Ali Pasha Vidajić

Ali-paša Vidajić
Serbian lithograph of the Battle of Loznica where Vidajić fell. Heads of Ottoman commanders are seen at the bottom.
BornUnknown
Bosnia Eyalet
Died18 September 1810
Loznica, Revolutionary Serbia
AllegianceOttoman Empire
Years of servicefl. 1804–10
Rankcaptain
UnitZvornik
Battles / warsFirst Serbian Uprising
RelationsMehmed-kapetan Vidajić (uncle)

Ali-paša Vidajić[a] (fl. 1803–d. 18 October 1810), was an Ottoman Bosnian official (titled bey) and commander (with honorific pasha) in Zvornik, active during the First Serbian Uprising (1804–13), in which the Serbs of the Sanjak of Smederevo revolted against the Ottoman Empire and made incursions into Bosnia.

Early life

Vidajić had a brother who was ranked an Ottoman captain, and his paternal uncle was Mehmed, also a captain.[1] He also had a relative called Dervish Aga (fl. 1804),[2] and another contemporary with the surname was Abd-aga Vidajić (fl. 1806), commander of the Šabac Fort.[3] The family was of Islamized Serb origin (and retained their original surname),[4] and belonged to the "captain families" coming from the lower class,[5] spoke Serbo-Croatian[6] and did not speak Turkish.[7] Their slava (patron saint veneration) was Saint George (Đurđevdan).[8] Ali-paša Vidajić was a çiftlik sahibi (chiflik holder) and is known to have stolen chifliks through kidnapping in Klupci in 1803.[9]

Career

Vidajić, while titled bey (Али-бег Видајић), supported the Janissary Dahije (that had earlier wrested the Sanjak of Smederevo) against the revolting Serbs that attacked the towns of Valjevo and Šabac in springtime 1804.[10]

Following the Serb takeover of Valjevo on 19 March, Jakov Nenadović and Luka Lazarević besieged Šabac that was defended by the Dahije.[11] Dahije commander Mus-aga Fočić sent a request for reinforcement and on 22 April Vidajić and kabadahija Mula Nožina crossed the Drina and arrived at Lešnica (Loznica) with thousands of troops.[11] As they feared hajduk ambushes in the Kitog forest which was on the way to Šabac, the Ottoman Bosnian troops instead took the route towards Čokešina where they sought to fight hajduk bands and the insurgent army that temporarily assembled in the area.[11] Hajduk harambaša Đorđe Ćurčija noted the troop movement and informed Jakov Nenadović on 25 April regarding this, at a very delicate moment.[12] Those days, Jakov Nenadović and Mus-aga Fočić began talks about handing over Šabac to the Serbs, Fočić being unaware of the coming Bosnian reinforcement.[12] The Čokešina Monastery was decided as an assembly point of a Serb contingent, which however quarreled, with only a portion, made up of hajduks, remaining at Čokešina.[12] The insurgents clashed with the numerically superior Ottoman Bosnian troops under Vidajić and Nožina at a nearby hill and were completely decimated, in the Battle of Čokešina (28 April 1804).[12] Although victorious, Vidajić and Nožina were unable to support the besieged at Šabac due to casualties and instead retreated to Lešnica and then crossed the Drina back to Bosnia.[13] Šabac was handed over to the Serbs on 1 May 1804.[13]

On 2 July 1804 Đorđe Ćurčija burnt down Vidajić's residences in Šurice and killed the Turks there.[1] The sultan ordered the Viziers of Bosnia in 1805 to muster armies to attack Serbia, and they crossed the Drina and attacked Valjevo and Šabac in late January 1806.[14] The Serb rebels managed to stop the incursion in Mačva by Mehmed-kapetan Vidajić (Ali's uncle[1] and a captain in Zvornik).[14] Hasan-paša Srebrenički was defeated in February and rebel leader Karađorđe's troops burnt down several towns and villages in the Podrinje area by March 1806.[15] Serb commanders Stojan Čupić and Janko Katić destroyed Mehmed-kapetan Vidajić at Zvornik, but the Ottoman Bosnian troops quickly reassembled and stopped Serb expansion on the Bosnian side of the Drina.[15]

Ottoman troops were decisively defeated at the Battle of Mišar in August 1806 by Serb troops led by priest Luka Lazarević.[16] Among the Ottoman fallen, several were notable Bosnian nobility, including Mehmed Bey Kulenović and also Mehmed-kapetan Vidajić and his two sons.[16] Ali-paša Vidajić was captured along with four other pashas, all of which were quickly exchanged.[16]

View of the Zvornik Fort and the Drina separating Bosnia and Serbia.

