Miloš Obrenović

Miloš Obrenović (1780-1860), leader of the second Serbian uprising and ruler of Serbia (1815-1839, 1858-1860). Obrenović was born in Užice in western Serbia (then part of the Ottoman Empire) into a family of poor, illiterate farmers. He moved to Rudnik to help his elder brother, Milan, with his lucrative livestock business. Milan became an important rival of the leader of the 1804 Serb uprising against Ottoman rule, Djordje Petrović (Karadjordje), and died in mysterious circumstances in 1811, possibly murdered on the orders of Karadjordje. This marked the beginning of a long rivalry between the Karadjordjević and Obrenović dynasties. Miloš became head of the family livestock business and knez (“ruler”) of three districts.

In 1815 Obrenović, taking advantage of the fact that Karadjordje was now in exile, led a renewed Serbian uprising against Ottoman rule. By the end of the year he had achieved the creation of an autonomous Serbian state, with a national assembly, limited Turkish military presence, and a supreme knez (Obrenović himself) with the authority to carry out the sultan’s decrees. Obrenović consolidated his power in 1817 when he had Karadjordje, returned from exile in Russia, executed, his head stuffed and sent to the sultan to express his loyalty. Exploiting his good relations with both the Ottoman and Russian empires, he expanded his livestock business, making him one of the wealthiest men in the region.

By an agreement in 1830, Obrenović established the hereditary rule of his family in Serbia. By this time, opposition to the perceived autocracy of Obrenović was growing in the national assembly. In 1839 a group called the Defenders of the Constitution, backed by the sultan, forced Obrenović to abdicate. He was succeeded by his son Michael, and then, in 1842, by the son of Karadjordje, Aleksandar. Miloš briefly returned to power two years before his death. His legacy was an increasingly independent and assertive Serb state, with aspirations to regional dominance.