One final act of will by the Habsburgs led to the creation of Albania. The Albanians were a group who moved from having no agreed form for their alphabet in 1909 to full independence five years later. They were an extraordinarily cosmopolitan and widespread people and had had a powerful impact on Mediterranean history, both fighting for the Ottoman Empire and undermining it – Albanians had ruled Egypt and fought and administered everywhere from the Red Sea to the Caucasus. A large part of the world had been open to them and the collapse of the Ottomans was a disaster. They found themselves
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