Dahija

The Dahije (, from ) 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" (; ).

==Background== The Ottomans declared war on Russia in 1787 and Austria joined in February 1788. In 1787 the Serbs were violently disarmed by the Ottoman authorities during the Austrian war preparations, with terror carried out by military and bashi-bazouk irregular units leading to people fleeing across the Sava and Danube to Austrian territory and forming the Serbian Free Corps. The Serb volunteers actively engaged Ottoman troops, raided ships on the Danube and liberated many towns, however, much needed aid and equipment was denied and Ottoman counter-operations and terror led to 50,000 Serb refugees and the signing of a truce. The Austrian court increasingly sought to end the conflict and peace was signed in August 1791.