The First Serbian Uprising was an uprising of Serbs in Orašac against the Dahije, and later the Ottoman Empire from 14 February 1804 to 7 October 1813. The uprising began as a local revolt against renegade janissary officers who had seized power in a coup d'état against the Ottoman sultan. It later evolved into a war for independence, known as the Serbian Revolution, after more than three centuries of Ottoman Empire rule and brief Austrian occupations.
In 1801, the Janissary commanders assassinated the Ottoman Pasha and took control of the Pashalik of Belgrade, ruling it independently of the Ottoman Sultan. This led to a period of tyranny, during which the Janissaries suspended the rights previously granted to the Serbs by the Sultan. They also raised taxes, imposed forced labour, and made other changes that negatively affected the Serbs. In 1804, the Janissaries feared that the Sultan would use the Serbs against them, which led to the assassination of many Serbian chiefs. An assembly chose Karađorđe to lead the uprising, and the rebel army quickly defeated and took over towns throughout the sanjak, technically fighting for the Sultan. Sultan Selim III, fearing their power, ordered all the Pashaliks in the region to crush them. The Serbs marched against the Ottomans and, after major victories in 1805–06, established a government and parliament that returned land to the people, abolished forced labour, and reduced taxes.
Serbia's military successes continued over the years, spurred on by the Russian Empire's involvement in the parallel Russo-Turkish War. However, disagreements arose between Karađorđe, who sought an absolute monarchy, and other leaders who wanted to limit his power because some of his colleagues abused their privileges for personal gain. After the Russo-Ottoman War ended in 1812, the Ottoman Empire took advantage of these circumstances and reconquered Serbia in 1813.
Although the uprising was unsuccessful, the Serbs were the first Christian population in Ottoman history to rise up against the Sultan and succeed in creating a short-lived independent state. Their uprising eventually became a symbol of the nation-building process in the Balkans and inspired unrest among neighbouring Balkan peoples. The uprising soon resumed with the Second Serbian Uprising in 1815.
Background
Serbia had been under Ottoman rule since the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. Over the centuries, the Serbs experienced oppression, heavy taxation, and cultural assimilation under the Ottoman Empire. By the 18th century, the conditions for Serbs living under Ottoman rule had become increasingly harsh. In addition to high taxes, they faced discrimination and the imposition of the Devshirme system, which required Christian families to provide sons for the Ottoman military. The Serbs lived in wide areas in the western Balkans; a high percentage of them, experienced fighters, had fought under their own officers in the Serbian Freicorps of the Austrian army. They came from the Sanjak of Smederevo (also known in historiography as the Pashalik of Belgrade), a border district containing a population of around 368,000 prior to 1804.
Belgrade, which was the seat of the eponymous pashalik became the second largest Ottoman city in Europe, with over 100,000 inhabitants, surpassed only by Constantinople. During the Austro-Turkish War of 1788, the eastern Šumadija region was occupied by the Austrian-Serbian Free Corps and Hajduks, which led to the occupation of most of the Sanjak of Smederevo by the Habsburg Monarchy (1788–1791). From 15 September to 8 October 1789, an Austrian force besieged the fortress of Belgrade. The Austrians held the city until 1791, when they returned it to the Ottomans under the terms of the Treaty of Sistova. The withdrawal was a disappointment for the Serbs, according to historian Theodor N. Trâpcea.
