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Serbian revolution

Battle of Mišar (1806), painting by Afanasij Šeloumov
Military Conflict
ConflictSerbian Revolution
Date1804 � 17 (1833)
LocationThe Balkans (Serbia and partially Bosnia)
ResultEstablishment of the Principality of Serbia.
Serbia Serb revolutionaries
backed by:
Austria Habsburg volunteers
Russian Empire
Ottoman Empire
France First French Empire
Serbia Karađorđe Petrović
Serbia Miloš Obrenović
Serbia Mateja Nenadović
Serbia Veljko Petrović
Serbia Stanoje Glavaš
Ottoman Empire Sultan Selim III
Ottoman Empire Maraşlı Ali Paşa
Ottoman Empire Sultan Mahmud II
France Napoleon Bonaparte
80,000 Serbs 
300,000 Ottomans 
5,000 Serbs 
75,000 Ottomans 

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Serbian revolution or Revolutionary Serbia refers to the national and social revolution of the Serbian people taking place between 1804 and 1835, during which this territory evolved from an Ottoman province into a constitutional monarchy and a modern nation-state. The first part of the period, from 1804 to 1815, was marked by a violent struggle for independence from the Ottoman Empire with two armed uprisings taking place, ending with an ceasefire. The later period (1815 � 1835) witnessed a peaceful consolidation of political power of the increasingly autonomous Serbia, culminating in the recognition of the right to hereditary rule by Serbian princes in 1830 and 1833 and the territorial expansion of the young monarchy. The adoption of the first written Constitution in 1835 abolished feudalism and serfdom, and made the country suzerain. The term Serbian revolution was coined by a German academic historiographer, Leopold von Ranke, in his book Die Serbische Revolution, published in 1829. These events marked the foundation of modern Serbia.

The period is further divided as follows:

*First Serbian Uprising (1804 � 13), led by Karađorđe Petrović

*Hadži Prodan's revolt (1814)

*Second Serbian Uprising (1815) under Miloš Obrenović

* Official recognition of the Serbian state (1815 � 1833)

The Proclamation (1809) by Karadjordje in the capital Belgrade probably represented the apex of the first phase. It called for national unity, drawing on Serbian history to demand the freedom of religion and formal, written rule of law, both of which the Ottoman Empire had failed to provide. It also called on Serbs to stop paying taxes to the Porte, deemed unfair as based on religious affiliation. Apart from dispensing with poll tax on non-Muslims (jizya), the revolutionaries also abolished all feudal obligations in 1806, only 15 years after the French revolution, peasant and serf emancipation thus representing a major social break with the past. The rule of Miloš Obrenović consolidated the achievements of the Uprisings, leading to the proclamation of the first constitution in the Balkans and the establishment of the oldest Balkan institution of higher learning still in existence, the Great Academy of Belgrade (1808). In 1830 and again in 1833, Serbia was recognized as an autonomous principality, with hereditary princes paying annual tribute to the Porte. Finally, de facto independence came in 1868, with the withdrawal of Ottoman garrisons from the principality; de jure independence was formally recognized at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.


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