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The First Serbian Uprising was the first stage of the Serbian revolution which lasted for nine years and approximately nine months (1804-1813), during which Serbia perceived itself as an independent state for the first time after 400 years of Ottoman and short-lasting Austrian occupations. Revolutionary Serbia responded to the Janissary Slaughter of the knezes by establishing its separate government (Правитељствујушчи Совјет, Praviteljstvujušči Sovjet), Serbian Prince, Parliament (Збор, Zbor) and Great School of Belgrade. Even though it was crushed by the Ottomans in 1813, this revolution sparked the Second Serbian Uprising in 1815, which resulted with the creation of modern Serbia, as it gained semi-independence from Ottoman Empire in 1817 (formally in 1829).
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When the Austro-Turkish War (1787–1791) ended with the return of the Belgrade Pashaluk to the Ottoman Empire the Serbs expected reprisals from the due to their support for the Austrians. However, the Sultan Selim III in fact hoped to mobilize Serb national feeling against the Janissaries .[1]
Selim III proclaimed fermans in 1793 and 1796 which gave more rights to Serbs. Among other things, taxes were to be collected by local Serbian rulers called knezes ("local dukes"), freedom of trade and religion were granted. Selim also decreed that the Janissaries were to leave the Belgrade Pashaluk which he saw as a threat to central authority[2].
The Janissaries found refuge with Pasvanoglu, an opponent of the Sultan in Bulgaria, an launched a series of raids into the Belgrade Pashaluk.[3]
However, on January 30, 1799, the Turkish court allowed the Janissaries to return. They and their leaders, the dahias, showed little respect towards any authority, even the central Turkish government. After killing Vizier Hadži-Mustafa of Belgrade in 1801, they started to rule Serbia on their own. Recently-granted rights were suspended, and dahias exerted unlimited rule over Belgrade Pashaluk. Taxes were drastically increased, land was seized, forced labour (čitlučenje) was introduced, and many serbs fled the Janissaries in fear.
Serb leaders began to conspire about starting an uprising against the dahias. When the dahias found out about this, they captured and killed many of the Serbian leaders on February 4, 1804 in an event known today as Seča knezova (Massacre of Serbian knights). This action by the Janissaries incited the uprising, as it angered the people and the leaders had nothing to lose.
On February 14, 1804, in the small Šumadija village of Orašac, nearby modern Aranđelovac, Serbia, in Marićevića jaruga, the Serbs gathered and decided to undertake an uprising. Karađorđe Petrović was elected as the leader of the uprising, which started immediately. That afternoon, a Turkish inn (caravanserai) in Orašac was burned and its residents fled or were killed. Similar actions were undertaken in surrounding villages and then spread further. Soon the cities Valjevo and Požarevac were taken, and the siege of Belgrade started.
At this stage the Serbs were acting in the name of the Sultan and on the 12th of March the Sultan issued a fermans ordering all to support the uprising against the Dahis.[4] The Dahias fled from Belgrade, abandoning their followers, but they were captured on Adakale island on the Danube by 40 uprisers led by Milenko Stojković with knowledge and approval of the Ottoman authorities and executed.[5] With the success of the uprising, Selim III started to negotiate with the rebels. Eventually, the negotiations failed, and the Sultan organised a military campaign against the uprising.
The first major battle of the uprising was the Battle of Ivankovac in 1805, where Karađorđe defeated the Turkish army and forced it to retreat toward Niš. The second major battle of the uprising was Battle of Mišar in 1806, in which the rebels defeated an Ottoman army from Bosnia led by Kulin Captain. At the same time, the rebels led by Petar Dobrnjac defeated another army sent from the southeast in the Battle of Deligrad. In December 1806, the rebels besieged Belgrade, which was taken in the beginning of 1807.
In 1806 the insurgents sent the Belgrade merchant Peter Ichko as their envoy to Ottoman government in Constantinople. He managed to obtain for them a favourable 'Ichko's Peace'. However, the Serbian leaders preferred to reject the treaty and to join the Russians as their allies in Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812).
In 1805 the Serbian rebels organized a basic government for administering Serbia during the combat. Rule was divided between the Narodna Skupština (People's Assembly), the Praviteljstvujušči Sovjet (Ruling Council), and Karađorđe himself. Land was returned, forced labour was abolished, and taxes were reduced. The young state was modernised and by 1808 the Great School was founded, regarded as the foundation of the University of Belgrade.
Some of the leaders of the uprising later abused their privileges for personal gain, such as the reintroduction of forced labour in some places. There was dissent between Karađorđe and other leaders; Karađorđe wanted absolute power, while his voivods wanted to limit it. After the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-12 ended, the Ottoman Empire exploited these circumstances and reconquered Serbia in 1813.
Though ultimately unsuccessful, the First Serbian Uprising paved the way for the Second Serbian Uprising of 1815, which eventually succeeded in securing Serbian autonomy.
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   | Program of celebration of 200th anniversary of the uprising - Serbian Government >> News >> Culture and Religion >> "Serbia 1804-2004" main celebratory programme presented |
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