France and Russia protest near Italy on December 28, 1914, after its troops had occupied Vlora and the Italian fleet controlled the port.

Italy justified itself that the army had entered Vlora at the request of Esat Pasha Toptan, while Albania was engulfed in anarchy.

After the First World War broke out, in October 1914, Italy started the plan to invade Albania, starting with sending the "sanitary mission" to Vlora, ostensibly to help the muhajirs (refugees who went there after the Greek occupation of the south).

In fact, this commission was made up of Italian officers and agents, as a vanguard to get to know the situation in the area and to prepare the ground for the invasion. This is what former diplomat Hasan Luçi claims during an interview.

Arguing further how the forces of this apparently benevolent mission, together with the Albanian traitors, started the work and organized the plot of December 29, 1914, when a large Italian army landed in Vlora, supposedly to protect it from the Greek danger, since it did not 'there was security for protection

Historians say that Italy had acted to show Austria that if Vienna did not stop the attack on Serbia, Rome would retaliate by continuing to advance into Albanian territory.