Pecija
| Petar Popović Pecija | |
|---|---|
Portrait
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| Birth name | Petar Popović (Петар Поповић) |
| Nickname(s) | Pecija (Пеција) |
| Born | 1826 Krupa na Uni, Bosnia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 29 August 1875 (aged 49) Jasenovac region, Slavonian Military Frontier, Austria-Hungary |
| Buried at | Moštanica monastery |
| Years of service | 1848–78 |
| Rank | vojvoda (commander) |
| Memorials | outside Moštanica |
Petar Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Петар Поповић; 1826 – 29 August 1875), known as Pecija (Пеција), was a Serb hajduk (brigand) and rebel leader in two uprisings against the Ottoman Empire in the Bosanska Krajina region, one in 1858, and one in 1875.
Petar Popović was born into a Serbian Orthodox family in the village of Bušević, in Krupa na Uni (modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina), in 1826. His father's name was Petar and his mother was Ilinka. He spent the greater part of his life in Bosanska Kostajnica. He was an autodidact, apart from Serbian he also spoke Turkish. As an opponent to the Ottoman state, Petar, at only 22 years of age in 1848, joined the hajduks and actively, for the rest of his life, fought the Ottomans.
In mid-1858, an uprising broke out in northwestern Bosnia, resulting from Ottoman pressure against the local Serb populace. In Ivanjska in the Krupa nahiyah, the Serb population of that Catholic-majority village rose up. After short shootings around Ivanjska, the other villages took up arms. It is said that it originated in (tyranny) from the Ottomans. In June 1858, the uprising expanded on to Knešpolje. The leaders were former hajduk (bandit) Petar Popović–Pecija, Petar Garača (d. 1858), Simo Ćosić and Risto Jeić. The rural population of Knešpolje was predominantly consisting of Serbian Orthodox people, while the Muslim population predominantly lived in the cities. On June 20, the rebels pushed the Muslims into the city of Novi. Around 600 rebels summoned outside Novi, planning to attack the city. At the same time, Pecija and Garača had summoned around 3,000 rebels, which entered Ivanjska in order to help the local rebels. On July 4, in the battle of Doljani near Bihać, some 100 Turks fell, after which Jeić crossed into Austria, trying to convince the Austrians that these peasants with pitchforks and scythes were worth more than to live off bread. On July 15, the foothold at Ivanjska fell, where Pecija and Garača were. The rebel bands near Ivanjska were heavily defeated, with Pecija and Garača leading the survived rebels into Knešpolje, from where they gave their final resistance.
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