The Serbian hajduks (Serbian: хајдуци / hajduci) were brigands (bandits) and guerrilla freedom fighters (rebels) throughout Ottoman-held Balkans, mainly in Serbia, organized into bands headed by a harambaša ("bandit leader"), who descended from the mountains and forests and robbed and attacked the Ottomans. They were often aided by foreign powers, such as the Republic of Venice and Habsburg monarchy, during greater conflicts.
The hajduks are seen as part of the Serbian national identity. In stories, the hajduks were described as heroes; they had played the role of the Serbian elite during Ottoman rule, they had defended the Serbs against Ottoman oppression, and prepared for the national liberation and contributed to it in the Serbian Revolution.[1] The Chetniks also saw themselves as hajduks, freedom fighters.[2]
The hajduk movement is known as hajdučija (хајдучија) or hajdukovanje (хајдуковање). Ranks included buljubaša and harambaša, adopted from the Ottomans.
People that helped hajduks were called jataks. Jataks lived in villages and towns and provided food and shelter for hajduks. In return, hajduks would give them part of the loot.
- ^ Naimark, Norman M. (2003). Norman M. Naimark; Holly Case (eds.). Yugoslavia and Its Historians: Understanding the Balkan Wars of the 1990s. Stanford University Press. pp. 25–. ISBN 978-0-8047-8029-2.
- ^ That was Yugoslavia. Ost-Dienst. 1991. p. 15.