Miloje Đak

Miloje Popović-Đak (Serbian Cyrillic: Милоје Ђак, c. 1769–1825) was the leader of an eponymous failed rebellion – Đakova buna or "Đak's rebellion" – in 1824.^[1]

Miloje was born in Kusadak, in the Jasenica part of Smederevska Palanka. Originally from Kosovo, he attended school and thus received the nickname Đak (student), which eventually was added to his original surname, Popović. He was a priest^[2] for a short time, and then worked as a cattle trader. During the First Serbian Uprising, he was the secretary of voivode Vujica Vulićević, and after the collapse of the uprising in 1813, he fled to Germany. Two years later, in 1815, he returned home to trade cattle.

At the end of January, 1825, the Đakovo revolt broke out in Azanja,^[3] in the Smederevo nahija, in response to the oppression of local authorities and unfair taxes. Requests for change were made at the meeting in Topola on February 3 and sent to Prince Miloš Obrenović. A crowd gathered around Đak, shouting that they were ready to fight. As early as February 5, Miloš's army, led by Toma Vučić Perišić, intercepted the rebels near Topola and easily defeated them. Đak was wounded but he managed to escape. Simultaneously, the revolt began to spread to other nahiya, leading to Prince Miloš's strong reaction: Đak was captured in Mali Mokri Lug and executed on February 9. The riots stopped in the following days.^[1][4][5][6]

Đak was buried in the Pinosava Monastery, Kusadak, near the grave of Vujica Vulićević.^[7]

References

1. Ranke, Leopold von (September 8, 1853). "The History of Servia, and the Servian Revolution: With a Sketch of the Insurrection in Bosnia". H. G. Bohn – via Google Books.
2. Ranke, Leopold von (September 8, 1847). "History of Servia, and the Servian Revolution: From Original Mss. and Documents". J. Murray – via Google Books.
3. Milan St. Protić. Azbučnik srpske istorije. NIN 2557, December 30, 1999.
4. Glenny, Misha (September 8, 2000). The Balkans, 1804-1999: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers. Granta Books. ISBN 9781862070738 – via Google Books.
5. Petrovich, Michael Boro (September 8, 1976). A History of Modern Serbia, 1804-1918. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 9780151409501 – via Google Books.
6. "Bayreuther Zeitung: 1825". Giessel. September 8, 1825 – via Google Books.
7. Карађорђев убица почива у олтару („Вечерње новости“, 22. децембар 2012), Приступљено. April 13, 2013