Battle of Mišar
Part of theFirst Serbian Uprising
The Battle of Mišar by Afanasij Scheloumoff
Date 13–15 August 1806 Location Mišar Ottoman Empire (now Serbia) 44°43′45″N19°45′39″E / 44.7292°N 19.7608°E /44.7292; 19.7608 Result Serbian victory[1][2]
Belligerents
Revolutionary Serbia	Ottoman Empire Bosnia Eyalet
Commanders and leaders
Karađorđe Petrović Jakov Nenadović Luka Lazarević (WIA) Milan Obrenović	Sulejman-paša Skopljak Mehmed Kulenović † Sinan Sijerčić † Ali Vidajić (POW) French artillery officers
Units involved
First Serbian Army	Ottoman Army Bosnian militia Yamaks
Strength
7,000 infantry[3] 2,000 cavalry 5 guns	40,000[3]
Casualties and losses
~ 500 killed	c. 6,000 killed[4]

TheBattle of Mišar (Serbian:бој на Мишару) was fought betweenSerbian revolutionaries and an Ottoman army, it took place from 13 to 15 August 1806 during theFirst Serbian Uprising.^[1][5]

After repulsing an Ottoman force atIvankovac, the year before, the Serbian insurgents underKarađorđe took strong position, entrenched insconces on the field of Mišar Hill, nearŠabac west ofBelgrade.^[6] For two consecutive days they faced costly assault by anOttoman Army and itsBosnian allies. On the third day, the Serbian cavalry attacked and defeated the Ottomans, the insurgents then conquered the citadels of Šabac and Belgrade.^[7][4]

The Ottoman army made its way towards occupied Belgrade.Karađorđe came to Mišar, and made his plans with the rest of the Serbian commanders. Karađorđe calculated the strategic position and decided that thesconce should be on top of Mišar Hill, on the field on the hill, between the riverSava, the wood and the villages Zabar,Jelenča andMišar. The sconce was placed in a north-south direction with cannons placed at two of its corners. The fortress was made from earth in shape of a square with the northern side a little curved from the middle up to the gun position. It had apalisade as protection, and it had trenches around it. It had four cannons — one in aredan — and a place to put powder and ammunition.^[8] For four days, from Saturday to Thursday, there were smaller clashes with Ottoman scouts; the main engagement happened on Wednesday morning.^{[when?][which calendar?]}

The fighting began on Mišar Hill, with an opening charge of the Ottomansipahi cavalry followed by a charge of theirinfantry units led by theBosnian captainMehmed-beg Kulenović ofZvornik. The Serbian rebels made a sconce in the form of a square, which measured 300x280m. The rebel leaderKarađorđe remained in the fortifications to keep the morale of the men. The fortification had trenches around it. The plan consisted of Karađorđe and the infantry remaining in the fortification, while the Serbian cavalry led byLuka Lazarević andMiloš Obrenović would wait for the moment to attack. The Serbian cavalry, intended as a reserve, were situated close to the ditch near the village of Žabar. The Serbian sharpshooters were divided into two lines on the sconce parapet, and beside them were two lines of men who loaded the muskets in the trench beside the parapet.^[7]

The Serbian shooters and gunners mowed down the first line of Ottoman cavalry and panic struck the Ottoman lines when the horsemen retreated into the infantry led by Kulenović. However, the Ottomans soon regrouped and engaged the Serbian infantry. At one point Serbian soldiers panicked and retreated to the sconce fortress, but Karađorđe took his sabre and ordered them to get back to their posts. Then he signaled for the charge of the Serbian cavalry from the opposite ends with two simultaneous cannon shots. Kulenović and the remaining Ottoman troops continued asymmetric efforts against the advancements of the Serbian rebels. Then Luka Lazarević charged with the cavalry, broke the Ottoman line, and the cavalry divided into two parts. One part charged boldly on Ottoman artillery. The first rank was killed, but the rest killed all the artillerymen, and arrived at the Ottoman headquarters, where chief-in-commandSulejman Pasha Skopljak was celebrating too soon. The fights at Mišar lasted several days with mutual losses, but the battle itself ended with the collapse of the Ottoman center and the exposure of the right and left columns. Kulenović and his Bosnian troops were killed on the battlefield. Some Serbian sources say that Kulenović was slain in a duel withLuka Lazarević, in which Luka was wounded. Other sources say that Kulenović was killed by riflemen who ambushed him after the duel. The remaining Ottoman Bosnian army fled in panic from the battlefield to Bosnia.

