The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria—Serbia—Greece—Rumania—TurkeyHogarth, D. G. (David George)
History
The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria—Serbia—Greece—Rumania—Turkey
Hogarth, D. G. (David George)
Balkan Peninsula -- History; Eastern question (Balkan)
In 1807 war again broke out between Russia and Turkey, but after the
Peace of Tilsit (June 1807) fighting ceased also between the Turks and
the Russians and the Serbs, not before the Russians had won several
successes against the Turks on the Lower Danube. It was during the two
following years of peace that dissensions first broke out amongst the
Serbian leaders; fighting the Turks was the sole condition of existence
which prevented them fighting each other. In 1809-10 Russia and the
Serbs again fought the Turks, at first without success, but later with
better fortune. In 1811 Kara-George was elected _Gospodar_, or
sovereign, by a popular assembly, but Serbia still remained a Turkish
province. At the end of that year the Russians completely defeated the
Turks at Rustchuk in Bulgaria, and, if all had gone well, Serbia might
there and then have achieved complete independence.
But Napoleon was already preparing his invasion and Russia had to
conclude peace with Turkey in a hurry, which necessarily implied that
the Sultan obtained unduly favourable terms. In the Treaty of Bucarest
between the two countries signed in May 1812, the Serbs were indeed
mentioned, and promised vague internal autonomy and a general amnesty,
but all the fortified towns they had captured were to be returned to
the Turks, and the few Russian troops who had been helping the Serbs in
Serbia had to withdraw. Negotiations between the Turks and the Serbs
for the regulation of their position were continued throughout 1812,
but finally the Turks refused all their claims and conditions and,
seeing the European powers preoccupied with their own affairs, invaded
the country from Bosnia in the west, and also from the east and south,
in August 1813. The Serbs, left entirely to their own resources,
succumbed before the superior forces of the Turks, and by the beginning
of October the latter were again masters of the whole country and in
possession of Belgrade. Meanwhile Kara-George, broken in health and
unable to cope with the difficulties of the situation, which demanded
successful strategy both against the overwhelming forces of the Turks
in the field and against the intrigues of his enemies at home, somewhat
ignominiously fled across the river to Semlin in Hungary, and was duly
incarcerated by the Austrian authorities.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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