Part XIII: The End of the Beginning

April 10, 1939. Tirana, Albania.

So the Kingdom of Albania avoids war once again…but for how much longer?

Jack Newman sighed and put down his pen as he rubbed his eyes. The past few days had been exhausting. Not as exhausting as he had once feared but exhausting nonetheless for entirely different reasons. Reasons he had been completely unable to foresee all those years ago. With each passing day it seemed like the foreknowledge in which he had so readily placed his confidence so many years ago was becoming less and less valuable. Who knew what new wrinkles his latest "deviation" would bring?

What would he have thought of all this?

When Jack initially awoke to find himself in Ahmed Zogu's body almost 11 years ago, he often found himself wondering what the man whose body he now occupied would think about what he was doing. Yes, he had access to his memories and talents, but outside of some vague feelings he never truly interacted with the remnants of his body's personality. Yet as his path began to diverge more and more from the one Zog had pursued in his history, he had come to care less and less. The Kingdom of Albania he ruled could no longer be compared to the one he had known from his studies in Leicester. (1)

While it was still the poorest nation in Europe, a decade of consistent economic growth had caused that gap to become the narrowest it had ever been. Over a quarter of the country had found employment in his factories or associated organizations and with it, excellent pay and benefits. Even those outside of the FMSh family had their lives changed by his road construction program, housing programs, expansion of education, and his tax reform, not to mention remittances from members of those in the Albanian diaspora who were also in his employ. Corruption was still an ongoing problem, as was the constant struggle to stabilize food prices, but for the first time in recent memory, everyday Albanians had a certain sense of economic security. According to Musa Juka, they still gave him most of the credit, but without the ability to see an alternate path and put their current state in perspective, a certain amount of discontent was inevitable.

However, his situation was so far removed from the one Zog had inhabited that it had become increasingly futile to wonder what Zog would have thought. Zog would have killed to have dealt with the "minor discontent" Jack was currently dealing with. While his strategy of "divide and rule" had been effective at keeping him in power, it had left Zog utterly dependent on his skill of securing Italian aid. When at last, the Italians had tired of sending him millions and millions of francs for effectively nothing, they invaded and revealed that Zog had no political constituency to speak of. All he really had was his wealth, valued at 4 million pounds sterling, which he took with him to begin the rest of his life in exile. (2) To say that he would be both overawed at the amount of wealth Jack had amassed, probably fifty times what Zog had in his 1939, was to go without saying. Equally obvious was the fact that Zog would likely still not quite understand how Jack had built up such a support base and fail to see the connection between it and Jack's willingness to invest in the country.

Not that investing in Albania is such a bad idea these days…

He couldn't help but laugh at the fact that only now, with the clouds of war on the horizon, were his Albanian investments beginning to break even. Of course, had he paid his employees a bit less, or reduced their benefits, he would have turned a profit years ago. Not that he really needed to, his foreign factories, oilfields, and investments were making him more than enough. As such, he'd initially planned on his Albanian inventions losing money until the beginning of the Cold War. Yet much to his surprise, all of his "investments" in the Albanian people had borne fruit, turning a profit just last year when combined with the construction industry's meteoric rise. The past few years alone had almost doubled the country's housing stock…(3)

All built with FMSh bricks, cement, lumber, and rocket stoves…most built by my own construction crews… how many will survive what's coming?

For all the pleasant surprises, Albania had been full of disastrous ones as well. All of his efforts had still not changed the fact that the Gendarmerie and Army were nothing more than black holes for his money. Corruption still lurked around every corner and the less savoury parts of Albanian culture had risen to the surface. For all the talk he'd heard in the 21st century, his policies towards Albania's minorities and Jews had revealed a dark side he'd always suspected but only now realized the depth of. Finally, no sum of American dollars seemed to be able to satiate Italian desires and every time he tried he found himself losing ground with the supporters he had worked so hard to cultivate.

How could I have been so naïve?

If he was in a more self-flagellating mood, he'd probably go back to some of his old notebooks to look at all his grandiose thoughts about how ironclad his political constituency would be. How they would be so grateful for his intervention in their lives that they would be willing to countenance every single insane maneuver of his. How he'd be able to easily sail between Scylla and Charybdis and unlike every other Balkan ruler successfully preserve his neutrality during the Second World War. How he would wait until the right moment to join the war, sometime after Stalingrad, to gain the most for his country…How he would finally either win over or buy out the aristocracy to secure land reform. The list went on and on…

What would the old me have thought of my current predicament?

