Karađorđe

Origin

Đorđe Petrović was born on November 3 [O.S. November 16] 1762 in the village of Viševac, then part of the Ottoman Empire (today's Rača municipality, Šumadija District), one of five children (alongside brothers Marko and Marinko, and sisters Marija and Milica) to father Petar (or Petronije) Jovanović and mother Marica née Živković (from Masloševo, in Stragari). Karađorđe's slava was Saint Clement. The family claimed descent from the Vasojevići tribe (in Montenegro) and had emigrated in the late 1730s or early 1740s. His grandfather's family had lived in Mačitevo (in Suva Reka), from where grandfather Jovan moved to Viševac, while Jovan's brother Radak moved to Mramorac.

Early life

His family was poor, their situation progressed as Karađorđe began working for affluent Serbs and Turks. He and his father worked for a Fazlibaša, an Albanian who had enriched himself from robbing merchants, and who had bought a big house in Smederevska Palanka. There, Karađorđe came into conflict with some local Turks; Fazlibaša protected Karađorđe and punished these Turks. His family then moved to Zagorica, where he married Jelena Jovanović, from Masloševo, in 1785. Jelena is thought to have come from a wealthy background, thus her family didn't accept his marriage proposal. Karađorđe took her and married her without the parents' consent. In Zagorica, he was angered by the violent behaviour of a Turk, whom he then killed, after which he hid at Fazlibaša's house until some time when he could return home. However, he did not have peace at home as people started talking about his murder, thus Karađorđe saw crossing the Sava river, into Syrmia, in the Austrian-held Military Frontier, as the only chance of saving his family. What happens next is a matter of debate. The family left the home in secrecy, though on the way his father felt regret and wished to turn back, which would risk the family's survival; for this, Karađorđe cold-heartedly killed him, and continued into Syrmia, arriving in ca. 1787.

Karađorđe then lived and worked in the Krušedol monastery.

Austrian-Turkish War

At the end of the Austro-Turkish War, 1787, amid Koča's frontier revolt, Karađorđe enrolled in the Freikorps of the Austrian Army, fighting against the Turks. He took part in the botched attack on Belgrade, and fought in western and southern Serbia, where he gained military experience. In the mid-1791, peace was concluded, and Karađorđe received a medal of honour. He then joined the Hajduks, where he led a large band. The decline of Hajduks came in 1793-94, at which point Karađorđe rejoined his family, living peacefully in Topola. He began working as a livestock merchant, trading over the border with the Habsburg monarchy.

War against the Janissaries

Oppression against Serbs significantly increased in the beginning of the 19th century when janissary leaders, the dahis, rebelled against the Sultan and seized the rule of the Sanjak of Smederevo. It culminated in January and February 1804, when dahis prepared executions of popular leaders, gentry, priests, former rebels and wealthy traders, dubbed the Slaughter of the Dukes, in which some 150 of the most notable Serbs were killed. Karađorđe, among few other notable people who would later initiate the Serb Uprising, survived the assassinations.

As a response to the executions, the Serbian population without a central figure took measures of self-defence, and spontaneously attacked the jannisaries. Prota Mateja and several other leaders had organized military detachments that engaged the dahis in Valjevo. on 14 February 1804, 300 notables met in Orašac, Aranđelovac where Karađorđe was chosen as the undisputed leader. When Prota Mateja heard of this, he urged all Serb leaders to resist the dahis and the Ottoman authorities, Mateja was appointed deputy-commander of Valjevo, and later acted as diplomat to Russia, Austria, Bucharest and Constantinople. By the spring of 1804, Karađorđe had 30,000 combat-ready men under his wing. After May 1804, Karađorđe was titled Supreme Voivode.

The Serbians managed to quickly organize a widespread revolt, under the pretext of liberation from the dahis, Karađorđe was successful in this, he terminated feudalism in the liberated areas of Serbia and installed his military commanders and local leaders as governors of nahis (administrative units), the dahis who refused to leave were captured and executed after the Serbian liberation of Belgrade.

First Serbian Uprising

In March 1805, Karađorđe was officially appointed Military leader of Serbia, the self-proclaimed Vožd (old Serbian for vođa, "leader"). The Ottoman government welcomed the rebellion against the dahis and decided to install a new governor in Belgrade. Karađorđe, after tasting the fruits of liberty, decided not to let the new pasha enter the liberated area and defeated his army in the Battle of Ivankovac of 1805. This battle signified a turn of events, since the uprising was not a rebellion against the dahi terror anymore, but a war of liberation against the Ottoman rule. Karađorđe founded the Narodna Skupština (People's Assembly) and Praviteljstvujušči Sovjet (Governing Council) whose decree was drafted by writer and jurist Teodor Filipović (a.k.a. Božidar Grujović).

The revolutionaries liberated territories after achieving several victories, at Mišar, at Deligrad and at Belgrade, in 1806; and at Šabac and at Užice in 1807. In 1806-1807 a Serbian envoy to the Ottoman government in Constantinople, Peter Ichko, managed to obtain a favourable Ichko's Peace. However, Karađorđe disavowed the agreement and aligned with the Russian Empire in a war against the Ottoman Empire.

