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)"
Massacre of the Albanian Beys after the Greek War of Independence the Albanian mercenaries, who were employed during the struggles by the Ottomans, pillaged a large number of villages, while the bey families tried to restore and regain their rule. Their efforts included the organization of the assembly of Berat in December 1828, led by Ismail bey Qemali of the Vlora family, grandfather of Ismail Qemali, founder of the modern Albanian state in 1912. In this Convention, the leaders were Qemali, Zylyftar Poda and Shahin bej Delvina. The Ottoman Empire tried to prevent the rise of local beys, which presented a menace to centralized power.