Albania: Communism, capitalism, chaos

Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell bring us more ridiculous history facts and a less-than serious romp through an event from the past. This time: How one small country in Europe lurched suddenly from hardline Stalinism to Disaster Capitalism, and then gave everyone guns and said ‘Oh sort it out yourselves’. Albania has suffered a stormy history of dictatorships, a king called Zog and being economically choked by the iron grip of mass pyramids schemes which provided false hope to millions. Get all episodes a week early – when you support We Are History on Patreon: https://patreon.com/WeAreHistory “King Zog wasn’t royal he just decided to be king” – Angela Barnes “None of the books I read have any of these titbits” – John O’Farrell “Albania had the illusion of democracy, the homeopathy of democracy” – Angela Barnes “This is the biggest understatement you've ever written in your notes, John; ‘not an ideal situation” – Angela Barnes Reading List: Free by Lea Ypi  A Concise History of Albania by Bernd J. Fischer and Oliver Jens Schmitt Modern Albania From Dictatorship To Democracy in Europe by Fred C Abrahams. We Are History is written and presented by Angela Barnes and John O’Farrell. Audio production by Simon Williams and artwork by James Parrett. Lead Producer is Anne-Marie Luff. Group Editor is Andrew Harrison. We Are History is a Podmasters Production. https://twitter.com/wearehistorypod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices