Serbian Army (revolutionary)

The Serbian Army was the military force of Revolutionary Serbia, active during the First Serbian Uprising (1804–13) fighting against the Ottoman Empire. Established at first as a peasant army against the oppressive Dahije who had wrested the Pashalik of Belgrade from the Sultan, it became a resistance movement to the Ottomans which managed to create an independent state, restoring Serbian statehood in the Central Balkans after centuries of Ottoman rule. Distinguished community leaders, the Serbian Free Corps veterans and hajduks mustered a militia which transformed into an army with decisive victories and relations with Austria and Russia.

Background

The rebel army had precursors in the Serbian Free Corps employed by the Habsburg Monarchy in the Austro-Turkish War (1788–1791), and the "national militia" employed by Hadji Mustafa Pasha, the Vizier of Belgrade (1793–1801), against the problematic Janissaries and the rebel leader Osman Pazvantoğlu of the Sanjak of Vidin.

The leading janissaries, called the Dahije, wrested the Pashalik of Belgrade from the Sultan, renewed terror and abolished the Serbs' self-governing rights. The economic hardships, evil administration, violence and "Slaughter of the Knezes" led to the uprising against the Dahije in 1804. Fighting legally from the Sultan's perspective at first, as the Dahije were renegades, the turning point came at Ivankovac where the Serbian troops had a major victory against Ottoman troops. Now, the Serbs fought for national liberation and restoration of the Serbian state. There were various plans of restoring a Serbian state in the 18th century, with either Habsburg or Russian support, but these had ultimately failed. The cult of the medieval Serbian state was strong in the Serbian Church and among the farmers and shepherds, who kept the tradition through the monasteries and epic poetry.