First Serbian Uprising
part of the Serbian Revolution
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.
The public source identifies “First Serbian Uprising” as part of the Serbian Revolution. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around First, Serbian and Uprising.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q368689. The Library of Congress control number is sh85120168. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1804, 1813, 1801 and 1805.
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This entry incorporates text from “First Serbian Uprising” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.