Brsjak Revolt

Brsjak revolt

Date	14 October 1880 – 1881
Location	Nahiya of Kičevo, Poreče, Bitola and Prilep, Monastir Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (modern R. Macedonia)
Result	Ottoman victory

Belligerents

Local Christians

Ottoman Empire

Commanders and leaders

See list

The Brsjak revolt (Macedonian and Serbian Cyrillic: Брсјачка буна/Brsjačka buna, Bulgarian: Бърсячка буна) broke out on 14 October 1880 in the Poreče region of the Monastir Vilayet, led by rebels who sought the liberation of Macedonia from the Ottoman Empire. They received secret aid from Principality of Serbia, which had earlier been at war with the Ottoman Empire, until Ottoman and Russian diplomatic intervention in 1881. The Ottoman Gendarmerie succeeded in suppressing the rebellion after a year.

After the Serbian–Ottoman War (1876–78) and the suppressed Kumanovo Uprising (1878), the Ottomans retaliated against the Serb population in the Ottoman Empire. Because of the terror against the unprotected rayah (lower class, Christians), many left for the mountains, fled across the border into Serbia, from where they raided their home regions in order to revenge the atrocities carried out by the Ottomans.

After the war, the Serbian military government sent armament and aid to rebels in Kosovo and Macedonia. Christian rebel bands were formed all over the region. Many of those bands, privately organized and aided by the government, were established in Serbia and crossed into Ottoman territory. In that way, Micko Krstić formed a rebel band in 1879 in Niš, with the help of Nikola Rašić and the military government in Vranje. Micko's band received weapons and ammunition in Vranje, then crossed the border and came into conflict with the Ottomans in around Kriva Palanka, where many of his fighters were killed. With only one comrade, Micko went to Poreče and joined the band of Stevan Petrović–Porečanin, established in the same year. After Micko's departure from Serbia, Spiro Crne had left Serbia with his band, having no better luck than Micko, the band came into conflict with Ottoman jandarma (gendarmerie) and army on 14 March 1880, near the Gjurište Monastery in Ovče Pole, in which 40 Turks and Albanians were killed, and many of his comrades, forcing him to return to Serbia.

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