During the battle, numerous Bosnian leaders, includingbeys andaghas, fell to the Serbian forces. The victory bolstered the morale of the lower class Christian population, within the Ottoman’sEyelet of Bosnia, stoking their sense of identity and resistance.^[9]

Part of the fleeing Ottoman army that fled via Šabac was ambushed and destroyed byvojvodaStojan Čupić,vojvodaMiloš Pocerac and archpriestNikola Smiljanić in theKitog forest.^[10] All of the equipment, includingKulin-kapetan's personal belongings, sabre and uniform were taken, and Serb captives taken by the Ottomans were freed.^[11] At the same time,bimbašaCincar-Janko andbuljubašaLazar Mutap pursued Ottoman Bosnian troops across theSava into Habsburg territory, where Cincar-Janko slew Ostroč-kapetan and Mutap slew Hadži-Mosta atBosut.^[12]

The victory was immortalized by SerbianguslarFilip Višnjić, with the epic poemBoj na Mišaru.Mehmed-beg Kulenović is the central figure in the poem, in which his wife waits for news to be brought to her from the battlefield by tworavens.^[13] Russian painter Afanasy Ivanovich Sheloumov painted a monumental composition of oil on canvas. A monument was erected in the village of Mišar commemorating the victory.

• 
  The monument in Mišar.
• 
  Mišar battle sconce earthwork 3D model.
• 
  Serbian position in the sconce redoubt.
• 
  The Mišar Hill where the battle occurred.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toBattle of Mišar.

• Battle of Bratačića
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• Milićević, Milan Đ. (1888).Поменик знаменитих људи у српског народа новијега доба. Издање Чупићеве задужбине – via Archive.org.
• Nenadović, Konstantin N. (1903) [1883].Живот и дела великог Ђорђа Петровића Кара-Ђорђа. Vol. I (2 ed.). Belgrade: Штампа Савића и Комп. – via Archive.org.
• Nenadović, Konstantin N. (1884).Живот и дела великог Ђорђа Петровића Кара-Ђорђа. Vol. II (1 ed.). Vienna: У Штампарији Јована Н. Вернаја – via Google Books.
• Holton, Milne (2014).Songs of the Serbian People: From the Collections of Vuk Karadzic. University of Pittsburgh.ISBN 978-0-8229-8034-6.
• Hoare, Marko Attila (2024).Serbia: A Modern History.Hurst Publishers.ISBN 9781805261575.
• Petrovich, Michael Boro (1976).A History of Modern Serbia, 1804–1918. Vol. 2. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.ISBN 978-0-15140-950-1.
• Cox, John K. (2002).The History of Serbia.Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.ISBN 978-0-313-31290-8.
• Šašić, Branko (1998). "Filip Višnjić".Notable Residents of Šabac and the Podrinje (in Serbian). Šabac, Serbia: Štampa "Dragan Srnić". pp. 59–62.
• Jaques, Tony (2007).Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: P–Z. Greenwood Press. p. 668.ISBN 978-0-313-33539-6.
• Leopold, von Ranke (1829).Die serbische Revolution 1804-1813. Perthes. p. 95-97.ISBN 978-3863825119.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Vučković, Aleksa (2021).The Serbian Revolution: 1804-1835. United States: KDP Print US. p. 24.ISBN 9798702671697.
• Tošković, J.B. (1930) Odnosi između Bosne i Srbije 1805–1806 i boj na Mišaru. Subotica
• Protić, A. (1892).A history from the time of the Serbian leader Karađorđe. Spomenik (in Serbian).

• Battles involving Serbia
• Battles involving Bosnian militia (Ottoman)
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• Conflicts in 1806
• First Serbian Uprising
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