Dahije
The Dahije were the renegade Janissary officers who revolted against the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II and took power in the Pashalik of Belgrade, after capturing and murdering Vizier Hadji Mustafa Pasha in 1801. The four supreme Dahije leaders were Mehmed-aga Fočić, Kučuk Alija, Aganlija and Mula Jusuf. Rebels against the sultan, they were defeated by the Serbs in the initial phase of the First Serbian Uprising, which is also called "Uprising against the Dahije".
Background
The Ottomans declared war on Russia in 1787 and Austria joined in February 1788. In 1787 the Serbs were violently disarmed by the Ottoman authorities during the Austrian war preparations, with terror carried out by military and bashi-bazouk irregular units leading to people fleeing across the Sava and Danube to Austrian territory and forming the Serbian Free Corps. The Serb volunteers actively engaged Ottoman troops, raided ships on the Danube and liberated many towns, however, much needed aid and equipment was denied and Ottoman counter-operations and terror led to 50,000 Serb refugees and the signing of a truce. The Austrian court increasingly sought to end the conflict and peace was signed in August 1791.The Porte gave amnesty to participants on the Austrian side and banned the Janissaries from the Belgrade Pashalik. The Janissaries had before been part of the backbone of Ottoman military power but had lost their importance in the 18th century, becoming a source of disorder, due to lack of discipline and bad morals. It was clear that military reforms according to European models were needed, thus the Porte decided to banish them.
Janissary rebellion
Hadji Mustafa Pasha became the Vizier of Belgrade in July 1793. A Janissary that remained in Belgrade and sought to become Janissary agha of all of the Pashalik, Kara-Smail, was assassinated on the order of Hadji Mustafa Pasha, which put fear in other Janissaries who fled to the Sanjak of Vidin. Some remained, such as Bego Novljanin and Ćurtoglija from Bosnia, who lived in Šabac. Mustafa Pasha was remembered positively in Serbian history, having improved the situation in the Pashalik through reforms. The renegade Janissaries from the Sanjak of Vidin under Osman Pazvantoglu sought to wrest the Belgrade Pashalik, and Mustafa Pasha thus took help from Serbian knezes that mustered a militia to fight the Janissaries in case of an invasion, numbering some 15,000, many of whom had gained military training and experience in the last war.In 1796 the Janissaries invaded the Belgrade Pashalik. The Janissaries under the command of Tosun Agha entered the Belgrade Pashalik splitting up into two groups, one which took over Ćuprija in the southeast, the other which attacked Požarevac in the east, clashing with the militia under the direct command of Stanko Arambašić. The Janissaries defeated Arambašić and proceeded to Belgrade, where they took over the lower town. Vizier Mustafa Pasha closed himself and his small number of soldiers into the Belgrade Fortress. Aleksa, Grbović and Birčanin mustered the Valjevo nahiya militia which together with the sipahi and Mustafa Pasha's entourage assaulted the Janissaries that had taken the lower town and successfully pushed them out of Belgrade. Birčanin and Karađorđe pursued the Janissaries to Smederevo, where they closed themselves in the Smederevo Fortress, so Mustafa Pasha sent cannons with which Smederevo was bombarded, forcing the Janissaries to leave, and they were pursued all the way back to Vidin. The Janissaries once again tried to occupy the Pashalik but were defeated at Kolari, which showed that the Serbian militia were well-organized, disciplined and trained. As a reward for the aid, the Porte issued firmans which forbade violence against Christians, gave Serbs self-governing privileges, better socio-economic status, allowed for them to build churches and their rural chiefs to retain security forces.
Control of the Belgrade Pashalik
The reign of Selim III saw internal conflicts, with tumult among the pashas, ayans and kircalis. New conflicts with Janissaries arose and the threat of the French in Egypt made the Porte allow for the return of the Janissaries to the Pashalik in early 1799.In 1800, the Janissaries under Mehmed-aga Fočić, Kučuk-Alija, Aganlija and Mula Jusuf moved from the Sanjak of Vidin and entered the Belgrade Pashalik and took control of most of the province, and then took over Belgrade itself.
The Janissary aghas Bego Novljanin and Ćurtoglija who lived in Šabac murdered knez Ranko Lazarević in 1800, then demanded money from his family. The knez Aleksa Nenadović, one of the most influential Serb leaders, protested to Vizier Hadji Mustafa Pasha, who had the duo attacked at the Šabac Fortress on by 600 or 800 kircali, who caught and executed 27, 28 or 36 of their men, while the duo fled to Bosnia.
Upon their return, the Janissaries renewed terror against the Serbs, captured Belgrade and Mustafa Pasha in July 1801, murdered him in December, then ruled the Pashalik with a Vizier as their puppet. The Janissaries had plotted with the Vidin Pashalik. The leading Janissaries, called the Dahije, abolished the Serbs' firmans, banished unsupportive sipahi and invited Muslims from nearby sanjaks which they used to control the Serbs. At Šabac, they put Mus-aga Fočić, the brother of Mehmed-aga, as Dahije chief. Oppression and tyranny continued. Aleksa, Grbović and Birčanin with other knezes secretly met at the Čokešina Monastery where they wrote an appeal to the Sultan regarding the Janissaries, and sent it via Austria to the Porte. The Dahije were then threatened by the Porte that a great army would be sent if they did not end with oppressing the rayah. The banished sipahi and loyal Muslims organized a rebellion against the Janissaries with the support of the Serbs in mid-1802, but it failed, resulting in further oppression. A rebellion in Požarevac was thwarted by the Dahije as it broke out prematurely.