After the return of the sanjak to the Ottoman Empire, the Serbs expected reprisals from the Turks for their support of the Austrians. Sultan Selim III had entrusted the sanjaks of Smederevo and Belgrade to battle-hardened Janissaries who had fought against Christian forces during the Austro-Turkish War and other conflicts. Although Selim granted authority to the peaceful Hadži Mustafa Pasha in 1793, tensions between the Serbs and the Janissary command did not subside. In 1793 and 1796, Selim issued firmans that gave the Serbs more rights. These included the collection of taxes by the obor-knez (dukes), freedom of trade and religion, and the establishment of peace. Selim also ordered the removal of some unpopular Janissaries from the Belgrade Pashalik, as he saw them as a threat to the central authority of Hadži Mustafa Pasha. Many of the Janissaries were employed by or took refuge with Osman Pazvantoğlu, a renegade opponent of Selim in the Sanjak of Vidin. Pazvantoğlu launched a series of raids against the Serbs without the Sultan's permission, causing much instability and fear in the region. In 1793, the Serbs defeated Pazvantoğlu at the Battle of Kolari. In the summer of 1797, Mustafa Pasha was appointed by the Sultan as the beglerbeg of Rumelia Eyalet. He left Serbia for Plovdiv to fight against the Vidin rebels of Pazvantoğlu. During Mustafa Pasha's absence, Pazvantoğlu's troops captured Požarevac and besieged the Belgrade Fortress. In November 1797, the Obor knez Aleksa Nenadović, Ilija Birčanin and Nikola Grbović arrived in Belgrade with their troops. They successfully forced the besieging Janissary troops to retreat to Smederevo.
On 30 January 1799, Selim III allowed the Janissaries to return, calling them local Muslims from the Sanjak of Smederevo. At first, the Janissaries accepted the authority of Hadži Mustafa Pasha. However, in Šabac, a Janissary named Bego Novljanin demanded a surcharge from a Serb and murdered him when he refused to pay. Fearing the worst, Hadži Mustafa Pasha marched to Šabac with a force of 600 men to ensure that the Janissary was brought to justice and that order was restored. The Janissaries not only decided to support Bego Novljanin, but Pazvantoğlu also attacked the Belgrade Pashalik in support of the Janissaries.
Prelude
On 15 December 1801, Belgrade Vizier Hadži Mustafa Pasha was executed by Kučuk-Alija, one of four Janissaries originally from the Sanjak of Vidin (modern north-western Bulgaria), the other three being Mehmed Foça-oğlu, Aganli-Bayraktar and Mülla Yusuf. The four Janissaries referred to themselves as Dahije. As a result, Belgrade was captured and the Sanjak of Smederevo was divided among them independently of the Ottoman government, and in defiance of the Sultan, despite the dispatch of a new Pasha from Constantinople.
The Janissaries enforced a system of arbitrary abuse unparalleled in the entire history of Ottoman misrule in the Balkans. The leaders divided the Sanjak into pashaliks, immediately suspending Serbian autonomy and significantly increasing taxes. Land confiscation and the introduction of forced labour, known as chiflik, prompted many Serbs to flee to the mountains.
The Serbs petitioned the Sultan to inform him of the tyranny they were suffering, upon learning of this and in an attempt to prevent a rebellion, the Dahije decided to act first. At the end of January 1804, throughout the Sanjak, between 70 and 150 knezes (village leaders), livestock merchants and Orthodox priests were executed by the Dahije in an event known as the Slaughter of the Knezes. According to contemporary sources from Valjevo, the severed heads of the leaders were displayed on the central square as a warning to those who might plot against the Dahije's rule. Janissary atrocities fueled fear and anger among the Serbs, leading some to flee with their families into the woods while others organised themselves into self-defence units, as uncoordinated resistance erupted throughout the region.
The events in Serbia were being closely monitored by neighbouring Christian states such as Wallachia, an Ottoman client-state bordering Serbia to the northeast, and ruled by the Phanariote Prince Constantine Ypsilantis (who was secretly hostile to Ottoman rule). During the early stages of the rebellion, the Belgrade Pashalik was visited by Ypisilantis' agents, including Dositei Filitti.
Uprising against the Dahije
On 14 February 1804, a group of leading Serbs gathered at Marićević Gully, in the small village of Orašac (near Aranđelovac) to support a call for a general uprising. The meeting was held after the massacre and the resentment against the Dahije, who had revoked the privileges granted to the Serbs by Selim III. Among those present were Stanoje Glavaš, Atanasije Antonijević, and Tanasko Rajić. They elected Đorđe Petrović, a cattle trader known as Karađorđe, as their leader. Karađorđe, a former member of the Freikorps during the Austro-Turkish War and an officer in the national militia, had considerable military experience. Serbian forces quickly took control of Šumadija, leaving the Dahije with only Belgrade under their control. The Istanbul government ordered the pashas of the neighbouring Pashaliks not to help the Dahije. At first the Serbs fought on the side of the Sultan against the Janissaries, but later they were supported by an Ottoman official and the Sipahi cavalry corps. Despite their small numbers, the Serbs achieved significant military victories, capturing Požarevac and Šabac and launching successful attacks on Smederevo and Belgrade in quick succession.