With Zog's opinion mattering less and less these days, Jack had instead turned to wondering how his past self would have reacted to his criticisms. He'd always been his own worst enemy, even back in the 21st century, perhaps this was just an outgrowth of it all. Even before he was thrown back into the 1920s by an insecure Alien Space Bat, he was always looking back and wondering about how his life would be different if he had only not joined the military, if he had re-enlisted, if he had pursued graduate studies earlier, if he hadn't pursued them at all, and of course if he'd just ignored his parents instead of visiting them on their church mission trip to Albania. Somedays he liked to think that he could have just chosen some other country to be fascinated with, but even that, more often than not, was a step too far for even his self-hatred. The cold hard truth was that, like so many other people, once he visited Albania he was hooked for some unexplainable reason. Yet he'd caught a stronger version of the bug, one even stronger than his crazy missionary parents who'd left Texas to live in Tirana, one that caused him to delve deep into the country's history to join the ranks not of its priests, he couldn't believe in God having seen what he had back then never mind now, but of its historians. Still he could have pursued so many different paths, each meant Zygmunt would have had to find someone else to plop into Zog's body in this timeline's September 1928.

Die naturally and peacefully in your sleep a true King and awake an American…

He'd been so confident back then. Turning down the opportunity to move to America and amass an even larger fortune in favour of pursuing some hackneyed scheme to return to the 21st century by impersonating Ahmed Zog. After all, it couldn't be harder than learning Albanian during one of the country's coldest winters. Or doing groundbreaking research on the rescue of Jews in Albania during the Holocaust. Or any of the other things he'd done in his past life to create the kind of confidence he'd once had. The kind of confidence he was struggling to hold on to amidst the continued onslaught of unforeseen challenges. The kind of confidence which probably would have been shattered by the trials of a privileged 21st century American, never mind the same man impersonating King Zog of the Albanians even with Zygmunt's stock market help…(4)

Maybe if he had a chance to go back and do it all again, he could have avoided his current fate. Perhaps thumbing his nose at the Italians one less time. Maybe it would have been worth abstaining from the Conference of Nyon and weathering the international criticism he had avoided…

Jack shook his head. If he had learnt anything from this entire ordeal it was that counter-factually obsessing about the past was fruitless. What had been done could not be undone. He'd chosen to believe that Zygmunt was telling the truth when he offered him a way home unlike the other men put in his predicament.

Why only men?

"Who knew bats could be so misogynistic?" He said under his breath to no one in particular.

Was that even the right term? Did they even have sexes and genders like humans? The only thing Jack was certain of was the fact that he didn't have time for this. Everyone seemed to wonder where Zog suddenly got all this energy from after being crowned king. Little did they know just what kind of thoughts he was fleeing. After all, fleeing was his only choice. He'd long given up on trying to contact Zygmunt. So far, the bat had been honest about that, no contact until Zog's body breathed its last.

Though dying peacefully as a king doesn't seem too likely now…

If he had been busy before, he would be even busier now. In placating Italian fears that they were losing influence in the Balkans after Germany annexed the rest of Czechoslovakia, he had gone as far as he dared in alienating his domestic supporters. The radicals would lose their shit at the new alliance with Italy alone, never mind the settlement of the Italian colony he was currently negotiating. Even Hoxha would have a hard time containing them now that the "outlet" of the Spanish civil war was over. Musa Juka was certain that if he gave the Italians anything more they'd be facing the real threat of rebellion in not only the cities, but the highlands as well. Half of the tribes were ready to take his head while the other half had already been purchased by Giovanni Giro, the Italian agent Ciano had personally sent to undermine his rule. (5)

So much for 1943… but not yet… not yet.

Britain and France were still far to conciliatory to the Italians for war to come now. Everything had hinged on ensuring that Mussolini joined the Axis. It had back then, it was even more important now. He'd briefly flirted with the idea of teaming up with King Alexander I of Yugoslavia, after all he had done his best to keep those bridges intact by avoiding the fiasco that was Zog's 1931 trip to Vienna. With Alexander in Yugoslavia, Jack had seen the opportunity to seriously derail the development of European politics but Alexander had failed to heed his warnings about the threat of assassination. Allegedly, he believed that said warnings, while well meaning were simply an outgrowth of Zog's reborn paranoia and thus was unable to avoid his October 9, 1934 assassination. Needless to say, the issue of Kosovo coupled with the stance of the Prince Regent had destroyed those plans and forced him to revert to his original policy of preparing for the Second World War that he knew. As much as he'd wanted to throw more support behind the Ethiopians or the Republicans, he'd held back out of a fear not only of being exposed but of weakening Italy to the point that they'd avoid war or even worse for him, join the Allies. The ugly truth of the matter was that nobody would give a damn about the Albanians or any of Mussolini's crimes if Italy joined the war against Germany. It was likely all part of Zygmunt's perverse sense of humor that, whereas other people in his position would have tried to kill Hitler and avert the war, Jack needed the war to occur if he wanted to take full advantage of his knowledge or if he was to have any chance of returning to his old life.

