Battles of Podrinje (1804)

The Battles of Podrinje were fought in July–August 1804 by the Drina river between the Serbian rebels under the command of hajduk (brigand) Đorđe Ćurčija and Ottoman Bosnian army under the command of Ali Bey Vidajić, an ayan of the Sanjak of Zvornik. The Serbian rebels sought to liberate Jadar and Rađevina and stopping Ottoman Bosnian military aid to the renegade Janissaries in the Belgrade Pashalik known as the Dahije, against whom the Serbian rebels rose up against in February following the Slaughter of the Knezes and years of tyrannical rule. Ali Bey was a close friend of the Dahije and imitated their abusive system in Podrinje (the Drina river area). After several battles which ultimately left the Serbian side of the Drina in rebel hands, the Ottoman government made changes in the Ottoman Bosnian administration and the new pasha of Zvornik, Mehmed-paša Vidajić, the uncle and rival of Ali Bey, agreed on truce with the Podrinje Serbs. Jadar and Rađevina were left in the hands of the Sanjak of Zvornik for the time being, until new Serbian rebel campaigns.