The Battle of Krusi ( sr, translit=Bitka na Krusima, Битка на Крусима) was fought on 22 September 1796 between the campaigning army of
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
commanded by
Kara Mahmud Pasha
Kara Mahmud Pasha ( tr, Kara Mahmud Paşa, Albanian language, Albanian: Mahmud Pashë Bushati, 1749–22 September 1796) was a hereditary Ottoman Albanian governor (''mutasarrıf'') of the Pashalik of Scutari and de jure ruler of Albania, bel ...
, the
Pasha of Scutari
The Pashalik of Scutari, Iskodra, or Shkodra (1757–1831), was an autonomous and ''de facto'' independent ''pashalik'' created by the Albanian Bushati family from the previous Sanjak of Scutari, which was situated around the city of Shkodër ...
, and tribes of
Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro
The Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro ( sr, Митрополство Црногорско, Mitropolstvo Crnogorsko) was an ecclesiastical principality that existed from 1516 until 1852. The principality was located around modern-day Montenegro. It ...
under the command of Metropolitan
Petar I Petrović Njegoš Petar ( sr, Петар, bg, Петър) is a South Slavic languages, South Slavic masculine given name, their variant of the Biblical name Petros (given name), Petros cognate to Peter (given name), Peter.
Derivative forms include Pero (given name) ...
and
Jovan Radonjić
Jovan Radonjić ( sr-cyr, Јован Радоњић, 1748 – 8 July 1803), commonly known as Jovo (Јово) or Joko, was the '' guvernadur'' of Montenegro between 1764 and 1803.
Early life
Jovan was born in Njeguši, the son of ''vojvoda'' and ...
, at Krusi,
Lješanska nahija.
Prelude
After Kara Mahmud Pasha was
defeated at Martinići (1796), he planned new operations to subdue Montenegro. With his main army in
Scutari, Kara Mahmud Pasha advanced to
Podgorica
Podgorica (Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; lit. 'under the hill') is the capital and largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd (Cyrillic: Титоград, ) between 1946 and 1992—in the period that Montenegro form ...
. In the meantime, near the Montenegrin borders, a rather large number of forces were stationed due to the concentration of attacks towards Montenegro and
Brda. From Podgorica, the Pasha's forces moved onto Lješkopolje because his goal was to use the Lješkopolje-Krusi-Carev laz-
Rijeka Crnojevića
Rijeka Crnojevića (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Ријека Црнојевића, lit. "River of Crnojević") is a town in Montenegro on the eponymous Rijeka Crnojevića river, near the coast of Skadar lake.
History
The Ottomans captured Žablja ...
line to his advantage in order to carry out a raid toward
Cetinje.
Petar I was informed of the Pasha's plans, and had managed to organize a defence. He took the larger part of his army and camped beneath the Sađavce mountain on the right bank of the Matica river. Another large unit under the command of Jovan Radonjić camped under the Busovnika mountain near the village of Krusi. One of the early accounts of the battle authored by Archimandrite Stefan Vukčević in 1811.
Battle
The battle occurred on 3 October 1796 when Bushati ordered his troops to cross the right hand bank of the
Sitnica River and attack Montenegrin positions. Krusi was directly in the path of his army.
Half of the Montenegrin army was led by Metropolitan Petar I, and the other half by Jovan Radonjić.
The earliest historical sources about this battle include records of Russian deacon Aleksije, at that time scribe of Petar I.
Deakon Aleksije wrote that both Petar I and Radonjić were armed and wore uniform and that 500 chosen soldiers also wore uniforms.
According to deakon Aleksije, the battle started at 8:30 am and lasted until evening. After a whole day of fighting, the Montenegrins were able to defeat the Ottoman army. Bushati was killed by the Montenegrin army during the battle. Legend has it that it was a Bogdan Nikolić from Zalazi who managed to kill Bushati. The remains of the defeated Ottoman army were forced to withdraw to Podgorica.
According to voivode Mirko, the Ottomans had 7,000 killed men. Vučetić presents figure of 32 dead and 64 wounded Montenegrin soldiers. Deakon Arsenije presents probably more realistic figures of 132 dead and 237 wounded Montenegrin soldiers.
Aftermath
The first report about the victory of Montenegrins was written by Metropolitan Petar I to
Ivan Osterman
Count Ivan Andreyevich Osterman (russian: Иван Андреевич Остерман; 1725–1811) was a Russian statesman and the son of Andrei Osterman.
After Osterman's father fell into disgrace, Ivan Osterman was transferred from the Imperi ...
, the
Chancellor of the Russian Empire. In that report Petar I expressed his gratitude for support of Russia and its empress, proudly stating that his forces killed Scutari governor and captured 33 Ottoman flags, large number of light weapon and plenty of ammunition.
With the victory, the tribes of
Bjelopavlići
Bjelopavlići ( cyrl, Бјелопавлићи; sq, Palabardhi), ) is a historical tribe (pleme) of Albanian origin and a valley in the Brda region of Montenegro, around the city of Danilovgrad.
Geography
The ''Bjelopavlići'' valley (also kn ...
and
Piperi were joined into the Montenegrin tribal assembly. The independence of Montenegro, though not officially internationally recognized emerged from the victory in this battle, which allowed proclamation of the first constitutional act of Montenegro - The General Code of Montenegro and the Highlands ( sr, Законик црногорски и брдски).
The Ottoman defeat at Battle of Krusi weakened the Ottoman rule in Slavic populated territories in the region. On the other hand, it prevented secession of Albania from the Ottoman Empire reducing it to simple renegade actions.
[: "...онемогућавао издвајање Арбаније из Турске на нивоу вишем од простога одметања...».]
See also
*
Battle of Martinići
*
Battle of Lopate
References
Sources
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{{Coord missing, Montenegro
Krusi
Krusi
Krusi
Krusi
1796 in Europe
1796 in the Ottoman Empire
Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro
Krusi