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Djordje Petrovic Karadjordje

1762 – 1817

About

Supreme Leader of Serbia. The Turks called him Karadjordje - Black George. He was a shepherd in Sumadija, then a livestock merchant. He spent his youth resisting the Turkish terror, at first as a haiduk (anti-Turkish rebel), and later as a courageous soldier in the company of volunteers led by captain Radic Petrovic, during the Austrian-Turkish war from 1788 to 1791. After the return of janissaries to Belgrade, he became a haiduk again, and with prominent Serbs began to prepare a large-scale resistance. He managed to escape the slaughter of Serbian knezes, and at the gathering in Orašac in the first half of February 1804, he was elected leader of the Insurrection. He made connections with Austria and Russia and confronted the official Turkish Empire. He led the battle on Mišar and fought for the liberation of Belgrade. Immediately after the insurrection, in 1813 he went to Austria, and then to Russia. He returned to Serbia in June 1817, but on the morning of July 25, he was killed by the order of Prince Milos Obrenovic. His head was cut off and sent to the Sultan as a proof of Milos's loyalty.