Albanian Regiment (France) Albanian Regiment (France) The Albanian Regiment () was a military unit of the First French Empire formed in 1807 in Corfu. It was commanded by Colonel and served mainly as defence unit in the Septinsular Republic, then a "de facto" protectorate of the French Empire. It was disbanded in 1814. In 1807 per the treaties of Tilsit the Russian Empire abandoned the Ionian islands, which had been captured by admiral Fyodor Ushakov at the Siege of Corfu (1798–99). During their rule the Russians maintained two units, one composed of about 3,000 Souliot refugees ("Orthodox Greek-Albanian bilingual speakers, classified as Greek)"
Albanian nationalism had agreed to that state of affairs which ran alongside Albanian nationalism. Kosovar Albanian nationalism drew upon and became embedded in popular culture such as village customs within a corpus of rich historical myths, distinctive folk music referring to harvests along with marriage and clan based law. Albania during World War One was occupied by foreign powers and they pursued policies which strengthened expressions of Albanian nationalism especially in Southern Albania. Italian and French authorities closed down Greek schools, expelled Greek clergy and pro-Greek notables while allowing Albanian education with the French sector promoting Albanian self-government through the Korçë republic.