In order to gain support of the Mirdita Catholic volunteers from the northern mountains during the Muslim Uprising in Albania in 1914 Prince of Wied appointed Doda to be the foreign minister of the Principality of Albania. The government was paying a force of 5,000 to 7,000 under Doda's command. Doda's volunteers and the International Dutch Gendarmerie were also joined by Isa Boletini and his men, mostly from Kosovo, as well as 2,000 tribesmen of Mat under the command of Ahmet Zogu.