Imagine a country that has declared independence after centuries of being under a foreign yoke. Territorial claims are immediately made against it.
Its separate parts are controlled by the troops of two neighboring states at once.
Soon a pan-European war begins, and the young country becomes a courtyard for armed interventionists and occupiers.
During the fighting, 7 different foreign armies manage to visit its territory, and influential geopolitical players secretly negotiate the elimination of its independence.
After another 4 years, one invader is replaced by another, and only then the final liberation from foreign invaders follows.
And then a strong leader with military experience comes to power, hardened in battles with the occupiers. He decides that his Motherland must learn to protect itself by relying on its own strength.
Only 2 years after the end of the war, it is possible to restore sovereignty. But 19 years have passed, and the long-suffering country is again occupied and annexed.
In the 1990s, after the fall of communism, the late Hoxha was firmly established as a paranoid. A cruel tyrant and a madman who ruined his country with exorbitant and senseless military spending.