Essad Pasha (redirected from Esad Pashë Toptani)

Essad Pasha (ĕs-sät` päshä`), 1863–1920, Albanian dictator. Of a prominent Albanian family, he supported the bloodless and reformist Young Turk revolution (1908) in the Ottoman Empire. He was a member of the resulting Turkish parliament. In the First Balkan War he was entrusted (1912) with the defense of Scutari against the Montenegrins, to whom he surrendered the city in 1913. Early in 1914 he welcomed William, prince of Wied, as ruler of the newly independent Albania. Friction soon developed, however, and William was forced to leave in September. Essad Pasha then governed Albania dictatorially and maintained himself, with Italian aid, until defeated (1916) during World War I by the Austrians. He fled abroad and headed an Albanian commission in Paris, where he was assassinated by a fellow countryman.