The treaty of London (1913), which ended the Balkanic conflict, assigned most of Epirus to Greece, but the northern districts remained within Albania, with the opposition of the Greek population of the area. On 7 March 1914, Prince Wilhelm of Wied arrived in Albania and the Greeks of the southern districts of the country rebelled against their inclusion into the principality of Albania, and formed the provisional government of Epirus. The rebels used the Greek flag with the double-headed eagle, to symbolize the belonging to Greece of this part of Albania.
In the North, the rebel government took the name of Government
of Northern Epirus. A provisional government ran its own postal service and
issued postage stamps for a period during 1914. The first stamps associated
with Epirus were local stamps issued at Chimarra in February 1914. The set of
four are large stamps prominently featuring a double-headed eagle along with
a skull and crossbones, and inscribed "ELL. AUTON. EPEIROS / ELEUTHERIA
E THANATOS / AMYNESSE PERI PATRES" (Greek Autonomous Epirus - Freedom or
Death - Defend our Country"). Produced manually with a handstamp, they
also have a control mark on the back consisting of a blue oval with the letters
"SP" inside, after Spiromilios, the commander at Chimarra.
The first undoubted issue of the provisional government came out in March. The set of eight, with values ranging from one lepton to 5 drachma, all depicted an infantryman aiming a rifle while others look on; the frames of the 10l and 25l values are inscribed only with "EPEIROS", while the others read "AUTONOMOS / EPEIROS". Instead of being perforated, they have a serrate roulette that superficially resembles perforation, but is distinguished by angled cuts rather than the round roles of perforation:
In August, the government issued a last set of eight stamps, with the same range of values as previously, but now showing the flag of Epirus in a two-color design.
When the first World War broke up, the Greek troops invaded
and occupied Epirus (end of 1914). Greece issued special overprints for the
parts of northern Epirus under occupation. In the south, the provisional government
was dissolved and replaced by a military government.
The northern zone of Epirus was handed over to the Italians in 1915 (the last Greek troops remained in the area until 1916), which continued the occupation regime. After a few months, the Italians transferred this area to their French allies. The Greeks kept Southern Epirus. The incorporation of Northern Epirus to Albania was confirmed by the Commission of Border Delimitation in 1921.
In October, 1940 Fascist Italy having already occupied Albania, attacked Greece. But the Greek army defeated the Italians and in counteroffensive occupied North Epirus again. Greek stamps overprinted "Northern Epirus" were used during the occupation:
Greek occupation of the area lasted until the German attack on Greece in April 1941.