the lion of the russian army - Florida State University

CHAPTER XIV
Campaign in the Danube Valley:
Serbian Politics and Administration of the Principalities
While he besieged Silistra in mid-October 1809, Bagration turned to the actions
on his extreme right flank in Serbia, where the Turks achieved considerable success.
Before Prince Peter assumed the command, the Turks exploited the idleness of
Prozorovsky and attacked the Serbs in early August. They defeated the Serbian army and
marched towards Belgrade. By 25 August, the Turks controlled the right bank of the
Morava River and besieged an important fortress of Šabac on the left. 1 The Serbs felt
betrayed by Prozorovsky, who earlier promised to protect them, but then withdrew troops
(2,000 men under Isaev) into Little Wallachia. 2 As soon as he became the Russian
1 The Turks captured Deligrad on 15 August 1809. Serbian leader, George Petrovic, named
Karadjordje, (“Black George”), issued a call for a general mobilization of all males between the
ages of 12 and 70. He intended to occupy positions on the left bank of the Morava River and halt
the Ottoman advance. But after fall of Deligrad, he feared being encircled in the south and
evacuated all fortifications. Michael Boro Petrovich, A History of Modern Serbia, 1804-1918,
(New York, 1976), I, 65-66; Jaksic, Evropa i vaskrs Srbije, 129-33; A. Ivic, Spisi beçkih archiva
o Prvom sprskom ustanku, (Belgrade, 1936-1973), VI, 294, 301-305; Petrov, Russo-Turkish War
of 1806-1812, II, 216, 274-75, 289-300; Jankovic, Fracuska štampa o prvom srpskom ustanku,
292-96. Both sides fought with a remarkable ferocity. On one occasion, the Turkish commander
decapitated several hundred Serbs and embedded their skulls into a “Tower of Skulls” at Nis. The
remains of this tower were still observed in 1970s. Lawrence Meriage, “Russia and the First
Serbian Revolution,” Ph.D. diss. Indiana University, 1975, 193n; Wayne Vucinich, “The Serbian
Insurgents and the Russo-Turkish War of 1809-1812,” in The First Serbian Uprising, 1804-1813,
ed. Wayne Vucinich, (New York, 1982), 141.
2 It seems Prozorovsky’s age prevented him from understanding the situation correctly. On 1
July, he informed the Serbs that Russia had promised them only diplomatic and material support,
and so the Russian army would not defend Serbia. Instead, Prozorovsky advised them “to wait
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