A True Blue Hero

Albania is too small to offer much on the world stage. It has yet to win the Euro Song Competition... an Olympic medal,... a Nobel Prize (except for Mother Teresa who didn't live in the country for long)... or membership to the EU. True, it has provided the birthplace for:

Mother Teresa
James and John Belushi
Both parents of Sandra Bullock
Pope Clement XI

and perhaps a few others that slip the memory at the moment.

But the outstanding hero of Albania is no other than Skanderbeg (6 May 1405 – 17 January 1468) born a 15th-century Albanian lord.'Hero of Christianism' he initiated and organized the League of Lezhë, which proclaimed him Chief of the League of the Albanian people. Without putting too fine a point on it, he was the point of resistance that stopped the Ottoman advantage in the 15th century... his castle guarded a strategic valley linking Europe and Asia Minor... without our good friend Skanderbeg, we would now be speaking a different language and perhaps worthshipping a different god. Arguably, Skanderbeg saved Christendom from annihilation!

Here is a potted history of Skanderbeg.

He was born in Albania during the time it was controlled by the Ottomans.
He was taken from his family at an early age and put into the Ottoman army. His training was in Constantinople where he advanced quickly to take up a senior position in the army.
In his 30's he escaped from the Ottomans and became a freedom fighter amongst one of the Albanian tribes.
He unified the tribes of Albania (for the first time) and established the concept of a nation. To achieve unity, he fought opposing leaders (so his history is a little tarnished... but not greatly... given the times in which he lived).
The hold of the Ottomans on Albania became stronger and they had plans to expand further to the north. But they wanted to secure their hold on Albania and that meant taking the castles controlled by Skanderbeg and his sister.
Once a year, for 25 years, the Ottomans attacked Skanderbeg's castle at Kruja. Each year, Skanderbeg was able to withstand the attacks.
The Ottomans put their expansion plans on hold during this period... a period when Europe was not united and not well placed to withstand a major conflict.
We visited Skanderbeg's castle high on the slope of a mountain. In fighting the Ottomans, he certainly had geography on his side. He cut a wild sci-fi image... straight out of 'The Hobbit'. His standard bearer flag (eagle with two heads) has been adopted as Albania's national flag... it also appears on other nation flags... indicating a conscience of looking to the east as well as looking to the west. We particularly liked the goat head he put as part of his helmet.

Arguably, if Skanderbeg had capitulated, the Ottomans would have taken Europe. Skanderbeg delayed the advance during a critical time when Europe was making advances in technology that unified the whole region (more in the political sense than militarily). But the technology discoveries gave Europe bargaining advantages over the Ottomans and gave greater confidence to their efforts to reorganise their military capacities.

So, three cheers to Skanderbeg and four cheers to Albania... the country that saved Christendom.