By 1900 about 8,000 armed Albanians were assembled in Shkoder, but they were unopposed, and a situation resembling anarchy more than revolution prevailed in the country during the early 1900s. There were arrests, incidents of banditry and pillage, and many futile Turkish efforts to restore order. Guerrilla activity increased after about 1906, and several incidents occurred, which produced martyrs but which were not marked by great numbers of casualties. Nevertheless, although it was unorganized and never assumed the proportions of a serious struggle, the resistance was instrumental in maintaining the pressure that attracted international attention and led the great powers, when they intervened after the Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913, to recognize the independent state of Albania. World War I began before the country could establish a viable governmental body--much less form, train, and equip a military establishment. During the war years it was occupied by the warring parties, and the last of them remained into 1920. Ahmet Zogu--as minister of the interior and minister of war until 1922 and prime minister from 1922, except for a brief exile in 1924, until he became King Zog in 1928--created the first national forces of any consequence. Before 1925, so that he would have some assurance of their loyalty, these consisted of about 5,000 men from his home tribal district. Starting in about 1925 with Italian assistance and a considerable degree of Italian control over the forces, men were drawn through universal conscription. The first drafts called about 5,000 to 6,000 annually from the approximately 10,000 young men who became eligible for the draft each year. Italian aid equipped the forces, and Italian officers provided most of the training and tactical guidance, to the point that they had effective control over their employment. At about the same time the Gendarmerie was formed with British assistance. It had an Albanian director, a British general who served as its inspector general, and a staff of British inspectors. The Gendarmerie became an effective internal security and police organization. It had a commandant in each of the ten prefectures, a headquarters in each of the subprefectures (up to eight per prefecture), and a post in each of the nearly 150 local communities. Its communications network was for many years the most complete telephone system in the country. Although the Italians objected strenuously, King Zog used the Gendarmerie as a safeguard against the possible consequences of Italian domination of his regular armed forces. He kept the force under his direct control and retained its British advisers until 1938. Zog also retained a sizable armed group from his old tribal region.