Little did they know that in voicing their valid concerns, his workers and the growing number of tribesmen and farmers who agreed with them were throwing away their only chance at avoiding not only a foreign occupation but a catastrophic civil war. If all the gains of the past decade were going to be thrown into the fire, they sure as hell weren't going to be lost for nothing. At least this way he wouldn't have to worry about his association with Mussolini tarnishing his later efforts to get in the American's good graces.

A comfort, but a small one to be sure considering what happened with Franco…

This time Jack had to stand up from his desk to get himself out of his own head. In doing so he failed because he couldn't help but remember the fact that he'd done the same thing when Sadije confronted him almost five years ago and gotten a shot in the gut as a reward. Perhaps he should have realized back then, that if he couldn't convince his own mother, he never stood a chance of winning over the Albanian aristocracy. All of them were so stuck in their own fantastical world, so isolated from reality, that they'd rather destroy their best hope of survival rather than take the best deal possible. Even his own wife wasn't immune from the delusions of the vast majority of the Albanian upper class despite all of his efforts. Efforts that served no practical use with war on the horizon.

Leka on the other hand….

He couldn't quite explain it, but even though he had no true biological connection, he felt as fond of the boy as he imagined he would of his own son. Behije would need to be placated until he could ensure that the boy was safe. With any luck, all the time and effort Jack had put into raising him and building a relationship could still be salvaged. Fortunately, neither Behije or her family truly cared about the poor boy outside of using him as an excuse to take power for themselves. They'd done their best to spoil him rotten, but they hadn't provided the kind of emotional attachment that, as a 21st century American, Jack felt a child needed. In their absence, Jack had felt obligated to fill the gap. How well his efforts had been received was anyone's guess. All he could really hope for was that Leka would somehow not hate him.

Perhaps he could get him to at long last visit his cousin Tati in Boston? He chuckled. No that was too brazen, even for him. Behije would see right through it and start a civil war Ciano would only too happily intervene in. At one time he'd thought that he could dissuade Ciano from his Albanian obsession, but it seemed that like Jack and so many others he'd been bit by the Albanian bug. Or rather an Albanian bug. Whereas Jack, his parents, and others like Edith Durham had become fascinated with the Albanian people, Ciano, like the Serbs were fascinated with the land and saw the people who inhabited it as mere obstacles. Or, in the case of the Albanian aristocrats, as tools which could be bought and then used to secure the land at a fraction of the costs.

Over my dead body…

Not all of them would join the Italians. At least, if Musa was to be believed. Ciano had been pouring money into Giro's plans to build popular support for his planned Italian invasion. The reformists which had gravitated to his efforts in Jack's history were all far more taken with Zog's own efforts, but that hadn't stopped him from finding favour with the enemies Jack had cultivated in the process. Assassination attempts, something he didn't have to deal with since the whole business with Krosi, had now become a regular part of his life.(6) He always found it hilarious that the Communists had painted Zog's regime as one of the upper class when those same people had been the first to collaborate with the Italians. Even some of Zog's sisters had joined the chorus of upper-class discontent. Still, the strength of the Vërlacis and their allies was more impressive on paper than it was in reality. Their men weren't ready for the kind of war Jack had been preparing to fight.

Jack had no doubt that Ciano knew this and that his anxiety fueled his recent aggression. Far from dissuading Italian imperialism, the first Albanian miracle's retardation of Italy's penetration of Albania had made them feel that their position was even more vulnerable following the German invasion of rump Czechoslovakia in March. Influence over some discontented aristocrats, corrupt officials, and a handful of Italophiles would hardly serve as a break to German ambitions if they turned their eyes towards adding Albania to their growing informal empire in the Balkans. By concentrating so much political and economic power in his person, Jack had hoped to use personal diplomacy to assuage Italian anxiety only to find that it had exacerbated it. Without the leverage of the SVEA loan and the ones that followed in Jack's history, Ciano turned to the only lever he had left: intimidation. Even with all of his foreknowledge and all of the additional strength he had gathered in the past decade, teetering on the edge of war for almost a month had been exhausting. Once again, Jack gained a renewed appreciation for Zog's performance in his history, forced to deal with essentially the same phenomenon without any of Jack's benefits. These past few weeks had been all that was necessary to convince him that Bernd Fischer was right and that Zog's decision to flee the country after the Italian invasion was a result of exhaustion rather than cowardice.(7)

