Zog I Ahmed Bey Zogu

Born Oct. 8, 1895, in Castle Burgajet, northern Albania; died Apr. 9, 1961, in Paris. An Albanian government figure, king from 1928 to 1939. Colonel in the Austrian Army.

Zogu was Albanian minister of the interior from January to November 1920 and from December 1921 to December 1922 and prime minister from December 1922 to February 1924. During the June revolution of 1924, Zogu fled to the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Relying on outside sup-port, Zogu staged a counterrevolutionary coup d’etat in Albania in December 1924 and from that time on became sole ruler of the country, as president of the republic from January 1925 and as king from September 1928. Zogu and his clique brought Albania to the brink of economic and political bankruptcy, and the country became virtually a colony of fascist Italy. When Italy occupied Albania in April 1939, Zogu fled abroad.