Battle of Deligrad
Major 1806 battle in the First Serbian Uprising
| Battle of Deligrad | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of First Serbian uprising | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Revolutionary Serbia |
| ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
| ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| First Serbian Army |  Nizam-i Djedid | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2,500–15,000[2][citation needed] | 55,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | heavy | ||||||
- v
- t
- e
Serbian Revolution
First Serbian Uprising:
- Vračar
- Rudnik
- Svileuva
- Batočina and Jagodina
- Kragujevac
- Drlupa
- Čokešina
- Šabac
- Požarevac
- Karanovac
- Adakale
- Ivankovac
- Rudnik
- Vrbica
- Mišar
- Deligrad
- Belgrade (1806)
- Liberation of Belgrade
- Loznica
- Malajnica and Štubik
- Čegar
- Jasika
- Prahovo
- Suvodol
- Drina
- Varvarin
- Loznica
- Mačva
- Ravnje
- Hadži-Prodan's rebellion
The Battle of Deligrad was fought between Serbian revolutionaries and an army of the Ottoman Empire, and took place in 3 September 1806[3][4][5] during the First Serbian Uprising. A 55,000-strong Ottoman army commanded by Albanian Pasha of Scutari Ibrahim Pasha was decisively defeated with heavy casualties and the loss of nine guns by Karađorđe Petrović's 30,000 Serbian rebels at Deligrad in Serbia.[6]
Background
The First Serbian Uprising had begun in 1804 with the expulsion of the ruling janissary elite and the proclamation of an independent Serbian state by the revolution's leader, Karađorđe. The Ottoman Sultan, Selim III sent a huge Ottoman force to quell the uprising. The Serbian high command decided to meet the Ottoman force under Ibrahim Bushati, the Albanian pasha of Shkodër, at Deligrad.
Battle
The Serbian right wing numbered 6,000 men under the command of Mladen Milovanović at Bela Palanka. The center consisted of 18,000 troops which would be placed at the Kunovaci mountain. The left wing would be composed of 6,000 men under the command of Milenko Stojković with an additional 4,500 reserve troops to guard from any possible Turkish flank attack from Niš. Stanoje Glavaš would command the elite and cavalry troops whose job was to delve deep into enemy territory and harass them as much as possible. Tomo Milinović was a head of artillery and made significant effort by good positioning and frequent relocation of the cannons.
The Turkish Army consisted of 55,000 regular Nizam troops with additional auxiliary and Janissary support.[citation needed] The Serbian army withstood several enemy offensives. The Serbian rebels also attacked the Turkish positions numerous times and managed to capture nine Turkish cannons. Meanwhile, the elite troops of Stanoje Glavaš effectively liberated Prokuplje thereby splitting the Turkish army in two. The Turkish wing under the command of Pazvanoglu was swiftly defeated by Mladen Milovanović and the Ottoman force was routed.
Aftermath
The battle provided a decisive victory for the Serbs and bolstered the morale of the outnumbered Serbian rebels. To avoid total defeat, Ibrahim Pasha negotiated a six-week truce with Karageorge.
See also
Gallery
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Front of the Deligrad fortress -
Remains of the Deligrad fortress -
Inside the Deligrad fortress -
Some weapons used
Citations
- ^ Esdaile, Charles, Napoleon's Wars, (Viking Adult, 2008), 252.
- ^ https://assets.cambridge.org/97811076/76060/frontmatter/9781107676060_frontmatter.pdf
- ^ Ljušić, Radoš (2000). Vožd Karađorđe (in Serbian). Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Belgrade: Udruženje za srpsku povesnicu. p. 161.
- ^ Vukićević, Milenko (1912). Karađorđe. Istorija ustanka 1804—1807 [Karađorđe. History of the Uprising 1804–1807] (in Serbian). Belgrade: Državna štamparija Kraljevine Srbije. p. 410.
- ^ Novaković, Stojan (1904). Vaskrs države srpske. Političko-istorijska studija o Prvom srpskom ustanku 1804—1813 [Resurrection of the Serbian state. A Political-Historical Study of the First Serbian Uprising 1804–1813] (PDF) (in Serbian) (2nd ed.). Belgrade: Srpska književna zadruga. p. 50.
- ^ Showalter, D.; Authors, M. (2013). Revolutionary Wars 1775–c.1815. Encyclopedia of Warfare. Amber Books Ltd. p. 209. ISBN 978-1-78274-123-7. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
References
- Esdaile, Charles, Napoleon's Wars, (Viking Adult, 2008).
