Historiography of Albania  The Historiography of Albania () or Albanian historiography () refers to the studies, sources, critical methods and interpretations used by scholars to study the history of Albania and Albanians. Theodor Anton Ippen, who would become a consul of Austria-Hungary in Scutari between 1897 and 1903, belonged to the group of Albanologists whose works were published through the state-financed institutes of Austria-Hungary. He participated in writing and disseminating the first history of Albania published on the Albanian language because he insisted that it would be beneficial for the awakening of the Albanian national consciousness and therefore for the Dual Monarchy. Ippen struggled for the establishment of an independent nation-state of Albanians. There are two main sources of modern Albanian historiography: intellectuals from the Albanian National Awakening ("Rilindja") period and historians from the regime of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. From 1878 onward, the national Awakening period galvanised Albanian intellectuals among some who emerged as the first modern Albanian scholars and they were preoccupied with overcoming linguistic and cultural differences between Albanian subgroups (Gegs and Tosks) and religious divisions (Muslim and Christians). At that time, these scholars lacked access to many primary sources to construct the idea that Albanians were descendants of Illyrians, while Greater Albania was not considered a priority. Compared with their Balkan counterparts, these Albanian historians were very moderate and alongside politicians mainly had the goal to get socio-political recognition and autonomy for Albanians under Ottoman rule. Two major historical works written by Albanians during this early phase of modern historiography within Albania are Athanase Gegaj's "L'Albanie et l'Invasion turque au XVe siècle" (1937) and Fan Noli's "George Castrioti Scanderbeg (1405-1468)" (1947), both written outside Albania. Albanian socialist historiography was associated with the Albanian state building project of national legitimation. Albanian historiography was based upon the works of a group of Albanian speaking intelligentsia that during the early to mid 19th century developed a national narrative when professional Albanian historians did not exist. Balanced approaches to history were not encouraged during the period between the end of World War II and the death of Enver Hohxa in 1985. After the Second World War the communist government trained scholars to become historians and write Albanian history, while due to the political context they were preoccupied with matters relating to national identity.