Its site is hallowed to history. To the Corcyreans by whom the first town was founded it was known as Epidamnus, the “far away.” The Romans changed its name to Dyrrachium. In classical times the port was the point of transshipment for merchandise en route from Italy to Macedonia or northern Greece. At the height of Venetian commercial supremacy, the seaport fully retained its ancient prosperity. The wharves to which Venetian galleys were moored are still intact. Although the city is the modern commercial center of Albania it has lost much of its ancient activity.
None of these Albanian harbors are comparable in strategic importance to Valona, which is situated opposite Brindisi and on that portion of the Albanian coast nearest Italy. The holders of this seaport will control the strait of Otranto and thereby have mastery of the Adriatic. From a military standpoint, the bay facing the town is eminently suited to become a strongly fortified naval station. It is provided with a number of safe anchorages. The island of Sasseno facing the entrance affords shelter from the roughness of the open sea and forms at the same time a natural outpost. Italian and Austrian statesmen, the former especially, are fully aware of the importance of this Albanian harbor in the Adriatic question. The aim of each is to plant their country’s flag on the crenelated remnants of the ancient forts which overlook the bay. Greece also aspires to the possession of the seaport. In her case the claim is made that the majority of the inhabitants are of Greek descent. An attempt to obtain mastery of the position was made by Greece in the spring of 1913 when she landed in Sasseno. An energetic protest from the Italian government forced Greece to recall her troops. The island was occupied by Italian troops in the fall of 1914.
Valona is the outlet of a region whose population consists mainly of Mohammedan Albanians. Its commercial insignificance is largely due to the character of its inhabitants. Had it been peopled by a majority of Greeks, or even Christian Albanians, its influence might have been felt in the midst of international rivalries. Whatever destiny is in store for Albania, it seems as if, in view of the non-Greek character of the Valonian population, Italian or Austrian claims would stand greater chance of being heeded.
Of the 8,000 or 10,000 inhabitants of Valona over one-half are Albanian Mohammedans who adhere to the use of their vernacular. Greek is spoken extensively by Orthodox Albanians and Greeks, who together form the next largest religious community. Among Catholics the cultural influence of Italian prevails. In fact most of the Albanian Catholics residing in the town have forsaken their native language for Italian. Through the medium of these Catholics the only sphere of Italian influence in Albania deserving mention is found in Valona and the environing district. This western influence is hardly felt, however, beyond a distance of about 35 miles inland from the harbor or by more than 20,000 souls. Albanian anarchy holds sway to the north. Southward Greek influence is strongly exerted through the agency of the Orthodox church.
Elsewhere in the Balkan peninsula linguistic groupings now conform largely to the political divisions which ended the wars of 1912-1913. The future will undoubtedly afford an increasingly satisfactory perspective of the results which followed this attempt to eliminate totally the Turk from this portion of the European continent. Racial siftings followed close on territorial readjustments. Turks from all parts of the former Turkish provinces transferred their lands to Christian residents and emigrated to Asia Minor. Special arrangements for this exodus were provided by the Turkish government. Greeks who were settled in the newly acquired Bulgarian and Serbian domain similarly sought new homes within the boundaries of the Hellenic kingdom. A heavy flow of Bulgarian emigrants was also directed to Bulgaria from Bulgarian-speaking territory allotted to Serbia.[192]
But pressing need of further boundary revision on the basis of language is felt in the peninsula. Resumption of hostilities in this part of Europe in 1915 was due principally to the moot case of the nationality of the Slavs of Macedonia. Serbs and Bulgars both claim them as their own. In reality the Macedonians are a transition people between the two. They occupy a distinctive area formed by the twin valleys of the Vardar and Struma and surrounded by a mountainous bulwark assuming crescentic shape as it spreads along the Balkan ranges and the mountains of Albania and the Pindus. For centuries this Macedonian plain has constituted the cockpit of a struggle waged for linguistic supremacy on the part of Bulgarians and Serbs. The land had formed part of the domain of each of the two countries in the heyday of their national life. To this fact in part the present duality of claim must be ascribed.
The entire northwestern Macedonian highland was under Serbian rule until the fall of 1915. East and south of the mountains Bulgarian speech predominates in districts peopled exclusively by Macedonians. The Greek element is practically entirely absent here; Serbians begin to appear in small numbers; south of Monastir and Okrida offshoots of the Pindus Rumanians are found; but the Macedonian element is present everywhere in overwhelming majority.
