Nationalist Movement

Settlement of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 awarded Albanian territory to Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria. The League for the Defense of the Rights of the Albanian Nation was formed to protest the territorial losses and to gain autonomy for Albania. After a futile revolt against Turkey the league collapsed, but the Turks permitted Albania to open schools and to issue publications in the Albanian language. The resulting surge of nationalist feeling alarmed Turkey, which restored the ban against schools and publications in 1886.