ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Partition of Albania

Okay kiddo, so let me explain what a partition means. Imagine you have a toy car and you want to share it with your friend. But you both want to have different parts of the car, so you decide to cut it into two pieces. That's what partition means- dividing something into parts. Now, let's talk about Albania.

Albania is a country in Europe that used to be ruled by a king named King Zog. But in 1939, a man named Benito Mussolini, who was the leader of Italy, wanted to take control of Albania. So he invaded Albania with his army and was able to defeat King Zog's forces.

After Mussolini took control of Albania, he wanted to divide it into different parts. He wanted to give some parts of Albania to his friends, who were other countries like Germany and Bulgaria. Mussolini wanted to do this because he thought it would make Italy more powerful and it would give his friends more land to rule over.

However, many Albanians didn't want their country to be divided like a toy car. They wanted to stay united and have their own country, just like how you might want to keep your toy car whole instead of giving parts of it away. So they fought against Mussolini's army and tried to protect their land.

In the end, Mussolini was able to control most of Albania, but he wasn't able to keep it forever. During World War II, his army was weakened and eventually defeated by other countries, and Albania became an independent country again in 1944. That means that Albania wasn't divided like a toy car, and it was able to stay united as one country.