Ottoman Serbia and Independence
The principle that formed the basis of the Ottoman Empire was a Muslim state as an ideal of law and justice, a concept developed by the advisor to the caliphs in Baghdad, Nizam al-Mulk, in the 11th century. The state was perceived as an entity aimed to provide suitable conditions for the development of religious and civil life. It was founded on the ideal of the Muslim knight, a man of virtue, who was educated in the state madrasas and zawiyas. In this spirit the Ottomans developed the Janissary institution—boarding schools that were home to a new class of soldiers, educated in the spirit of Islam to serve their country. After graduating, they became the backbone of the army and the bureaucracy.
In 1354, the Ottomans crossed the Dardanelles under the leadership of Murad I and moved their capital from Bursa to Adrianople. Murad attempted to conquer Serbia but was killed in the Battle of Kosovo by the Serbian hero Miloš. After him, his son Bayezid I ruled, completing the conquest of the Balkans before turning against the Muslim kingdoms in the East. Serbia became a vassal kingdom of the Ottomans, and Prince Lazarević enlisted his army to help Bayezid in his war against Timur the Great, but to no avail. Bayezid was defeated and captured by Timur in 1402, thus saving Constantinople. The Serbs were given another 50 years of political semi-independence until they were finally conquered by Sultan Mehmed II (the Conqueror).
The Serbs suffered greatly under Ottoman rule, which became increasingly tyrannical and cruel from the 17th century onwards. This led to unjust taxation and foreign rule that desecrated the sanctities of the nation. In addition, from the 15th century onwards, the Ottomans began forcibly recruiting Christian children into the Janissary corps. The children were taken by force, sometimes kidnapped from their homes, and educated in Ottoman military boarding schools of the Janissary corps, as Muslims in the service of the Sultan and the Empire. Naturally this caused great resentment.
As a result, the Serbs rebelled several times. The Ottomans’ main rival was Austria. From time to time, wars broke out between Austria and the Ottomans, and the Serbs supported the Austrians, hoping for independence based on vain promises of help. The first Serbian uprising occurred in 1594 and lasted until 1606. The Turks responded by burning the relics of Saint Sava in Belgrade—where a church was later built in his memory. At the end of the war, the Serbs were abandoned by the Austrians, and the Turks took revenge on them.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the empire was ruled by the Flower Sultans, while the West began the Industrial Revolution and gained the upper hand in world affairs. The newly discovered sea route around the Cape of Good Hope undermined Istanbul’s strategic importance as a gateway between East and West, it was clear to all that the formidable Ottoman empire is getting weaker.
At the end of the 17th century, war broke out between the Holy Alliance of Austria-Venice-Poland and Turkey (1683–1690). The Serbs saw an opportunity to gain independence and rebelled once again, encouraged by their Patriarch, Arsenije III of Crnojević. They briefly managed to liberate their country, but the Ottomans returned and pushed the Austrian army north. When the Austrian army retreated, they invited the Serbs to come with them. Many, fearing Ottoman revenge, accepted the invitation and emigrated under the leadership of Patriarch Arsenije. Entire regions were depopulated, especially Kosovo. The original inhabitants were replaced by Albanians, who were converting to Islam at that time.
Eventually, the Peace of Karlowitz was signed, determining the borders of the Balkan countries for the next hundred years. North of Belgrade, there was Austrian rule, which allowed the Serbs to establish their own new religious centered around Novi Sad on the Danube. However, from Belgrade southward, including large parts of Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Albania, the Ottomans maintained control.
Serbian Moses
Arsenije III Crnojević (1633–1706) is considered to be a Serbian Moses figure. He led the great migration of Serbs from the Kosovo-Peć region to Novi Sad and the Vojvodina region at the end of the Austrian-Ottoman war, establishing the presence of the Serbs and the Serbian Church in the new land. He is buried in the Krušedol Monastery at the foot of the holy mountain Fruška Gora.
