International Gendarmerie

International Gendarmerie
Albanian Gendarmerie in southern Albania, 1913
Country	Principality of Albania
Type	Gendarmerie
Role	Law enforcement agency
Commanders
Colonel	Willem De Veer
Major	Lodewijk Thomson

The International Gendarmerie was the first law enforcement agency of the Principality of Albania. It was established by the decision of the ambassadors of the six Great Powers that participated in the London Peace Conference. This decision was made on the basis of the London Treaty signed on 30 May 1913. Since most of the members were from the Netherlands, this force was also known as the Dutch Military Mission.

The first gendarmerie members arrived in Albania on 10 November 1913. They were soon faced with a peasant revolt. One International Gendarmerie officer was killed and many were imprisoned after the revolt erupted in June 1914. Dutch officers were gradually replaced by officers from Austria-Hungary and Germany, who arrived in Durrës on 4 July.^[1] Soon, World War I broke out, and by 4 August most of the Dutch officers had returned to the Netherlands. By 19 September 1914 the last two imprisoned officers were released.