Đorđe Petrović (pronounced [dʑôːrdʑe pětrovitɕ]; Serbian: Ђорђе Петровић; 14 November [O.S. 3 November] 1768 – 25 July [O.S. 13 July] 1817), known by the sobriquet Karađorđe (pronounced [kâradʑoːrdʑe]; Serbian: Карађорђе, lit. 'Black George'), was a Serbian revolutionary leader who led a struggle against the Ottoman Empire during the First Serbian Uprising. Karađorđe Petrović held the title of Grand Vožd of Serbia from 14 February 1804 to 3 October 1813. Born into an impoverished family in the Šumadija region of Ottoman Serbia, Karađorđe distinguished himself during the Austro-Turkish War of 1788–1791 as a member of the Serbian Free Corps, a Habsburg militia of ethnic Serbs, armed and trained by the Austrians to fight the Ottoman Turks. Fearing retribution following the Austrians' and Serb rebels' defeat in 1791, he and his family fled to the Austrian Empire, where they lived until 1794, when a general amnesty was declared. Karađorđe subsequently returned to Šumadija and became a livestock merchant. In 1796, the rogue governor of the Sanjak of Vidin, Osman Pazvantoğlu, invaded the Pashalik of Belgrade, and Karađorđe fought alongside the Ottomans to quash the incursion. In early 1804, following a massacre of Serb chieftains by renegade Ottoman janissaries known as Dahis, the Serbs of the Pashalik rebelled. Karađorđe was unanimously elected to lead the uprising against the Dahis at an assembly of surviving chiefs in February 1804. Within six months, most of the Dahi leaders had been captured and executed by Karađorđe's forces, and by 1805, the final remnants of Dahi resistance had been crushed. Karađorđe and his followers demanded far-reaching autonomy, which Sultan Selim III interpreted as but the first step towards complete independence. Selim promptly declared jihad against the rebels and ordered an army to march into the Pashalik. The Ottomans suffered a string of defeats at the hands of Karađorđe's forces. By 1806, the rebels had captured all the major towns in the Pashalik, including Belgrade and Smederevo, and expelled their Muslim inhabitants. Burdened by the demands of the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812, Selim offered the Serbs extensive autonomy. However, Karađorđe refused in light of Russia's avowal to aid the rebels should they continue fighting. Frequent infighting, together with Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812, weakened the rebels, and the Ottomans were able to reverse many of their gains. Karađorđe was forced to flee Serbia in October 1813 and Belgrade fell later that month, bringing the First Serbian Uprising to a close. He and his followers sought refuge in the Austrian Empire, but were arrested. Despite Ottoman requests for extradition, the Austrians handed Karađorđe over to the Russians, who offered him refuge in Bessarabia. There, he joined the Greek secret society known as Filiki Eteria, which planned to launch a pan-Balkan uprising against the Ottomans. Karađorđe returned to Serbia in secret in July 1817, but was killed shortly thereafter by agents of Miloš Obrenović, a rival rebel leader, who was concerned that Karađorđe's reappearance would cause the Ottomans to renege on the concessions they had agreed to following the Second Serbian Uprising of 1815. Karađorđe is considered the founder of the house of Karađorđević, which ruled Serbia in several intervals during the 19th and 20th centuries. His murder resulted in a violent, decades-long feud between his descendants and those of the Obrenovićfamily, with the Serbian throne changing hands several times.
Origins Đorđe Petrović was born into an impoverished family in the village of Viševac, in the Šumadija region of Ottoman Serbia, on 14 November [O.S. 3 November] 1768. He was the oldest of his parents' five children. His father, Petar Jovanović, was a highwayman (or hajduk) in his youth, but had since become a peasant farmer. His mother, Marica (née Živković), was a homemaker. Petrović's surname was derived from his father's given name, in line with contemporary Serbian naming conventions. Like most of his contemporaries, Petrović was illiterate. His family celebrated the feast day of Saint Clement. They are said to have been descended from the Vasojevići tribe of Montenegro's Lim river valley. His ancestors are thought to have migrated from Montenegro to Šumadija in the late 1730s or early 1740s. Petrović's childhood was strenuous and difficult. His parents were forced to move around often in search of a livelihood. His father worked as a day labourer and servant for a sipahi, an Ottoman cavalryman. Petrović himself spent his adolescence working as a shepherd. In 1785, he married Jelena Jovanović, the daughter of Nikola Jovanović, obor-knez of Jasenica, whose family hailed from the village of Masloševo. The couple had seven children, six of whom reached adulthood. Petrović worked for several landlords across Šumadija until 1787, when he and his family left the region and settled in the Habsburg monarchy ("Austria"), fearing persecution at the hands of the Ottoman janissaries. It is said that as they were preparing to cross the Danube into Austria, Petrović's father began to have second thoughts about leaving Šumadija. Knowing that the entire family would be put in jeopardy if his father stayed behind, Petrović either took his father's life or arranged for someone to kill him instead.
Early military exploits
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