's position as Albanian ruler and it recorded the demarcation by a Serbo-Albanian commission. The treaty allowed Essad Pasha to change some clauses because the treaty would need the agreement of the Albanian National Assembly. This would be possible after Pasha was elected ruler. Serbia contracted to supply a

military intervention Interventionism, in international politics, is the interference of a state or group of states into the domestic affairs of another state for the purposes of coercing that state to do something or refrain from doing something. The intervention ca ...

to protect Pasha's rule and to subsidise his

gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...

by paying 50,000

dinars The dinar () is the name of the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, with a more widespread historical use. The English word "dinar" is the transliteration of the Arabic دينار (''dīnār''), which was bor ...

per month for Albanian military supplies.

Aftermath

In October 1914 Essad Pasha returned to Albania. With

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

and

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

financial backing he established armed forces in Dibër and captured the interior of Albania and Durrës.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Treaty of Nis 1914 Nis 1914 Nis 1914 Nis Modern history of Albania Serbia in World War I Albania–Serbia relations