Fortunately, all of Jack's work had meant that his attempt to pursue a similar strategy of brinksmanship with the Italians was far more effective. Just like in Jack's history, Ciano's initial demands of abandoning an independent Albanian foreign policy, placing the Gendarmerie under Italian control, expanding the number of advisors, giving equal rights to Italians in Albania, and impose new tariffs on all non-Italian goods, had been annexation in all but name. (8) He had clearly believed all the rumors floating about the weakness of the Zogist regime and was hoping that Jack would refuse and give him an excuse for an invasion. Truthfully, when he heard about Italian mobilization efforts, Jack had been tempted to give in to those initial demands and work around them but ultimately could not simply abandon the hope that his contributions to Italy's foreign exchange accounts had not bought him extra room to negotiate. So he had stalled while also ordering his men to prepare. If war came, they would give the Italians far more of a fight than they received in his timeline, if it didn't, it would be one more training exercise.

Sure enough, push back from other sectors of the Italian government combined with the Regia Marina's shortage of landing craft raising fears of an unsuccessful invasion had caused Ciano to look for a compromise just like he had in Jack's timeline. Yet whereas the Italian compromise had still been too much for Zog to accept, by delaying Italian encroachment, Jack had been able to work out a more tolerable arrangement. He still had to agree to a stronger defensive alliance, which included the provision that control of all ports, communications, roads, and airfields be surrendered to Italy in the event that Albanian independence was in danger, the raising of the Italian legation in Tirana and the Albanian Legation in Rome to Embassies, and had to accept the presence of an Italian organizer in each ministry, but the other provisions were all dropped in exchange for giving 300 Italian settlers the right to establish a colony on state land outside of Durres and a few tariff adjustments. (9) Jack had no doubt that Ciano would use similar tactics to gain more concessions in the future, but if events elsewhere continued to progress as they did in Jack's timeline, he was rapidly running out of time to do it. In the meantime, Jack could use the means at his disposal to secure a "gradual transition." Musa assured him that even with the titles and privileges of minister granted to them by the new Pact of Tirana, the new Italian advisors they could be contained by the existing apparatus. "Contained" was a polite way of putting it. Unfortunately for Ciano, everything indicated he had still not risen to the task of facing a vastly superior Albanian foe.

A foe that had been planning for the coming war for over a decade and which only needed to put the final measures in place. Ammunition stocks were still far too low for his liking, particularly for the limited number of heavier weapons at his disposal. Assuming his foreknowledge held out, he had just over a year to build up his stockpiles both those for the initial battles and those for the battles to come. Perhaps Hoxha could convince the radicals to contribute to those efforts. A few drawings could provide considerable inspiration and it wouldn't matter that his forces were the initial target. A nail bomb or an improvised claymore would kill Italians just as well. Everything else that couldn't be made ready to contribute to the coming conflict would have to be set aside. As useful as a squadron of C.R. 32's would be for the coming conflict, his dreams of a proper air force would have to wait. All that could be done now is to ensure that as many of his loyal Albanian pilots including his nephew Dine (10) escaped Italian captivity as possible.

220px-Fiat_C.R.32-Baleari.jpg

The FIAT CR.32, One of Italy's main export fighters, considered by Zog for the Royal Albanian Air Corps​

Well not quite everything…

Had he been a more rational actor, Jack supposed that he would have never engaged with his Holocaust rescue efforts to begin with. Yet even now, with war on the horizon he remained committed to seeing his minor contribution through to the end. He suspected that he'd have to grapple with the fact that he'd chosen the possibility of going home over possibly preventing the Holocaust for the rest of his life. As much as he tried to remind himself that "possibly" was the operative word in "possibly preventing the Holocaust" he knew he never would be able to fully forgive himself. All he could do was try to end whatever did happen as quickly as he could while shielding as many as possible. In a very real sense, part of the reason he accepted Ciano's demands was to gain Rauf Fico in Berlin more time to get as many Jews as possible out of Germany.(11) He'd been signing papers as fast as they came in for months now. Not quite at Sugihara's pace but close enough.(12) The new pact bought him almost a whole extra year to save more German Jews. They'd already helped three thousand escape, a number Jack knew was likely higher than the number the Albanians rescued during the entire war. While some would argue that a few hundred or even a thousand more wasn't worth it, Jack felt compelled to pursue their rescue as some kind of penance. Even if they weren't able to make it to their third nation of choice now that the embassies would all be closing, they would have the option to either escape to one of Albania's Balkan neighbours or into the mountains. It wouldn't be easy, but their odds would be a whole lot better. (13)

rauf-fico.jpg

RAUF FICO b. 1881 in Gjirokaster. In OTL he was one of Zog's main diplomats and served as the Albanian Minister in Berlin until 1939. He was arrested by the Italians upon his return to Albania and remained in captivity until the Italian surrender in 1943. Unfortunately for him, he died shortly after being released in January 1944​

