Pashalik of Belgrade in the context of "Central Serbia"

Đorđe Petrović OSA OSV (pronounced [dʑôːrdʑe pětrovitɕ]; Serbian: Ђорђе Петровић; 14 November [O.S. 3 November] 1768 – 25 July [O.S. 13 July] 1817), known by the sobriquet Karađorđe (pronounced [kâradʑoːrdʑe]; Serbian: Карађорђе, lit. 'Black George'), was a Serbian revolutionary leader who led a struggle against the Ottoman Empire during the First Serbian Uprising. Karađorđe Petrović held the title of Grand Vožd of Serbia from 14 February 1804 to 3 October 1813.

Born into an impoverished family in the Šumadija region of Ottoman Serbia, Karađorđe distinguished himself during the Austro-Turkish War of 1788–1791 as a member of the Serbian Free Corps, a militia of Habsburg and Ottoman Serbs, armed and trained by the Austrians. Fearing retribution following the Austrians' and Serb rebels' defeat in 1791, he and his family fled to the Austrian Empire, where they lived until 1794, when a general amnesty was declared. Karađorđe subsequently returned to Šumadija and became a livestock merchant. In 1796, the rogue governor of the Sanjak of Vidin, Osman Pazvantoğlu, invaded the Pashalik of Belgrade, and Karađorđe fought alongside the Ottomans to quash the incursion.

The First Serbian Uprising was an uprising of Serbs in Orašac against the Ottoman Empire from 14 February 1804 to 7 October 1813. The uprising began as a local revolt against the Dahije, renegade janissary officers who had seized power in a coup d'état against the Ottoman sultan. It later evolved into a war for independence, known as the Serbian Revolution, after more than three centuries of Ottoman Empire rule and brief Austrian occupations.

In 1801, the Janissary commanders assassinated the Ottoman Pasha and took control of the Pashalik of Belgrade, ruling it independently of the Ottoman Sultan. This led to a period of tyranny, during which the Janissaries suspended the rights previously granted to the Serbs by the Sultan. They also raised taxes, imposed forced labour, and made other changes that negatively affected the Serbs. In 1804, the Janissaries feared that the Sultan would use the Serbs against them, which led to the assassination of many Serbian chiefs. An assembly chose Karađorđe to lead the uprising, and the rebel army quickly defeated and took over towns throughout the sanjak, technically fighting for the Sultan. Sultan Selim III, fearing their power, ordered all the Pashaliks in the region to crush them. The Serbs marched against the Ottomans and, after major victories in 1805–06, established a government and parliament that returned land to the people, abolished forced labour, and reduced taxes.

The Dahije (Serbian Cyrillic: Дахије, from Turkish: dayı) were the renegade Janissary officers who revolted against the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II and took power in the Pashalik of Belgrade, after capturing and murdering Vizier Hadji Mustafa Pasha in 1801. The four supreme Dahije leaders were Mehmed-aga Fočić, Kučuk Alija, Aganlija and Mula Jusuf. Rebels against the sultan, they were defeated by the Serbs in the initial phase of the First Serbian Uprising, which is also called "Uprising against the Dahije" (Serbian: Буна против дахија; Buna protiv dahija).

The Serbian Army was the military force of Revolutionary Serbia, active during the First Serbian Uprising (1804–13) fighting against the Ottoman Empire. Established at first as a peasant army against the oppressive Dahije who had wrested the Pashalik of Belgrade from the Sultan, it became a resistance movement to the Ottomans which managed to create an independent state, restoring Serbian statehood in the Central Balkans after centuries of Ottoman rule. Distinguished community leaders, the Serbian Free Corps veterans and hajduks mustered a militia which transformed into an army with decisive victories and relations with Austria and Russia.

Aleksa Nenadović (Serbian: Алекса Ненадовић, 1749–4 February 1804) was a Serb militia commander and obor-knez (Christian mayor) of the Tamnava–Posavina knežina of the Valjevo nahiya of the Pashalik of Belgrade. A veteran of the Serbian Free Corps that fought in the Austro-Turkish War (1788–1791), he became one of the leading Serbs in the province, and was killed by the renegade Janissaries in the event known as the "Slaughter of the Knezes", which led to the First Serbian Uprising (1804–13) and Serbian Revolution.

His younger brother was Jakov Nenadović, a vojvoda (general) and the first Serbian Interior Minister. His sons were archpriest and one of the main leaders in the uprising, Matija Nenadović, and vojvoda Sima Nenadović, active in the Second Serbian Uprising (1815–17).