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Skanderbeg's Rebellion
Contemporaneous Campaigns
Resistance until the Fall of Shkodra
Skanderbeg's rebellion was an almost 25-year long anti-Ottoman rebellion led by the renegade Ottoman sanjakbey Skanderbeg in the territory which belonged to the Ottoman sanjaks of Albania, Dibra and Ohrid. The rebellion was the result of initial Christian victories in the Crusade of Varna in 1443. After Ottoman defeat in the Battle of Niš, Skanderbeg, then sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Debar, mistakenly believed that Christians would succeed in pushing the Ottomans out of Europe. Like many other regional Ottoman officials, he deserted the Ottoman army to raise rebellion in his sanjak of Dibra and the surrounding region. Initially, his plan was successful and soon large parts of the Sanjak of Dibra and north-east parts of the Sanjak of Albania were captured by the rebels who also fought against regular Ottoman forces in the Sanjak of Ohrid.