On 17 September 1914, in Niš — Serbia’s wartime capital — Prime Minister Nikola Pašić and Essad Pasha Toptani secretly sign the Treaty of Serbian–Albanian Alliance (Treaty of Niš), in fifteen points.

The agreement provided for peace and friendship, joint political and military institutions, a military alliance, Serbian support for Essad’s election as Albanian ruler, a railroad to Durrës and a mixed border-demarcation commission. Serbia undertook to finance the gendarmerie at 50,000 dinars a month and, on request, to intervene militarily.

Essad was to confirm the treaty after his election, with National Assembly consent. The text was drafted in Turkish (Arabic script) and Serbian; it was signed in the Banovina building.

In October 1914 Essad returned to Durrës with Italian and Serbian financial backing.

For Balkan diplomacy in the First World War, 17 September 1914 marks the secret Niš alliance.

Its content is documented in modern historiography (Bataković, Rahimi).

The Treaty of Niš of 17 September 1914 remains the Pašić–Essad alliance milestone.

Image: Niš; Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Treaty of Niš (1914). Treaty text: Bataković — Kosovo Chronicles (Essad Pasha).