World War II
Yugoslavia was conquered by the Axis in April 1941 and divided mainly between Italy and Germany. Kosovo was included mainly in the Italian controlled area and was united to fascist Albania between 1941 and 1943.
After the Axis invasion, the greatest part of Kosovo became a part of Italian-controlled Greater Albania, and a smaller, Eastern part by the Bulgaria] and Nazi-German-occupied Serbia. Since the Italian occupied Albanian political leadership had decided in the Conference of Bujan that Kosovo would remain a part of Albania, they started expelling the Serbian and Montenegrin populations.
After the surrender of the Kingdom of Italy in September 1943, the German forces took over direct control of the region. Kosovo was liberated in summer 1944 by Yugoslav partisans with the help of the Albanian partisans of the Comintern, and became a province of Serbia within the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. The Kosovo Albanians, who had been promised self-determination if they joined the partisans, rebelled and martial law was declared. It took about six months for the area to be pacified after some 20,000 Albanians under Shaban Polluza resisted integration of Kosovo within Yugoslavia.
Read more about this topic: 20th-century History Of Kosovo
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