Enver Hoxha rules for forty-one years and breaks, one by one, with every ally he has: Yugoslavia in 1948, the Soviet Union in 1961, China in 1978. By the end Albania is the most isolated country in Europe and one of the most isolated on earth.
In 1967 the state declares itself the world's first officially atheist state and closes or demolishes more than 2,000 mosques, churches and tekkes. Religious practice goes underground for twenty-three years.
Concrete bunkers are poured into fields, beaches and front gardens between 1967 and 1986, hundreds of thousands of them, at an average of 5.7 per square kilometre, against an invasion that never comes.
The Sigurimi watches everyone. Spaç and Burrel hold political prisoners; internment camps hold their families.
Key points
| 1948 · 1961 · 1978 | Breaks with Belgrade, then Moscow, then Beijing |
| 1967 | Religion outlawed, the first officially atheist state |
| 1967-86 | Bunkerisation, 5.7 bunkers per km² across 28,748 km² |
| Cost | 5,000-25,000 killed across the communist era; tens of thousands imprisoned or interned |
Research by ARBËR, the Living Museum of Albania. Published facts are verified or presented as open debate.