Leskovac
Leskovac is a city and the administrative center of the Jablanica District in southern Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the city itself has a population of 58,338 while the city administrative area has 123,950 inhabitants.
Etymology
Leskovac was historically called Glubočica, later evolving into Dubočica. These interchangeable variants derived from the Serbian word's, "glib", meaning mud and "duboko", meaning deep. Untamed rivers would often flood the area leaving swamps that once dried would spout hazelnut trees, or "leska" in Serbian, whilst "-ovac" is a common Slavic suffix, hence Leskovac. During Ottoman rule the town was referred to in Turkish as Leskovçe or Hisar.History
Early period
Archeological findings on Hisar Hill, located at the rim of Leskovac valley between the Jablanica and Veternica rivers, have established continual habitation between the Bronze Age until the 19th century. Hisar served as a fortification for many centuries and its surrounding plateau are abundant in Iron Age pottery largely associated with the Brnjica culture. Other archeological findings associated with the Illyrians, Thracians, Dacians, Greeks, Romans and Celts lay within Leskovac's surrounds. The Roman Empire conquered the area in the 1st century BC and would remain the dominant power until Slavic invasion and settlement in the late 6th and early 7th centuries, with the Serbs solidifying their presence.The area Glubočica, later Dubočica and a synonym for Leskovac was first mentioned in the 12th century as lands bestowed upon the Nemanjić dynasty by Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. The settlement of Leskovac per se was first mentioned by name in 1348 as an endowment by Serbian Emperor Dušan the Mighty to the Hilendar Monastery. The vicinity of modern-day Leskovac was contested territory during a series of conflicts fought between the Bulgarian Empire and medieval Serbian states between the 9th and 14th centuries.
The Battle of Dubočica took place on 24 September 1454, between the Serbian Despotate and the invading Ottoman Empire, and ended in a Serbian victory. Branković's Serbia was a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire during the first half of the 15th century and was repeatedly invaded, eventually becoming part of the Ottoman state.
Ottoman rule
Leskovac was annexed by the Ottomans in 1454 and allotted to the Rumelia Eyalet. The Nahija of Dubocica became part of Kruševac Sanjak with Leskovac possessing one of six kadiluks. During Ottoman rule, Leskovac was known in Turkish as Leskovçe, or more commonly Hisar. The conquest in time brought Ottoman culture to Leskovac, influencing architecture, cuisine, customs, dress and language. Endowments by the ruling Ottoman aristocracy which financed the construction of mosques, tekije, madrasa, meter and Turkish baths marked the area. During this period, Leskovac was regarded for its quality horse tack, tanning, smithing and weaving. The townsfolk worked as craftsman, merchants and peri-urban farmers, residing in separate Serbian Orthodox and Muslim mahallahs whilst affluent Muslim families held prominent real estate and owned farmland. This cosmopolitan milieu was supplemented by officials, clergy, sipahi, and soldiers interlaced with Jewish, Greek, Vlach, Albanian and Ragusan traders. Leskovac was known in the wider region for its annual 15-day long fair.Leskovac was severely damaged by fire in 1595 and again in 1690. In the Ottoman-Austrian War the towns Serbs overwhelmingly sided with Habsburg forces on arrival in 1689. Following the failed uprising many Serbs migrated north after the Ottomans recaptured Leskovac, razing the Serbian quarters as reprisals for collaboration. In 1790 Sultan Selim III administrative reforms granted Leskovac the seat of its own Eyalet governed by Şehsuvar Abdi Pasha, who was succeeded by his son Ismail Pasha in 1830, until the Leskovac Eyalet was annexed to the Niš Eyalet in 1839. The Serbian population of Leskovac took part in the failed rebellion of 1841.
Before the Serbian–Turkish Wars, the county of Leskovac had a significant Muslim population, mostly Turkish and Albanian, which comprised one-third of its overall population. In 1873, the town had 2,500 Serbian houses and 1,000 Muslim houses. The Muslims in the town were Albanian- and Turkish-speaking. Albanians formed almost the entire Muslim population in the villages. Historian Miloš Jagodić has estimated that of ~17,033 Muslims who lived in the Leskovac county before the war, about 16,976 were Albanians who were expelled after the war. These estimates are corroborated in contemporary sources like the records of Austrian diplomat Johann Georg von Hahn. In the war almost the entire Muslim civilian population of Leskovac was expelled and the advancing Serbian Army and chetas entered the town on 24 December 1877. There were 2,122 Albanian abandoned household. Of the about 5,000 Muslims who had previously lived in the town, 120 were still living there in 1879 in the first post-war population count. The rest had left as refugees and most settled in cities like Mitrovica, Prizren and Kumanovo in Kosovo Vilayet.