In July 1804, the Sultan, fearing that the Serbian movement might get out of control, sent Bekir Pasha, former Pasha of Belgrade and now Pasha of Bosnia Eyalet, to officially help the Serbs, but in reality to keep them under control. Alija Gušanac, the Janissary commander of Belgrade, faced with both Serbs and imperial authority, allowed Bekir Pasha into the city. The Dahije had previously fled east to Ada Kale, an island in the Danube. Bekir demanded the surrender of the Dahije. Meanwhile, Karađorđe sent his commander, Milenko Stojković, to the island. The Dahije refused to surrender, so Stojković attacked and captured them. He had them beheaded on the night of 5–6 August 1804. After destroying the power of the Dahije, Bekir Pasha wanted the Serbs disbanded. However, since the Janissaries still held important towns such as Užice, the Serbs were unwilling to stop without guarantees. In May 1804, Serbian leaders under Đorđe Petrović met in Ostružnica to continue the uprising. Their goals were to seek protection from Austria, to petition Sultan Selim for greater autonomy, and to request Russian protection from the Russian ambassador in Istanbul. The Russian government maintained a neutral policy toward the Serbian revolt until the summer of 1804 due to the recent Russo-Turkish friendship, which was a response to the growing influence of France. At the beginning of the uprising, the Russian envoy in Montenegro refused to deliver the message when the Serbs asked for help and instructed the Serbs to petition the Sultan. However, in the summer of 1804, after the meeting in Ostružnica, the Russian government changed its policy to be recognized by Istanbul as the guarantor of peace in the region.
Negotiations between the Serbs and the Ottomans began in May 1804, mediated by the Austrian governor of Slavonia. As Trâpcea notes, the Serbs made only modest demands, seeking autonomy within the borders of the Pashalik. This autonomy was to be under the control of a Serbian knez with the power to collect taxes for the Sublime Porte. In addition, the Serbian leaders demanded further restrictions on the Janissaries. In 1805, negotiations between the Porte and the Serbs broke down over the Porte's inability to accept an agreement guaranteed by a foreign power and the Serbs' refusal to lay down their arms. Fearing a Christian uprising, the Porte issued a decree on 7 May 1805, ordering the rebels to disarm and rely on regular Ottoman troops to protect them from the Dahije. The Serbs, however, summarily ignored the decree. Selim responded by ordering Hafiz Pasha of Niš, to march against the Serbs and take Belgrade.
Uprising against the Ottomans
In 1805, the first major battle took place at Ivankovac, where the Serbs defeated the Sultan's army and forced it to retreat towards Niš. It was the first time that the Serbs defeated the Sultan's army and not a Muslim rebel force. In November of the same year, the fortress of Smederevo fell and became the capital of the rebellion. The second major clash was the Battle of Mišar in 1806, where the rebels defeated an Ottoman army from Bosnia led by the Sipahi commander Suleiman-Pasa. The rebels also defeated Osman Pazvantoğlu and another Ottoman army sent from the southeast at Deligrad. Despite repeated efforts and the support of Ottoman commanders, including Ibrahim Bushati and Ali Pasha's two sons, Muktar Pasha and Veli Pasha, the Ottomans were consistently defeated. In December 1806, the rebels, led by Petar Dobrnjac, captured Belgrade and gained control of the entire Pashalik. The rebels sent the Belgrade merchant Petar Ičko as their envoy to the Ottoman government in Constantinople. He succeeded in obtaining a favourable treaty named after him, the Ičko's Peace, which granted a measure of Serbian autonomy. However, Serbian leaders rejected the treaty and may have poisoned Ičko for his dealings with the Ottomans.