Ottoman Serbia refers to the Ottoman period in the history of Serbia. Various regions of medieval Serbia came under Ottoman rule already at the end of the 14th century, while the Serbian Despotate fell in 1459. Northern regions of what is now the Republic of Serbia were incorporated into the Ottoman Empire during later conquests, from 1521 to 1552. Since the Habsburg expansion towards those northern regions, in 1699 and 1718, Ottoman rule was gradually reduced to Serbian territories south of the Sava and Danube rivers (1739). From 1804 to 1830, the Principality of Serbia was gradually restored, as a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. It gained independence in 1878, and expanded into southern regions, thus reducing Ottoman control to the historical region of the Old Serbia, that was liberated in 1912, thus ending Ottoman rule in Serbian lands.
The Ottoman conquest of the Balkans was initiated in the middle of the 14th century, leding to consequent conflicts with various Serbian states. The Ottomans defeated the Serbs at the Battle of Maritsa in 1371, and again at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, forcing several Serbian regional lords to became sultan's vassals. In 1439, the Serbian Despotate was conquered for the first time, but restored in 1444. In 1459, the Despotate was conquered again, this time finally. Similarly, the Principality of Zeta was conquered by the Ottomans for the first time in 1479, but restored in 1481, to be finally conquered in 1496. In the meantime, the Kingdom of Bosnia was conquered by the ottomans in 1463, and the Duchy of Saint Sava in 1482. Thus by the end of the 15th century, Ottoman rule was established firmly, by imposing new provincial administration in conquered lands.
During the later periods, several revolts broke out against Ottoman rule in various Serbian lands, mostly with the help of the Habsburg Monarchy. Such were the Banat Uprising in 1594, the Uprising of 1688-1690, the Uprising of 1716–1718, and the Uprising of 1788-1791. Those uprisings were marked by the Great Migrations of the Serbs. In 1804, the Great Serbian Uprising broke out, leading to partial liberation of Serbia. It was crushed by the Ottomans in 1813, but already in 1815 the Second Serbian Uprising broke out, resulting in a new political settlement and the creation of the autonomous Principality of Serbia. Its territory was expanded in 1833, and again in 1878, also gaining full independence from the sultan and thus reducing Ottoman rule to historical regions of the Old Serbia. Those regions were liberated in 1912, thus ending the Ottoman period in the history of Serbia.
History
Ottoman conquest (1371–1552)
The Ottoman Turks defeated Serbian armies at the battle of Maritsa in 1371, where Serbian king Vukašin and despot Jovan Uglješa were killed, and again at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, where Serbian prince Lazar and Ottoman sultan Murad I were killed. During that period, several regional lords were forced to became Ottoman vassals: king Marko, despot Jovan Dragaš and lord Konstantin Dejanović in 1371 and prince Stefan Lazarević in 1389. Already in 1386, Ottomans took Niš, and in 1392 they also took Skopje from Serbian lord Vuk Branković, who also became Ottoman vassal. In 1395, at the battle of Rovine, king Marko and lord Konstantin Dejanović were killed, and Ottomans annexed their domains, excluding the region of Vranje, that was held by Uglješa Vlatković, who also became Ottoman vassal.
The Battle of Kosovo defined the long-term fate of Serbia, because now it had no force capable of standing up to the Ottoman Turks directly. This was followed by an unstable period marked by the rule of Prince Lazar's son — despot Stefan Lazarević, who was at first a vassal of Sultan Bayezid I, distinguishing himself at the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 and at Ankara in 1402, and later gaining independence after the death of Bayezid. His cousin and heir Đurađ Branković moved the capital of the Serbian Despotate to the newly built fortified town of Smederevo. The Turks continued their conquest until they finally seized remaining southern regions in 1455, establishing there the Sanjak of Vučitrn and the Sanjak of Prizren, and then proceeded by conquering all of northern territory of the Serbian Despotate by 1459, establishing there the Sanjak of Kruševac and the Sanjak of Smederevo. The only free Serbian territories remained as parts of Bosnia and Zeta. After the fall of the Duchy of Saint Sava in 1481-1482, and Principality of Zeta in 1496, Serbian lands were ruled by the Ottoman Empire for almost three centuries. Traditions of the Serbian Despotate were continued in southern parts of the Kingdom of Hungary by exiled members of the Branković dynasty and their successors until 1537.
Since the 15th century, an increasing number of Serbs began migrating from the Ottoman-held parts of Serbia towards various northern and western territories, mainly to the southern parts of the Kingdom of Hungary (the region today known as Vojvodina). The Hungarian kings encouraged the immigration of Serbs to the kingdom, and hired many of them as soldiers and border guards. Therefore, the Serb population of this region highly increased. In 1521, Ottomans took Šabac and captured Belgrade, thus completing the conquest of central Serbian regions, and incorporating them into the Sanjak of Smederevo.
During the struggle between the Ottoman Empire and Hungary, this Serb population attempted a restoration of the Serbian state. In the battle of Mohač on 29 August 1526, Ottoman forces destroyed the army of the Hungarian king Louis II, who was killed on the battlefield. After the battle, Hungary broke up into three parts, and much of its former territory became part of the Ottoman Empire. Soon after the Battle of Mohač the leader of Serbian mercenaries in Hungary, Jovan Nenad, called "The Black", established his rule in Bačka, northern Banat, and a small part of Srem (these three regions are now parts of Vojvodina). He created a short-lived independent state with the city of Subotica as its capital. At the peak of his power Jovan Nenad crowned himself in Subotica as the Serbian emperor. Taking advantage of the extremely confused military and political situation, the Hungarian noblemen from the region joined forces against him and defeated the Serbian troops in the summer of 1527. Emperor Jovan Nenad was assassinated and his state collapsed.