From Turkish ''kasaba'' to Serbia's ''Little Manchester''
Leskovac became part of Serbia which received full international recognition following the Treaty of Berlin in 1878.Before the war Leskovac was part of a network of textile industry hubs from the Black Sea to the central Balkans and collaborated closely with Bulgarian textile industry. Products from Leskovac were exported duty-free to Bulgaria which exported machinery to Serbia.
Independence initially had a negative impact though trade barriers, tariffs and open hostilities between Serbia and Bulgaria necessitated the acquisition and development of technology for rope and industrial hemp processing. By the mid-1880s business development, particularly the textile sector enabled Leskovac to become the third largest urban area after Belgrade and Niš at the time. The establishment of a railway line linking Leskovac with Belgrade, Skopje and Thessaloniki in 1886 also significantly contributed to the development of the town. A vocational textile school opened 1890 and in 1903 the second hydroelectric power plant in Serbia was built on the nearby Vučjanka River.
Due to the towns burgeoning industriousness in the late 19th c. Leskovac became popularity nicknamed Serbia's Little Manchester in honor of Manchester, England, a powerhouse of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. The growing customs dispute with Austria-Hungary following the May Coup precipitated protectionism throughout the 1900s which served to nourish the local economy.
World War I and Bulgarian Occupation
Following the Serbian campaign of 1915 Leskovac fell within the Bulgarian occupational zone. This period was marked by harsh repression with attempts at Bulgarisation of the local inhabitants. Numerous crimes were committed on the Leskovac citizenry with 2,000-4,000 victims being executed and a great many more massacred in the surrounding region. During the occupation Leskovac was also adversely affected by a typhus epidemic and widespread malnutrition. Bulgaria capitulation to the Entente on 30 September 1918, and Leskovac was liberated on 7 October 1918 in an offensive led by Field Marshal Petar Bojović's 1st Serbian Corps, which repelled the Austro-Hungarian 9th and German 11th Divisions. Cheering crowds gathered to welcome the Serbian Army's Dinarska and Dunavska divisions as they entered the city accompanied by French cavalry units.The "Golden Age" of Leskovac
Following the war Leskovac continued its fast economic and social transformation. The townsfolk practised a cultural medley of both Oriental and European habits, whilst the social fabric was dominated by affluent, often competing industrialists families and greater social disparity within the community. Industrial development facilitated trade union agitation amongst an emerging urban working-class. In August 1920 Leskovac became one of the first municipalities to elect the Communist Party. Despite its victory the party was quickly suppressed by the authorities.Despite the rise of Leskovac as a regional manufacturing centre the town still lacked basic infrastructure during the interwar period such as a running water supply, sewerage system, paved streets and a permanent marketplace. Leskovac experienced a significant influx of largely peasant workers leading to poor housing conditions with many affected by squalor, alcoholism, a high mortality rate and labour exploitation. From 1929 to 1941, Leskovac was part of the Vardar Banovina of the renamed Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
World War II and Allied bombing
During the capitulation of Yugoslavia in the April War Leskovac was occupied by the Germans on 12 April 1941. Despite several attempts at assassination and sabotage the town remained relatively docile throughout the Nedić administration, with the exception of the Arapova Dolina massacre of 310 mostly Romani civilians. Pockets of Partisan insurgency remain limited to the surrounding countryside which began experiencing noteworthy military engagements during the Battle of Serbia with the July–August 1944 Toplica-Jablanica Operation.On 6 September 1944, Leskovac was targeted in a catastrophic Allied bombing campaign which left much of the town heavily damaged with approximately 2,500-4,000 casualties and a total of 1,840 demolished or damaged residential buildings and factories. The bombing also caused significant damage to infrastructure and historical landmarks. Leskovac fell to the 47th Serbian Division of the National Liberation Army on 11 October 1944, following a German withdrawal during the Niš Operation. The new Communist authorities proceeded to purge the town of political and ideological opponents, summarily executing 707 people.