Karađorđe Petrović
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Karađorđe Petrović (Serbian Cyrillic: Карађорђе Петровић; Anglicised: Karageorge Petrovitch), (November 3, 1768? – July 13, 1817) was the leader of the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire, and the founder of the Serbian House of Karadjordjević.
He was born as Đorđe (George) Petrović. Because of his dark complexion and short temper he was nicknamed "Black George", kara meaning black in Turkish, or George Czerny. [citation needed]
Karadjordje was born in the village of Viševci and in his youth he was a cattle-keeper. In 1787, after he killed a Turk, he fled to Habsburg Austria where he volunteered in the Freikorps during the Austro-Turkish War, 1787-1791.
After the Treaty of Sistova, he returned to Serbia and settled in Topola herding cattle and conducting trade, prospering and occasionally joining Hajduks.
Ottoman repression in Serbia significantly increased in the beginning of 19th century and culminated in January 1804, when janissary leaders, the dahis, seized the rule of Serbia and prepared executions of influential men, priests, rebels and wealthy traders. They decided to kill Karadjordje as well, who survived by killing two of the men sent to execute him after being informed about actions against him.
As the response, Serbs rallied in Orašac on 14 February 1804 (2 February on the Julian calendar), and Karadjordje was chosen to be the leader of the uprising. The rebels managed to quickly incite revolt, firstly under the pretext of liberation from dahias, but after the Battle of Ivankovac in 1805 they started open combat to end the rule of the Ottoman sultan.
The rebels achieved several victories, including in the Battle of Mišar in 1805, and the Battles of Deligrad and Belgrade in 1806, after which both sides agreed to sign a peace treaty. However, in 1807, Karadjordje aligned with the Russian Empire in a war against the Ottoman Empire.
In 1812, threatened by Napoleon's French Empire, Russia had to quickly sign a peace treaty with the Ottomans. In 1813, the Ottoman Empire launched a big assault on Serbia, and Karadjordje, along with other rebel leaders, fled to the Austrian Empire on 21 September 1813 and, after some time, moved on to Bessarabia, where he encountered members of the Filiki Eteria, a Greek secret society which planned the liberation of all Christians from the Ottomans. Assisted by the Eteria, Karadjordje entered Serbia with a forged passport on 28 June 1817.
On 24 July 1817, Karadjordje was killed by Miloš Obrenović's men in Radovanjski Lug under Ottoman orders.
[edit] References
- Article was originally based on "Sveznanje" published by "Narodno delo", Belgrade, in 1937 which is today in public domain.
| Preceded by: none |
House of Karađorđević | Succeeded by: Alexander Karadjordjević |
