Enver Hoxha

Enver Halil Hoxha (16 October 1908 – 11 April 1985) was an Albanian communist revolutionary, statesman, and political theorist who was the leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 until his death, a member of its Politburo, chairman of the Democratic Front of Albania, and commander-in-chief of the Albanian People's Army. He was the twenty-second prime minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954 and at various times served as his own foreign minister and defence minister.

Hoxha was born in Gjirokastër in 1908. After the Italian invasion of Albania, he helped unify the fractured Albanian communist movement into the Communist Party of Albania. He was elected First Secretary in March 1943 at the age of 34. Less than two years after the liberation of the country, the monarchy of King Zog I was formally abolished, and Hoxha became the country's de facto head of state.