Arsenije was born in Montenegro but grew up in a patriarchal monastery in Peć, Kosovo, and was elected Patriarch in 1673. Upon assuming office, he began touring the Balkans, establishing contacts with Venice and strengthening the Serb identity and religion, who were being supressed by the Ottomans. In 1680, he decided to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and, on the way, visited Kratovo and Skopje in Macedonia. He visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Mar Sava, and his visit is recorded in his diary. When he returned to Serbia, he openly supported the rebellion of George Branković against the Turks in 1683.
The war that began in 1683 led to a Turkish defeat at the gates of Vienna, followed by several turbulent years during which Ottoman armies roamed throughout Serbia, destroying everything in their path. They plundered the treasury of Peć and imprisoned Arsenije for several months in 1687. His life was in danger, and he decided to leave Kosovo, but in 1688 the Austrians conquered Serbia, and Arsenije returned as a liberator.
Much to Serbia’s dismay, things turned in the Ottomans’ favour, and two years later, they reconquered the territories they had lost, including Serbia. Arsenije, fearing revenge, decided to leave Kosovo with about 70,000 men, retreating with the Austrian army. The Austrian Emperor Leopold invited the Serbs and other Balkan peoples to the Habsburg Empire promising them freedom and religious rights. Tens of thousands of people crossed the Danube and Sava on their way north, and Arsenije was recognized by the Austrians as the leader of the nation and the Church.
The Assembly in Belgrade accepted the Habsburg terms,
He received a letter of protection and recognition from the Austrian government and, with its help, travelled throughout the empire, strengthening the Serbian Orthodox religion. The migration led to the creation of the Serbian Vojvodina Province (vojvoda means governor), a new patriarchal seat at Sremski Karlovci, to the rise of the city of Novi Sad, and the founding of new monasteries on the holy mountain of Fruška Gora. In addition, a Serbian army was formed that helped the Austrians stop the advancing Turks and later suppress the Hungarian uprising.
Struggle for Independence
The Serbs are a warrior people, and for centuries they fought for their freedom and never gave up the dream of restoring their former glory. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Serbs rebelled once more, but this time, world conditions were in their favour, and they achieved partial success. The rebellion resulted in autonomy and later independence, and since then, they have been a rising power in the Balkans.
Kardjordje (Black Hand) was the hero of the Serbs during this period. A member of the Petrović family—one of the two royal families of Serbia—he led the rebellions in 1804 and again in 1817 and was the leader of the Serbs in the independent entity they established in 1813. The church in Topola was built in his honour. His descendants followed him and competed for power with the Obrenović family.
The 19th century was an era of nationalism in Europe, culminating in the Spring of Nations in 1848. Italy and Germany became national states, and a similar process took place somewhat later in the Balkans. In 1821, the Greek revolt against the Ottomans began, supported by the European powers, resulting in Greek full independence in 1829. The Ottoman Empire was considered the sick man of Europe and survived artificially thanks to the support of England and France at first and Germany later. The Ottomans were threatened by the rising power of Russia, which saw itself as responsible for its Slavic brothers throughout the Balkans.
In 1877, a war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, at the end of which Serbia gained full independence and took over the Ottoman fortresses that remained under their control along the Danube, including Belgrade. In 1882, Serbia is proclaimed a monarchy, headed by the Obrenović family. Unlike its Balkan neighbours, Serbia’s medieval noble dynasties survived and retained their identity and influence, with the country being ruled alternately by two rival dynasties, the Obrenović family and the Karađorđe (Petrović) family. On top of that, many important Serbians belonged to esoteric secret societies, such as the Order of the Dragon (a legacy left over from the Middle Ages).
At the beginning of the 20th century Serbia becomes a rising regional power in the Balkans, and the Serbs develop ambitions to liberate all their territories and create a Greater Serbia, as in bygone times. In 1912, they attack the Ottomans together with Montenegro, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece in what is called the First Balkan War and annex the provinces of Macedonia and Kosovo, their historical homeland, to their kingdom.
Along with the rise of nationalism, a new universal idea of Pan-Slavism spreads and takes root. Thus, the dream of uniting all the Balkan Slavs under one flag develops, ultimately leading, after World War I, to the founding of Yugoslavia.
