First Serbian Uprising (1804-1813): Karadjordje's Revolt

The First Serbian Uprising was a revolt by the Serbs of the Ottoman province of Belgrade that began in February 1804 and was crushed in 1813. Led by Karadjordje Petrovic, the rebels defeated Ottoman armies, captured Belgrade and governed themselves for several years. Although it ended in defeat, the uprising is seen as the start of the Serbian Revolution and the birth of the modern Serbian state.

Background: the Dahije and the slaughter of the knezes

At the end of the 18th century the Sanjak of Smederevo, often called the Belgrade Pashalik, was a frontier province of the Ottoman Empire. Sultan Selim III had tried to calm it by expelling unruly janissaries and giving local Serbian leaders, the knezes, a measure of self-rule. In 1801, however, four renegade janissary commanders known as the Dahije seized power in Belgrade and imposed a harsh regime of taxes and violence. (The janissaries were the Ottoman elite infantry corps, by then a powerful and often rebellious faction.)

Fearing a Serbian revolt, the Dahije struck first. In late January and early February 1804 their men killed dozens of prominent knezes and other local leaders, an event remembered as the Slaughter of the Knezes. Estimates of the number killed range from about 70 to more than 150. Instead of terrifying the Serbs, the killings pushed them into open rebellion.

Orasac and the revolt against the Dahije

On 14 February 1804 (2 February in the Julian calendar then used in Serbia, the feast of Candlemas or Sretenje), Serbian leaders met at the village of Orasac in the Sumadija region. They chose Djordje Petrovic, known as Karadjordje or “Black George”, as their commander. He was a livestock trader who had fought as a volunteer for Austria in its war against the Ottomans in 1788–1791.

At first the rebels presented themselves as loyal subjects of the sultan fighting only the Dahije. They quickly took most of the province’s towns. The Dahije fled and were captured and executed in August 1804 on the Danube island of Ada Kaleh by a rebel force under Milenko Stojkovic.

From revolt to war with the Ottomans

The Serbs now demanded guarantees of self-government, and the Ottoman authorities refused. In 1805 the rebels defeated an Ottoman army at Ivankovac, which turned the uprising into a war against the empire itself. In August 1806 Karadjordje won the Battle of Misar near Sabac, and in December 1806 the rebels stormed Belgrade, with the fortress surrendering in early 1807.

From 1806 the uprising was linked to the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812. Russia sent money, officers and later troops, and the Serbs rejected a compromise settlement offered by the Ottomans in 1806, known as Ickov’s Peace. In 1809 an Ottoman counter-offensive defeated the Serbs at Cegar near Nis, where the commander Stevan Sindjelic is said to have fired into his powder store rather than surrender. The Ottomans built the Skull Tower in Nis from the heads of the fallen Serbs; it still stands.

Building a Serbian state

The rebels created institutions of their own. A Governing Council was set up in 1805, and in 1808 Karadjordje was proclaimed hereditary supreme leader. The writer and educator Dositej Obradovic founded the Great School (Velika skola) in Belgrade in 1808, a forerunner of the University of Belgrade, and became the first minister of education. Courts, taxes and a standing army followed, although Karadjordje often clashed with powerful regional leaders.

Collapse in 1813

Serbia’s fate depended on Russia. In May 1812, with Napoleon about to invade (see the French invasion of Russia), Russia signed the Treaty of Bucharest with the Ottomans. Article 8 promised the Serbs an amnesty and some internal autonomy but allowed Ottoman garrisons to return to Serbian fortresses. The Serbs refused these terms.

In 1813 large Ottoman armies attacked from several directions. Serbian defences collapsed, and in late September 1813 Karadjordje crossed into Austrian territory. Belgrade fell in early October. Reprisals followed, and tens of thousands of Serbs fled across the Danube and Sava.

Legacy

The defeat was not final. In 1815 a Second Serbian Uprising broke out under Milos Obrenovic, who combined fighting with negotiation and won recognition of Serbian autonomy, confirmed in 1830. Karadjordje returned secretly in 1817 and was murdered on Milos’s orders, beginning a long feud between the Karadjordjevic and Obrenovic dynasties that shaped Serbian politics until 1903.

The uprising inspired other Balkan peoples, including the Greeks, whose War of Independence began in 1821. Historians also count it among the first national revolutions in the Ottoman Balkans.

Timeline

• 1801: The Dahije seize power in the Belgrade Pashalik.
• 1804, late January - early February: Slaughter of the Knezes.
• 1804, 14 February: Assembly at Orasac chooses Karadjordje as leader.
• 1804, August: The Dahije are executed on Ada Kaleh.
• 1806, August: Serbian victory at the Battle of Misar.
• 1806, December: Rebels take the city of Belgrade.
• 1809, May: Ottoman victory at Cegar near Nis.
• 1812, May: Treaty of Bucharest between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.
• 1813, September - October: Karadjordje flees to Austria; Belgrade is retaken.

Why it matters

The First Serbian Uprising showed that a Balkan Christian people could defeat Ottoman armies and govern itself. Its leaders, battles and institutions became the founding story of modern Serbia, and its outcome set the pattern of revolt and great-power diplomacy that shaped the Balkans throughout the 19th century.