An assembly chose Karađorđe to lead the uprising, and the rebel army quickly defeated and took over towns throughout the sanjak, technically fighting for the Sultan.

The Serbs marched against the Ottomans and, after major victories in 1805–06, established a government and parliament that returned land to the people, abolished forced labour, and reduced taxes.

However, disagreements arose between Karađorđe, who sought an absolute monarchy, and other leaders who wanted to limit his power because some of his colleagues abused their privileges for personal gain.

Although the uprising was unsuccessful, the Serbs were the first Christian population in Ottoman history to rise up against the Sultan and succeed in creating a short-lived independent state.

In addition to high taxes, they faced discrimination and the imposition of the Devshirme system, which required Christian families to provide sons for the Ottoman military.

[3] The Serbs lived in wide areas in the western Balkans; a high percentage of them, experienced fighters, had fought under their own officers in the Serbian Freicorps of the Austrian army.

[5] During the Austro-Turkish War of 1788, the eastern Šumadija region was occupied by the Austrian-Serbian Free Corps and Hajduks, which led to the occupation of most of the Sanjak of Smederevo by the Habsburg Monarchy (1788–1791).

Sultan Selim III had entrusted the sanjaks of Smederevo and Belgrade to battle-hardened Janissaries who had fought against Christian forces during the Austro-Turkish War and other conflicts.

Selim also ordered the removal of some unpopular Janissaries from the Belgrade Pashalik, as he saw them as a threat to the central authority of Hadži Mustafa Pasha.

Fearing the worst, Hadži Mustafa Pasha marched to Šabac with a force of 600 men to ensure that the Janissary was brought to justice and that order was restored.

[13] On 15 December 1801, Belgrade Vizier Hadži Mustafa Pasha was executed by Kučuk-Alija, one of four Janissaries originally from the Sanjak of Vidin (modern north-western Bulgaria).

[14][15] As a result, Belgrade was captured and the Sanjak of Smederevo was divided among them independently of the Ottoman government, and in defiance of the Sultan, despite the dispatch of a new Pasha from Constantinople.

[17] The Serbs petitioned the Sultan to inform him of the tyranny they were suffering,[18] upon learning of this and in an attempt to prevent a rebellion, the Dahije decided to act first.

[19] According to contemporary sources from Valjevo, the severed heads of the leaders were displayed on the central square as a warning to those who might plot against the Dahije's rule.

[19] Janissary atrocities fueled fear and anger among the Serbs, leading some to flee with their families into the woods while others organised themselves into self-defence units,[16] as uncoordinated resistance erupted throughout the region.

[20] On 14 February 1804, a group of leading Serbs gathered at Marićević Gully, in the small village of Orašac (near Aranđelovac) to support a call for a general uprising.

[23] Alija Gušanac, the Janissary commander of Belgrade, faced with both Serbs and imperial authority, allowed Bekir Pasha into the city.

The Russian government maintained a neutral policy toward the Serbian revolt until the summer of 1804 due to the recent Russo-Turkish friendship, which was a response to the growing influence of France.

Fearing a Christian uprising, the Porte issued a decree on 7 May 1805, ordering the rebels to disarm and rely on regular Ottoman troops to protect them from the Dahije.

[21] The second major clash was the Battle of Mišar in 1806, where the rebels defeated an Ottoman army from Bosnia led by the Sipahi commander Suleiman-Pasa.

The Ruling Council was established on the recommendation of Russian Foreign Minister Chartorisky and at the suggestion of some dukes, including Jakov and Matija Nenadović, Milan Obrenović, and Sima Marković.

Combining patriarchal peasant democracy with modern national aspirations, the Serbian Revolution attracted thousands of volunteers among Serbs from across the Balkans and Central Europe.

After a successful siege with 25,000 men in late 1806, Karađorđe proclaimed Belgrade the capital of Serbia on 8 January 1807, after the surrender of the remaining fortifications on St. Stephen's Day.

[37] After the Serbs finally stormed the fortress of Belgrade, Archbishop Leontii reported that the commander was killed "as well as all other Muslim inhabitants"; Turkish women and children were baptized.

On 19 May 1809, a large Ottoman force attacked 3,000 rebels led by commander Stevan Sinđelić on the hill of Čegar, near the town of Niš.

To prevent his men from being captured and impaled, Sinđelić fired into the gunpowder magazine of his entrenchment, causing an explosion that killed all the rebels and Ottoman troops in the vicinity.

As part of this effort, Wallachia was also recaptured and secured by the Ottomans under the loyalist Phanariote John Caradja, along with its Great Banship (Oltenia).

In July 1813, an Ottoman–Wallachian force, including "several hundreds of Caradja's Romanians" arriving in through Oltenia, moved up the Timok River and killed Veljko at Negotin.

[44] The Ottoman forces burned villages along the main invasion routes, massacred or displaced their inhabitants, and enslaved many women and children.

After an uprising at a Turkish estate in the same year, the Ottoman authorities massacred the local population and publicly impaled 200 prisoners in Belgrade.