Serbian Revolution

For the articles examining each major uprising individually, see First Serbian Uprising and Second Serbian Uprising.
Serbian Revolution

Battle of Mišar (1806), painting by Afanasij Šeloumov
DateFirst Serbian Uprising:
14 February 1804 – 7 October 1813
(9 years, 7 months, 3 weeks and 2 days)
Hadži-Prodan's rebellion:
27 September – 30 December 1814
(3 months and 3 days)
Second Serbian Uprising:
23 April 1815 – 26 July 1817
(2 years, 3 months and 2 days)
Location
The Balkans (Central Serbia and partially Bosnia)
Result

First Serbian Uprising

Hadži-Prodan's rebellion

Second Serbian Uprising

Territorial
changes		 The Ottoman Empire loses direct control of the Sanjak of Smederevo
Belligerents

First Serbian Uprising (1804–1813)
 Revolutionary Serbia
Supported by:
 Russian Empire (1807–12)

 Wallachia		 First Serbian Uprising (1804–1813)
Dahijas (1804)
Ottoman Empire Ottoman Empire (from 1805) Supported by:
 France[1]
Hadži-Prodan's rebellion (1814)
Revolutionary Serbia Serbian rebels		 Hadži-Prodan's rebellion (1814)
Ottoman Empire Ottoman Empire

Second Serbian Uprising (1815–1817)
Serbian rebels

 Wallachia		 Second Serbian Uprising (1815–1817)
Ottoman Empire Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Rise of nationalism in the Balkans
Nationalism under the Ottoman Empire
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The Serbian Revolution (Serbian: Српска револуција / Srpska revolucija) was a national uprising and constitutional change in Serbia that took place between 1804 and 1835, during which this territory evolved from an Ottoman province into a rebel territory, a constitutional monarchy, and modern Serbia.[2]

In 1804, the Ottoman Janissary decided to execute all prominent nobles throughout Central Serbia, a move known as the Slaughter of the Knezes. The heads of the murdered Serbian nobles were put on public display in the central square to serve as an example to those who might plot against Ottoman rule. The event triggered the start of the Serbian Revolution aimed at putting an end to the 370 years of Ottoman occupation. The first part of the period, from 1804 to 1817, was marked by a violent struggle for independence from the Ottoman Empire with two armed uprisings taking place, ending with a ceasefire. The later period (1817–1835) witnessed a peaceful consolidation of political power of the increasingly autonomous Serbia, culminating in the recognition of the right to hereditary rule by Serbian princes in 1830 and 1833 and the territorial expansion of the young monarchy.[3]

The adoption of the first written Constitution in 1835 abolished feudalism and serfdom,[4] and made the country suzerain.[3] The term Serbian Revolution was coined by a German academic historiographer, Leopold von Ranke, in his book Die Serbische Revolution, published in 1829.[5] These events marked the foundation of modern Serbia.[6]

The period is further divided as follows:

The Proclamation (1809) by Karađorđe in the capital Belgrade represents the probable peak of the first phase. It called for national unity, drawing on Serbian history to demand the freedom of religion and formal, written rule of law, both of which the Ottoman Empire had failed to provide. It also called on Serbs to stop paying taxes to the Porte, deemed unfair as based on religious affiliation. Apart from dispensing with poll tax on non-Muslims (jizya), the revolutionaries also abolished all feudal obligations in 1806, only 15 years after the French Revolution, peasant and serf emancipation thus representing a major social break with the past.

The rule of Miloš Obrenović consolidated the achievements of the Uprisings, leading to the proclamation of the first constitution in the Balkans and the establishment of the first Serbian institution of higher learning still in existence, the Great Academy of Belgrade (1808). In 1830 and again in 1833, Serbia was recognized as an autonomous principality, with hereditary princes paying annual tribute to the Porte. Finally, de facto independence came in 1867, with the withdrawal of Ottoman garrisons from the principality; de jure independence was formally recognized at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.

  1. ^ Meriage, Lawrence P. (27 January 2017). "The First Serbian Uprising (1804–1813) and the Nineteenth-Century Origins of the Eastern Question". Slavic Review. 37 (3): 421–439. doi:10.2307/2497684. JSTOR 2497684. S2CID 222355180.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference staff.lib.msu.edu was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Plamen Mitev (2010). Empires and Peninsulas: Southeastern Europe Between Karlowitz and the Peace of Adrianople, 1699–1829. LIT Verlag Münster. pp. 147–. ISBN 978-3-643-10611-7. Archived from the original on 2023-01-23. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  4. ^ "Dr". Archived from the original on 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  5. ^ English translation: Leopold Ranke, A History of Serbia and the Serbian Revolution. Translated from the German by Mrs Alexander Kerr (London: John Murray, 1847)
  6. ^ L. S. Stavrianos, The Balkans since 1453 (London: Hurst and Co., 2000), pp. 248–250.