By 1552, Ottomans completed the conquest of Banat and Bačka, and created the Temeşvar Eyalet and the Sanjak of Segedin, thus incorporating the entire territory of modern Serbia under their rule. In 1557, Ottomans allowed the reestablishment of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć, that existed until 1766, when it was abolished by the sultan.
Between Ottomans and Habsburgs
Christan powers, the Habsburg monarchy and the Venetian republic in particular, fought several wars against the Ottoman Empire during the early modern period, from the 16th to the 18th century, relying on the help of the Serbs who lived under Ottoman rule. In 1594, during the Habsburg-Ottoman War (1593–1606), local Serbs staged an uprising in the Temeşvar Eyalet (modern Banat). Ottoman commander Sinan Pasha retaliated by burning the remains of Saint Sava, the most notable Serbian saint. In the same time, Serbs created another center of resistance in the Sanjak of Herzegovina, but when peace was reached between Habsburgs and Ottomans (1606), they were abandoned to Turkish retaliation.
During the 16th and the 17th centuries, several Serbian uprisings against Ottoman rule broke out in various regions. In the Banat region, which then formed part of the Ottoman Eyalet of Temeşvar, in the area around Vršac, a large uprising began against the Ottoman Empire in 1594. It was the largest uprising of Serbian people against Ottoman rule till then. The leader of this uprising was Teodor Nestorović, the Bishop of Vršac. Other leaders were Sava Ban and voivode Velja Mironić. For a short time, the Serb rebels captured several cities, including Vršac, Bečkerek, and Lipova, as well as Titel and Bečej in Bačka. The size of this uprising is illustrated by the verse from one Serbian national song: "Sva se butum zemlja pobunila, Šest stotina podiglo se sela, Svak na cara pušku podigao!" ("The whole land has rebelled, six hundred villages arose, everybody pointed his gun against the emperor"). The rebellion had the character of a holy war, the Serb rebels carrying flags with the image of Saint Sava. Sinan Pasha, who led the Ottoman army, ordered the green flag of Muhammad brought from Damascus to counter the Serbian flag, and burned the remains of Saint Sava in Belgrade.
The Serb Uprising of 1596-97 in the region of Hercegovina and surrounding areas was organized by Serbian Patriarch Jovan Kantul and led by voyvode Grdan.
The Great War between Ottomans and the Holy League took place from 1683 to 1699. The Holy League was created with the sponsorship of the Pope and included the Habsburg monarchy, Poland and Venice. These three powers incited the Serbs to rebel against the Ottoman authorities, and soon uprisings and guerrilla warfare spread throughout the western Balkans, ranging from Montenegro and the Dalmatian coast to the Danube basin and the Vardarian Macedonia. In 1688, Habsburg forces captured Belgrade, and advanced into the Old Serbia (regions of Raška, Kosovo, Metohija) in 1689, but soon retreated from those regions and lost the city of Belgrade already in 1690. However, when the Habsburg forces started to pull out of Serbia, they invited the Serbian people to come north with them to the Austrian territories. Having to choose between Ottoman reprisal and living in a Christian state, Serbs abandoned their homesteads and headed north, led by Serbian Patriarch Arsenije III.
Ottoman Serbia in the XVIII century
Borders established by the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 were stable until the breakout of the new Habsburg-Ottoman war (1716–1718), that ended with the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718. Habsburg gained the region of lower Syrmia, the Banat of Temeswar, and Belgrade with central Serbian regions, that were organized, from 1718 to 1739, as the Habsburg Kingdom of Serbia (1718–1739). The fall of Habsburg Serbia during the next Habsburg-Ottoman war (1737–1739) was followed by the Second Great Migration of the Serbs from regions that fell under the Ottoman rule, into regions still held by the Habsburg Empire.
In the meanwhile, a Serbian-Russian noble, count Sava Vladislavich maintained contacts with Ottoman Serbs and was under the impression that they would rise in revolt against the Sultan as soon as Russians invaded the Danubian Principalities. Having launched the invasion in 1711, Tsar Peter sent him on a mission to Moldavia and Montenegro, whose population Vladislavich was expected to incite to rebellion. Little came of these plans, despite the assistance of a pro-Russian colonel, Michael Miloradovich (the ancestor of Count Miloradovich). Much later, Petar I Petrović-Njegoš, the Prince-Bishop of Montenegro (Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Cetinje), conceived a plan to form a new Serbian Empire out of Bosnia, central Serbia, Herzegovina and Montenegro with Boka, with Dubrovnik as its Imperial Capital. In 1807, he sent a letter to the Russian General of the Danube Army regarding this subject: "The Russian Czar would be recognized as the Tsar of the Serbs and the Metropolitan of Montenegro would be his assistant. The leading role in the restoration of the Serbian Empire belongs to Montenegro."
In the latter half of the XVIII century, officer Koča Anđelković led a successful Serbian rebellion against the Ottomans, during the last Habsburg-Ottoman war (1788–1791), hoping to place central Serbia under the Habsburg rule. The liberated territory was thus known as Koča's Frontier. The rebellion ended with the Treaty of Sistova and the withdrawal of Habsburgs in 1791-1792.