In 1808, Selim III was killed by Mustafa IV his successor became Mahmud II. In midst of this political crisis, the Ottomans were willing to offer the Serbs a wide autonomy, however, the discussions led to no agreement between the two, as they couldn't agree on the exact boundaries of Serbia. Karađorđe now declared himself hereditary supreme leader of Serbia, although he agreed to act in cooperation with the governing council, which was to also be the supreme court. When the Ottoman-Russian War broke out in 1809, he was prepared to support Russia, the cooperation was, however, ineffective. Karađorđe launched a successful offensive in Novi Pazar, but was subsequently defeated at Battle of Čegar. In August 1809, an Ottoman army marched on Belgrade, prompting a mass exodus of people across the Danube, among them Russian agent Radofinikin. Facing disaster, Karađorđe appealed to the Habsburgs and Napoleon, with no success. At this point, the Serb rebels were on the defensive, their aim was to hold the territories and not make further gains.

In July 1810, Russian troops arrived in Serbia for the second time, this time some military cooperation followed; weapons, ammunition, and medical supplies were sent, and Marshal M. I. Kutuzov, the great commander, participated in the planning of joint actions. The Russian assistance gave hope for a Serb victory, however, events in Europe were in the way. Russia, faced with a French invasion, wished to sign definitive peace treaty, and acted against the interest of Serbia. The Serbs were never informed of the negotiations; they learned the final terms from the Ottomans. This, second Russian withdrawal, came at the height of Karađorđe's personal power, and rise of Serb expectations. The negotiations that led to the Treaty of Bucharest (1812), had Article 8, dealing with the Serbs; It was agreed that Serb fortifications were to be destroyed, unless of value to the Ottomans, pre-1804 Ottoman installations were to be reoccupied and garrisoned by Ottoman troops, in return the Porte promised general amnesty and certain autonomous rights; The Serbs were to control "the administration of their own affairs" and the collection and delivery of a fixed tribute. The reactions in Serbia was strong, the reoccupation of fortresses and cities was of particular concern and fearful reprisals were expected.

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 taking land all up to the rivers Morava and the river Drina, and Karađorđe, along with other rebel leaders, fled to the Austrian Empire on 21 September 1813.

Exile, death and aftermath

After some time, Karađorđe emigrated to Bessarabia, where he joined the Greek national liberation movement Filiki Eteria, becoming an active member. The Greeks were primarily interested in using the Serbian lands as base of the Greek operations. Miloš Obrenović was fully uncooperative.

On July 24, 1817, days after he secretly crossed into Serbia to try to spearhead a new uprising, Karađorđe was assassinated in Radovanjski Lug by the men of Miloš Obrenović, Vujica Vulićević and Danilo Novaković. This happened on the orders of the Ottomans, who feared the possibility of a new uprising, while Miloš feared competition by the enormously popular Karađorđe. Some historians have speculated that Karađorđe had no political ambitions and simply wanted to return home from exile, and informed Obrenović of this in advance, however, Obrenović did not believe him and had him killed. The assassination marked the beginning of the Obrenović—Karađorđević feud, that ended in 1903.

Personal

Vuk Karadžić, a contemporary, wrote about Karađorđe, and said that he was tall, physically strong and heavy shouldered. He was an unusual man. He would sit sometimes for days, not talking to anybody, and biting his fingernails. When somebody would want to talk to him, he would turn his head away and would not say a word. When he would drink a little he would become more talkative. He was tall man, wide shoulders, with big nose Not a single man in the Serbian revolutionary army could go against him in direct combat; only Stanoje Glavaš, the initial choice of Grand Leader, was considered physically stronger. He had a big nose, dark hair, and his left hand was dislocated at the palm, though it did not stop him from shooting his rifle with great precision, He would jump from a horse, because he liked to fight as infantryman.

It is alleged that he killed his own brother and father. His brother allegedly raped a young girl; Karađorđe, seeing this as unforgivable, killed him. He liked order and discipline. He would let things go on their way, until it would not go any further.Than his justice would be harsh and terrible. Hiding behind his name, his only brother allowed himself many things, and Đorđe went on with this for a long. But when his brother raped some girl, and her cousins complained loudly that because of those things rebellion started on the first place against the Turks, Karadjorjde became so mad, that he hanged his only brother on his house door. He than forbid his mother to cry... His father allegedly held the family back at the time of Austrian retreat, unconcerned by possibly Ottoman retribution against the family, so Karađorđe killed him. During time of peace, he worked the field, as common folk, and once broke his medal. He did not give his daughter any privileges during his term as Grand Leader, making her work as everybody else.

Besides his harsh and emotional side, he was friendly, liked to joke and could take a joke, but it had a limit. He was praised by Napoleon for his military skill, and Petar Petrović-Njegoš wrote about him, comparing him to Napoleon, Wellington and Kutuzov, three of the greatest generals of his time. Pushkin made a song about him to his daughter and Hegel also wrote about him.

Russian tsar awarded him the Order of St. Anna.

Legacy

Karađorđe, regarded a national founder of Serbia, has been given honorifics such as Father of the Nation, Father of the Fatherland, Father of Serbia (by Njegoš), etc.

He is included in the Serbian Academy's The 100 most prominent Serbs-list.

In popular culture