Skanderbeg Raises Albanian Revolt

1443

Gjergj Kastrioti, raised as an Ottoman hostage and commander, deserted the sultan's army after the Battle of Nis and rode home to Kruje to declare Albanian independence. For twenty-five years his mountain guerrillas would bleed three Ottoman sultans in turn. The pope would call him the Champion of Christ. His fortress at Kruje withstood multiple Ottoman sieges, and his guerrilla tactics became a model of asymmetric warfare.