The Two Carnegie Reports: From the Balkan Expedition of 1913 to the Albanian Trip of 1921

Among the significant features of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) was not only the study of the causes but also of the impacts of the wars on civilian populations. In 1913, the CEIP sent an international commission to the Balkans. The result was the well-known report of 1914, the first widely circulated description on civilians in warfare. Seven years later, d’Estournelles de Constant, president of the CEIP Balkan Commission, sent a representative, Justin Godart to study the borders issues of Albania and to report on the crisis with Greece and Yugoslavia. Godart’s report emphasized the continuity with the one of 1913 and pointed out how Albania was a key element in the stabilization of the Balkans.Drawing from the Carnegie archives, the paper offers an innovative reading of CEIP’s initiatives in the Balkans before and after World War I within the context of the last chapter of the Eastern Question.Although both reports fell short of their objectives as the one of 1914 coincided with the onset of the war and the fragile conditions of the new states post 1918 prevented the success of the second one; the principles of stabilization, integration and economic prosperity were visionary as they are still “on the table” in the Balkans today