| Battle of Ivankovac | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theFirst Serbian Uprising | |||||||
 Map of the battlefield | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Ottoman Empire | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Hafiz Mustafa Pasha † | |||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Požarevacnahija Resavanahija | Ottoman Army (Sanjak of Niš muster) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2,500 men (initially) 7,500 men (reinforced)[1] | 20,000 men[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| ~ 1,000 killed[2] | c. 10,000 killed[2] | ||||||
TheBattle of Ivankovac (Serbian:Бој на Иванковцу/Boj na Ivankovcu) was the first full-scale confrontation betweenSerbian revolutionaries and the regular forces of theOttoman Empire during theFirst Serbian Uprising.[1][3]
In the summer of 1805,Hafiz Mustafa Agha, known in historiography as "Hafiz Pasha", gathered an army in theSanjak of Niš to crush the Serbian rebels led byMilenko Stojković near the village of Ivankovac.[3] The battle ended with a Serbian victory and the death of the pasha, prompting Ottoman SultanSelim III to declarejihad (holy war) against the Serbs.[4][5]
In the 1790s, the Ottoman SultanSelim III granted theSerbs in theSanjak of Smederevo (central Serbia) the right to run their own affairs in exchange for their cooperation with the governor ofBelgrade,Hadži Mustafa Pasha. Following theSlaughter of the Knezes in February 1804, a revolt led byKarađorđe Petrović erupted against the Ottomanjanissary junta (the "Dahije") in Serbia. The Serbs initially received the support of Selim and managed to defeat the corrupt janissaries by the end of the year.[6] In the negotiations that followed the Serbs demanded the restoration of their autonomy while making contact with other Serbs in other parts of the Ottoman Empire. Alarmed by the Serbs demands and actions, Selim appointed the Ottoman governor ofNiš, Hafiz Pasha, as the new governor of Belgrade and ordered him to destroy the Serbian insurgents.[7][8] For the first time a regular Ottoman force was sent to crush the rebels.[9]
During the Summer the Ottoman force arriving from Niš and led by Hafiz Pasha was ambushed by a much smaller Serbian force commanded byMilenko Stojković at the village ofIvankovac nearĆuprija.[10] On 18 August [O.S. 7 August] 1805. Stojković designed fortifications consisting of three earth and palisade fortresses and two redoubts. Serbian leader Karađorđe arrived with guns and reinforcements defeating and driving the Turks back to Niš, where Hafiz Pasha, seriously wounded during the battle, died as a result.[11][12]
The battle was a major victory for the Serbian rebels.[13] It marked the first time that a regular Ottoman Turkish unit was defeated by Serbian revolutionaries during theFirst Serbian Uprising.[8] The victory meant that the Serbian forces had taken full control of the Belgrade Pashaluk. Smederevo was captured in November and became the first capital of the Serbian revolutionary government, while Belgrade was taken the following year.[7] Defeat in the battle prompted Selim to declarejihad (holy war) against the Serbian revolutionaries fighting to expel the Turks from Serbia.[4][5]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)43°58′25″N21°26′05″E / 43.97361°N 21.43472°E /43.97361; 21.43472
