Zach was known for being a flamboyant freedom fighter and Pan-Slavist, fighting in both the November uprising in Poland of 1830, as well as in Serbia during the latter half of the 19th century.

He played a vital role in the formation of the Načertanije in 1844, which later served as a guideline for the unification of Serbs divided by Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian rule.

František Alexander Zach[1] was born on 19 April 1807 in Olomouc, a town in the Margraviate of Moravia,[2] then part of the Austrian Empire.

[3] As Czartoryski's trusted man, he was sent in late 1843 to Belgrade, the capital of the Principality of Serbia, he entered the elite, befriending influential statesman Ilija Garašanin.

He was heavily wounded and lost his leg in 1876 while leading the Ibar Army in an engagement with a Turkish force under Mehmed Ali Pasha, he was replaced by Colonel Ilija Čolak-Antić.