In April 1807, Karađorđe ordered for the expansion of uprising into Bosnia.[17] Serb troops crossing the Drina were also accompanied by local Orthodox, who together attacked the Muslim village of Janj and surrounded Bijeljina, until Ali-paša Vidajić pushed them back across the Drina.[17] As a punishment, Ali-paša Vidajić's troops burnt down the Tavna Monastery and four Orthodox villages along the Drina in April 1807.[17] Zvornik was a key point in Bosnia, with its potential fall being a threat to Sarajevo and Travnik.[18] Ottoman Bosnian troops halted a Serb breakthrough by Zvornik at the end of May 1807 but another Serb unit passed just south of Zvornik towards Vlasenica.[18] In early June 1807 Vizier Mehmed Pasha sent Ali-paša Vidajić with a large contingent from Zvornik into Serbia.[18] On 10 July 1807 a Bosnian-Serbian truce was agreed.[18] Despite the truce, Ali-paša Vidajić with 1,000 troops crossed into Serbia and burnt down and looted several villages.[19] A Serb unit by the Drina was destroyed by a large Ottoman Bosnian force in October 1807 and thus the Serb forces resumed action in Podrinje, burnt down Muslim villages, killed and captured many, and retreated with 1,200 families.[19]

On 5 November 1807 a new attack on Serbia was ordered, while Serb troops went towards Sarajevo.[19] At the beginning of 1808 Serb troops aimed to attack in the directions of Nova Varoš, Višegrad and Bijeljina, and entered Bosnia several times by March 1808, their main objectives being Višegrad and Zvornik.[20] In mid-March "all Bosnian Turks (Muslims) able of carrying weapons" were called to mobilization, with the Ottoman Bosnian captains being ordered to ready a force of 37,000 troops.[20] At the end of April around 1,000 Bosnian troops crossed Zvornik into Soko.[20] Serb rebel actions in Bosnian Podrinje were continued in April 1808, in Srebrenica, and attacks since October 1808 aimed at liberating Semberija.[21]

More serious armed conflicts in eastern Bosnia began in May 1809, with Jakov Nenadović standing at the Drina with 8,000 troops, and the Ottoman Bosnian troops numbering 17–18,000 around Zvornik.[22] Karađorđe conquered Sjenica and attacked Novi Pazar, cutting off the Bosnian communication.[23] The physical division of Ottoman Bosnia from the rest of the Ottoman Empire put fear in Bosnian Muslims and led to their radicalization towards Bosnian Christians, there being toleration among the rayah up until now.[23] Sima Marković, Jakov Nenadović and Luka Lazarević attacked central and south Bosnian Podrinje, while Ali-paša Vidajić organized for the defence of Bijeljina and a large part of Semberija Serbs joined the Serb troops.[23] Meanwhile, the Serb rebels were defeated at Čegar on 31 May 1809 and then lost the front line at the Great Morava.[24] In June 1809 Ottoman Bosnian counter-offensives secured Srebrenica and Bijeljina and pushed the Serbs from Višegrad, thereby returning the Bosnian communication.[25] Many Bosnian Serbs were killed or fled due to the battles in spring 1809 in Podrinje, with Karađorđe settling refugees in Mačva.[24] In July 1809 Ali-paša Vidajić and Ibrahim-paša Srebrenički burnt down Lešnica on the Drina.[25]

The new Vizier of Bosnia, Ibrahim Hilmi Pasha, was ordered by the sultan to destroy Serbia in cooperation with the Rumelian Vizier Hurshid Pasha.

Vidajić himself fell at the Battle of Loznica (17–18 October 1810) while fighting the troops of Anta Bogićević, Luka Lazarević and Jakov Nenadović.

Legacy

Ali-paša Vidajić is known also from Serbian epic poetry.

Annotations

  1. ^
    Known as Serbo-Croatian: Ali-paša Vidajić (Turkish: Ali Paşa, Serbian: Али-паша Видајић) and Ali-beg Vidajić (Serbian: Али-бег Видајић), and also by the demonym "Zvornički" ("of Zvornik", Али-паша зворнички). His surname was also spellt "Vidaić" (Видаић).

References

  1. ^ a b c Protić 1893, p. 140.
  2. ^ Nenadović 1884, p. 334.
  3. ^ Protić 1893, p. 189.
  4. ^ Antonić 1995, p. 250, Živković 1894, p. 55 Ranke 1892, p. 283, Pelagić 1879, p. 30
  5. ^ Antonić 1995.
  6. ^ Ranke 1892, p. 283.
  7. ^ Pelagić 1879, p. 30.
  8. ^ Karadžić 1898, p. 317.
  9. ^ Novaković 1887, p. 73.
  10. ^ Teinović 2020, p. 10.
  11. ^ a b c Milićević 2016, p. 15.
  12. ^ a b c d Milićević 2016, p. 16.
  13. ^ a b Milićević 2016, p. 21.
  14. ^ a b Teinović 2020, p. 13.
  15. ^ a b Teinović 2020, p. 14.
  16. ^ a b c Teinović 2020, p. 15.
  17. ^ a b c Teinović 2020, p. 16.
  18. ^ a b c d Teinović 2020, p. 17.
  19. ^ a b c Teinović 2020, p. 18.
  20. ^ a b c Teinović 2020, p. 19.
  21. ^ Teinović 2020, p. 20.
  22. ^ Teinović 2020, pp. 20–21.
  23. ^ a b c Teinović 2020, p. 21.
  24. ^ a b Teinović 2020, p. 22.
  25. ^ a b Teinović 2020, p. 23.

Sources

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