Serbian Revolution

Between 1804 and 1835 Serbs rose against Ottoman rule in two uprisings that created an autonomous Serbian principality.

Overview

Abuses by renegade janissaries known as the dahije sparked the First Serbian Uprising in 1804 under Karadjordje Petrovic, which won control of much of central Serbia before the Ottomans reconquered it in 1813. A Second Serbian Uprising in 1815 under Milos Obrenovic combined fighting with diplomacy, and the Ottomans recognized Serbia as an autonomous principality. Russian pressure secured further concessions, and a constitution was adopted in 1835. The rivalry between the Karadjordjevic and Obrenovic dynasties shaped Serbian politics for a century. Full independence was recognized at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.