Drenica-Dukagjin Uprisings
The Drenica-Dukagjin Uprisings were a series of Albanian uprisings in the Kosovo regions of Drenica and Dukagjin from 1919 to 1924. The uprisings began after the end of the First World War when Kosovo remained part of the new Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Parts of the Albanian population which resisted Yugoslav rule formed the Kachak movement under the leadership of the Committee for the National Defence of Kosovo and conducted guerilla attacks. A 1919 revolt in Drenica involving 10,000 people was quelled by the Yugoslav army, but uprisings continued in the following years. In response to the rebellions, Yugoslav authorities retaliated by conducting operations against the rebels and the civilian population. During this period, many atrocities were reported against the Albanian population, which included massacres, destruction of villages and looting. It is estimated that approximately 12,000 Kosovo Albanians were killed from 1918 to 1921. By 1924, military confrontations between Albanians and Serbs ended as the Kachak movement was effectively suppressed. Background

Before the creation of the Independent State of Albania, Kosovo had been a center of Albanian Nationalism. In 1878 the League of Prizren was formed, a political-military organization of Albanian leaders which tried to defend Albanian inhabited lands. It was also the center of the Albanian revolt of 1910 and 1912. Despite having a 70% majority Albanian population, it had a 30% Non-Albanian(Mostly Serb) Minority, who wished to join the Kingdom of Serbia. Many Albanians in Kosovo and Albania resisted being incorporated in the often changing Yugoslav regimes, knowing that the new Yugoslav forces were the same Serbo-Montengrin troops who had committed massacres of defenseless civilians. Albanians viewed peaceful co-existence as unattainable given the terror and violence they experienced. After World War I, Serbia suffered greatly from Austro-Hungarian occupation and Kosovo saw clashes between Albanians and Serbs. In 1918, the Allies of World War I rewarded Serbia for its effort with the formation of a Serbian-centralized Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes which kept Kosovo as part of Serbia. The conditions for Kosovar Albanians deteriorated as Serbian authorities implemented assimilation tactics such as closing down Albanian language schools while encouraging Albanians to emigrate. The Kingdom promoted the settlement of Serb and Slav settlers to Kosovo, thus beginning the Yugoslav colonization of Kosovo. Parts of the Albanian population that resisted Serbian rule in Kosovo began military maneuvers and formed the Kachak movement. Under the political leadership of Hasan Prishtina and Bajram Curri, the movement based itself in Shkodër and was led by the Committee for the National Defence of Kosovo organization formed on 1 May 1918. Among their demands were the re-opening of Albanian language schools, recognition of Albanian as a co-official language and autonomy, with the goal of uniting Kosovo with Albania. Events

On 6 May 1919 the Committee called for a general uprising in Kosovo. This led to a large-scale revolt in Drenica involving around 10,000 people under Azem Galica which was quelled by the Yugoslav army. Despite the revolt being crushed, its brutal oppression would start several other Uprisings throughout 1920-1921. The Kachaks engaged in uprisings, targeting Serbian army and administrative formations but forbade its members from targeting unarmed Serbs and churches. The Serbian authorities regarded them as mere bandits and in response to their rebellion, retaliated by conducting operations against them as well as the civilian population. In November 1921 the League of Nations authorized the creation of the Neutral Zone of Junik, which included a couple of villages around Junik and the Highlands of Djakovica along the Kosovo border with Albania. The zone would be used to supply the Kachaks and jeopardize the Yugoslavians. In late 1921 the Yugoslavian forces attempted to invade the Neutral Zone and Drenica but were pushed back by the Albanian forces under Azem Galica. It was not until the arrival of Ahmet Zogu in Albania by Yugoslavia in 1924, the assassination of the leadership of the Kosovo Committee, and the Death of Azem Galica on the battlefield that the Neutral Zone and the rebellions would come to an end. Reported Yugoslav atrocities

According to the Albanian newspaper "Dajti" from November 7, 1924, and data retrieved from the Archives of the National Defense Committee of Kosovo, between 1918 and 1921, multiple massacres have occurred against the Albanian population. Around 35,000 Albanians fled to Shkodër as a result of the atrocities. In June 1919, the Serbian Chetniks led by Colonel Katanic, Babic and Stanko assaulted the village of Llapusha, allegedly in pursuit of Kachaks who were residing in the mountains of Gurabardhi. The inhabitants were massacred. The Serbian detachment had just arrived after the massacre in Zatriq where 27 Albanians were bayonetted and one of the village elders was beaten to death and another had his eyes gouged out. In 1924, Yugoslav forces entered the village of the Albanian Konjuhi family and massacred the entire family. In 1924 two villages were destroyed and 300 families killed. Between 1919 and 1921, around 1,330 Albanians were killed in Mitrovica. According to an Albanian newspaper, in the province of Pristina, the Serbian troops had killed 4,600 people between 1918 and 1921, imprisoned 3,659 people, beat 353 people, destroyed 1,346 houses and looted 2,190 houses. Under the orders of commander Petrovic and Prefect Likic, the village of Dubnica was surrounded and burned on 10 February 1924. The Yugoslav authorities massacred 25 people: ten women, eight children under eight-years, and six men. In 1919, Yugoslav forces committed many atrocities in Rugova. From 25 December 1918 to early March 1919 around 842 Albanians were killed including women, elderly, children, and infants. In January 1921, atrocities were reported against the Albanian civil population of Keqekollë and Prapashticë. In 1921, there was a massacre carried out by Serbo-Montenegrin military and paramilitary Chetniks against the Albanian population in the village of Jabllanica in the region of Dushkajë. The perpetrators were Kosta Pećanac, Milić Krstić, Spire Dobrosavlević, Arseni Qirković, Gal Milenko, Nikodim Grujici and Novë Gilici. 63 civilians were killed during the day. In Peja 1,563 Albanians were massacred and 714 homes were destroyed from 1919 and 1921. There were roughly 4,600 killed in Prizren along with 2,194 homes torched between 1919 and 1921. From 1919 to 1921, around 1,694 people were massacred in Ferizaj. On December 15, 1919, a Montenegrin detachment of Chetniks tried to disarm an Albanian tradesmen in the village of Podgur, which resulted in 138 houses being burned down and 400 being pillaged. Additionally, women, children, and elderly men were massacred. Aftermath
According to Sabrina P. Ramet, approximately 12,000 Albanians were killed in Kosovo between 1918 and 1921. Albanian sources state that 12,346 people were killed. More than 6,000 Albanians were killed by Yugoslav forces in January and February in 1919. Around 2,000 'Albanian patriots' were killed in Kosovo between 1919 and 1924. This number rose to 3,000 between 1924 and 1927. Following the arrival of Zogu, the Committee of Kosovo, and other Albanian Nationalists, would be assassinated by Zogu's agents. By 1924, military confrontations between Albanians and Serbs ended as the Kachak movement was effectively suppressed. Following the revolts, the colonization of Kosovo would be intensified by the Yugoslav authorities and some 58,263 Serbian colonists would settle in Kosovo. In the Second World War, Kosovo was made part of Albania, and during the occupation of Kosovo, 70,000-100,000 Serbians were deported or forced to flee by the Albanian authorities. Albanian authorities also targeted Yugoslav colonists while simultaneously bringing 72,000 Albanian colonists to Kosovo from Albania. References

History of Albania
Drenica
History of Kosovo
Rebellions in Yugoslavia
20th-century rebellions
1910s in Yugoslavia
1920s in Yugoslavia
Massacres in Kosovo