Exactly how much better depended on just how efficiently Jack was able to use the next months and how satisfied the Italians were with the new Pact of Tirana. Things could still go very wrong. Without the invasion of Albania, Chamberlain might still try to woo Italy and use Albania as a bargaining chip, especially if Mussolini decided to force the issue after the invasion of Poland…

Who knew how much longer his foreknowledge would hold out? Who knew how many changes ten years of work had wrought and how those would change the events of the war?

Looking out of his window, Jack couldn't help but smile as he saw the streetlights of Tirana flickering through the darkness revealing the curious mixture of ancient and modern that pervaded Albania these days. Though there was a part of him who wanted to cut and run at the first sign of disaster, Jack knew that he'd never be satisfied. Not only would he be abandoning his only chance at returning home, he would also be abandoning his people, both those who worked for him directly and the ones he ruled. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but sometime during the past decade he had grown to love them and acquired a desire to defend them and the life he was building for them. There were days when he wondered where that love ended and his desire to return home began. Regardless of his motive, he knew that even if disaster came he would be ready to fight to the last.

Notes

1. The University of Leicester employs Dr. Alexander Korb, one of the leading scholars focusing on the Holocaust in the Balkans. They were also quite intent on granting scholarships to international students as a way of expanding their History department.

2. The sum of 4 million pounds Sterling comes from Owen Pearson's 2004 chronology "Albania in the 20th century."

3. Lack of housing has always been an issue for Albanians and whenever they entered a period of relative economic growth it always expanded rapidly in OTL. TTL's First Albanian Economic Miracle follows the same pattern.

4. Zygmunt feels bad for Jack and gives him a bit more help in the form of an encyclopedic knowledge of the historical stock market performance from 1928-1988. Outside of those years he just has his OTL memories to rely upon.

5. Giro was Ciano's man in Albania in OTL as well and was involved in everything from organizing a pro-Italian youth organization to buying tribes, to even trying to kidnap Zog and Queen Geraldine.

6. As a result of Jack's actions the pro-Italian faction in Albanian politics looks quite different from OTL. Whereas OTL's movement was primarily based in the South and found support among the Albanian intelligentsia and upper class, in TTL it is far more a creature of the upper class as the reformers have been largely appeased by Zog's reforms to date.

7. Bernd Fischer's book Albania at War 1939-45 takes this position. Though some would argue that the Wolthat pact made between Germany and Romania in late March was the real impetus. IMO the stronger evidence points to the invasion of Czechoslovakia accelerating a process which began with Ciano's rise to power and intensified in March 1938 with the Anschluss. Though Zog's performance didn't help matters in OTL, I don't think it played a large role in determining the outcome, so despite Jack making various concessions and providing Italy with USD, he is unable to prevent aggression. What he is able to do

8. All of these demands are adapted from similar demands Ciano made of Zog in early April 1939 in OTL. The major difference is that in TTL Zog is financially independent and has already agreed to customs harmonization.

9. These demands are similar to the ones Ciano retreated to in early April 1939. The major difference is that Zog was not forced to grant the Italian colony in 1937 due to financial reasons and so Jack is able to use it here to help stave off an inopportune invasion.

10. The third son of Adile Zogu, Prince Sherafedin Doshishti was an Italian cadet at Caserta in both OTL and TTL.

11.Fico was Zog's man in Berlin in OTL and is considered as being primarily responsible for Albania's liberal visa policy right up to the invasion of April 1939.

12. Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat serving their consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania and who personally signed travel documents for nearly six thousand Jewish refugees. He is honoured by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations.

13. In OTL only a few hundred Jews from "Greater Germany" escaped to Albania due to Fico's visas. As a poor country with limited resources it was understandably not the first choice for many of them. Most if not all of them sought to use Albania as a safe "waiting room" while their visa applications elsewhere were considered. Zog seems to have been ambivalent about their fate, on the one hand wanting to appease Italy through antisemitic legislation and on the other hand wanting to manipulate Britain and France into granting additional support to Albania on the basis of further Jewish immigration. These Jewish refugees were joined after 1941 by thousands of Yugoslav and Greek Jews who sought the relative safety of Italian occupied Albania. In TTL far more Jews choose Albania due to the relatively booming economy and more direct efforts by Jack.