The tyranny endured by the Serbs caused them to send a petition to the Sultan, which the Dahije learnt of, and fearing that the Sultan would make use of the Serbs to oust them they decided to execute leading Serbs throughout the Pashalik, in the event known as the "Slaughter of the Knezes".
Uprising
The Slaughter of the Knezes in late January prompted the Serbs to rise up against the Dahije, thereby starting the Serbian Revolution. After the Orašac Assembly held on 14 February 1804, Karađorđe's rebels went to Šumadija villages where they burnt down the Turk inns, killed Dahije henchmen and collected men. The rebel numbers grew up to 2,000 in the following days, and the Dahije were threatened, sending Aganlija to negotiate peace, but this failed and the uprising expanded. Next, Rudnik was attacked, held by the infamous Sali-aga, the brother of Kučuk-Alija. It was taken by 6 March, but Sali-aga managed to Čačak with 200–300 men. Kučuk-Alija intercepted Karađorđe's guard at Vrbica awaiting the rebel army on 14 March, and in a short battle Karađorđe lost some men but retreated into safety in the mountains, while Kučuk-Alija went to Kragujevac to deter the Serbs in the area from rising up, and to muster more troops.The Serbian rebels destroyed a Dahije army at Kijevo, with up to 400 dead enemies, at the end of March 1804. A kırcalı unit under Alija Gušanac was defeated near Ćuprija in the days prior, being thwarted 2–3 times from joining up with Kučuk-Alija at Jagodina and breaking through to Belgrade. Gušanac managed to break through to Jagodina in late March, owing partly to the weak Serbian defensive points around the town. Bad weather resulted in a failed siege of Jagodina in which the Serbian rebels were defeated and dispersed, around the last day of March. The blockade of Belgrade was strengthened, and after the first battle at Jagodina, the Serbian rebels mustered a new army and planned for a better attack, and succeeded with an assault on Jagodina on 16 April led by Karađorđe, killed 300, captured many, and forced Kučuk-Alija to flee. After the victory at Jagodina, smaller rebel units pursued Kučuk-Alija through Šumadija, successfully ambushing twice in 17–18 April. By now, only Belgrade, Smederevo and Požarevac were among important cities held by the Janissaries, all blocked by the rebels.
After the takeover of Požarevac and Smederevo, only Belgrade remained outside rebel control in the north of the Belgrade Pashalik. In mid-June 1804, a large Serbian rebel army with the most important commanders mustered outside Belgrade. There are claims of up to 16,000 rebels, out of which 6,000 planned to assault the city. At this point, the Sultan issued a ferman to Karađorđe to not attack the city, as the Sultan had sent for an Ottoman Bosnian army to aid the rebels against the Dahije. The rebels aborted the assault. Vizier Bekir Pasha of Bosnia was given the mission to stop the fighting between the Dahije and Serbs, to bring peace and security to the Belgrade Pashalik and Ottoman frontier. Karađorđe approved of Bekir Pasha's arrival into Serbia, also on the advice of Hadji Sali Bey of Srebrenica, who was a pen pal of Matija Nenadović and had informed the Porte about the Dahije abuse and helped its decision in sending this commission.
The four Dahije leaders had escaped Belgrade on chaikas down the Danube to Adakale, as they feared a conspiracy by mercenary leader Alija Gušanac and not knowing Bekir Pasha's intention with them. The historian K. Nenadović believed that Bekir had in fact allowed the four leaders to secretly leave. Upon hearing of the Dahije leaders' flight, Alija Gušanac looted their mansions, and took control of Belgrade.
Bekir promised improvements on the Serbs' status, while Karađorđe stressed that they would not stop until the Dahije were caught dead or alive, and knowing that the Dahije could muster an army of the Vidin Pashalik and attack at any time, both sides agreed for them to be assassinated. Bekir had insufficient troops to defend against a potential Serb attack, witnessing the strength in the rebel camps in the area, and wanted to enter the Belgrade Fortress as soon as possible. Milenko Stojković carried out the mission, besieging the house at Adakale where the Dahije stayed, shooting them and having their heads cut off and sent to Belgrade where they were put on stakes.
An Austrian report dated 25 August noted that the Porte now believed that the cause of the Serbian uprising had ended with the deaths of the Dahije leaders and that the Porte would ensure peace through righteous and gentle treatment towards the Serbs. One of Bekir Pasha's letters was saved in the Nenadović family, and in it he promises that the Serbs would have a better life than during even Hadji Mustafa Pasha's tenure, but a review shows that no real guarantees were made. The Serbs did not want to return under Ottoman rule and wanted no interference in their affairs; the rebel leadership secretly sent delegations to Austria and Russia to ask for aid and for Serbia to become a protectorate.
After crushing the power of the Dahije, Bekir Pasha wanted the Serbs to be disbanded, however, as the kircali were strong and the Janissaries still held important towns, such as Užice, the Serbs were unwilling to halt without guarantees. The Sultan now ordered the surroundings pashaliks to suppress the Serbs, realizing the threat. The Serbs sought foreign help, sending a delegation to St. Petersburg in September 1804, which returned with money and promise of diplomatic support.