The “Battle of Selce,” one of the greatest armed efforts of the anti-Ottoman Uprising of 1911, took place when the Albanians faced the Ottoman military forces commanded by Ethem Pasha, who at the head of six battalions went against the insurgents to come to the aid of Shefqet Turgut Pasha. About 1,000 Albanian insurgents opposed Ethem Pasha’s forces and after four hours of fierce fighting, forced him to retreat, leaving 150 soldiers on the battlefield. This led to the failure of the Ottoman command’s plan to put the insurgents between the two fires, joining the forces of Ethem Pasha with those of the commander of the Ottoman expedition, Shefqet Tung Pasha, which were coming from the south towards the Mishkodra Highlands. After the battle , the Ottoman command gave up on taking further combat actions. The Young Turk government was forced to enter into talks with the uprising leaders and sign the Agreement of Podgorica (1911). (In the photo: View from Selca (Małas e Madhe).)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 232.
Photo: © https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selca_(Mal%C3%ABsi_e_Madhe)
Graphic processing: AHCF
