Great Bosnian Uprising 1831-1832

Since the eighteenth century political and military power in the Bosnian land of the Ottoman Empire was increasingly concentrated in personhood of hereditary officials known as kapetans, administrative positions unique to Bosnia within the empire. Unrest in Bosnia mounted after the empire eliminated the Janissary corps. Punitive expeditions against the Janissary stronghold of Sarajevo were carried out in 1827 and 1828. Resistance to change increased dramatically after the empire was forced to sign the comprehensive Treaty of Adrianople in 1829 which ended the war with Russia and granted autonomy to Greece as well as Serbia. Bosnian leaders were not only upset by the granting of Serbian autonomy but by the transfer of some traditionally Bosnian territory to Serbia. Hussein Gradascevic, a Bosnian kaptetan, hosted others in December 1830, and again in January-February 1831, to prepare for a revolt.

On March 29, 1831, Gradascevic marched with an army of 4,000 on Travnik, where the Ottoman vizier of Bosnia resided. The rebels defeated an Ottoman relief force about 2,000-strong on the outskirts of the town on April 7th. Further successes followed and the rebellion gained thousands more adherents by the end of May. With an army swelled to 25,000 the rebels set out for Kosovo to block an Ottoman force of sent to crush the rebellion. The Bosnians expected an army of 40,000 Albanians to support their attack but the grand vizier, Resid Mehmed Pasha, leading the Ottoman army had managed to secure the defection of over half the Albanian force and defeated the Albanians before the Bosnians arrived. Even so, the Bosnian army then managed to defeat the Ottomans in battle in July after which a Bosnian delegation sought to negotiations with the grand vizier likely beginning in August. By sometime in November, the grand vizier promised them autonomy as well as the appointment of Gradascevic as vizier of Bosnia.

Assured their objectives within the empire were going to be met, the Bosnians turned back to fight the nominally loyal Ottoman forces in Herzegovina, a region within Bosnia, led by Ali-aga Rizvanbegovic, another Bosnian kapetan, who had refused to rebel against the empire. From the fall and winter of 1831-32, the Bosnian rebels achieved numerous military victories over the Herzegovinian loyalists and secured most of the territory. However, by now the grand vizier had marshaled a large new army. In February 1832, Ottoman forces launched a two-pronged attack toward Sarajevo. The rebels suffered several defeats during the spring and summer and their support melted away. At the Battle of Stup, on June 4th, Bosnian rebels were forced to withdraw from the field after being attacked to the rear by Rizvanbegovic, leaving the route to Sarajevo open. Gradascevic fled to Austria. Ottoman forces entered Sarajevo on June 5, 1832. Severe reprisals against Bosnians who had supported the uprising followed.

Notes

[1] Correlates of War (CoW) previously began this war in February 1830 and now provide a revised start date of June 1830. However, the revolt in southern Albania that was put down in 1830, while related in terms of opposition to imperial reforms, does not appear to be directly associated with events in Bosnia nor is it included in other sources.

[2] CoW previously ended the war in November 1831 and provides a revised end date of July 5, 1832 (which might be a typo).

References

COW512; Dixon and Sarkees, 245-7; EB - Bosnia and Herzegovina; Ranke, 320-52.

Leopold Ranke. History of Servia, and the Servian Revolution with a Sketch of the Insurrection in Bosnia. Henry G Bohn. 1853.

Category

Intra-State War

Region

Eastern Europe

Belligerents

Ottoman Empire, Bosnians

Dispute

Governance, Interests

Initiation Date

March 29, 1831^[1]

Termination Date

June 5, 1832^[2]

Duration

1 year, 2 months, 8 days
(435 days)

Outcome

Imposed Settlement
(Ottoman victory)

Fatalities

Total: 15,000
Bosnians: 10,000
Ottomans: 5,000

Magnitude

4.2