Husein Gradaščević

Husein Gradaščević

Husein-kapetan Gradaščević (born August 31, 1802 in Gradačac , † August 17, 1834 in Istanbul ) was Ottoman Kapetan of Gradačac and vizier of Eyâlet Bosnia . He was the leader of an uprising whose goal was a far-reaching autonomy for Bosnia within the Ottoman Empire . A legend during his lifetime, Gradaščević is considered a Bosniak national hero and is also known as the “Dragon of Bosnia” ( Zmaj od Bosne ).

Life

Gradačac Castle, the administrative seat of the Kapetans.

Husein Gradaščević came from a family who held the hereditary Kapetan office and owned fertile estates including the towns of Gradačac , Gračanica and Brčko . His surname means of Gradačac from coming . After his brother Murat was poisoned by a rival in 1821, Husein became the Kapetan of Gradačac.

Flag of Bosnia during the Revolution 1831/32

Imperial Mosque ( Careva Džamija ) in Sarajevo

Gradaščević was elected leader of dissatisfied Ottoman feudal lords in Bosnia in 1831 , who opposed Mahmud II's reform or Europeanization plans . On March 26, 1831, Gradaščević defeated the troops of the Ottoman governor Ali Namik Pascha and was then elected Grand Vizier of Bosnia by the citizens of Sarajevo in the Imperial Mosque ( Careva džamija ) . The rebels sought a tributary relationship with the Porte, but the Sultan refused to confirm it. In a battle on the Amselfeld (1831), the rebels defeated the Grand Vizier Reschid Pasha , but Gradaščević was still unable to obtain recognition from the Sultan due to a lack of diplomatic skills. Instead, the gate brought the Herzegovinian magnates Smail Aga Čengić and Ali-paša Rizvanbegović against him. On April 4, 1832, the new vizier of Herzegovina Kara Mahmud Hamid Pascha defeated the rebels. Defeated and abandoned by his comrades in arms, Gradaščević found asylum in the Habsburg Empire . The Bosnian uprising continued for another 18 years. Gradaščević was assigned temporary residence in the border town of Osijek and he negotiated with the sultan about a return. This was finally granted to him on the intervention of Metternich , but on the condition that he no longer entered Bosnia. Gradaščević traveled via Belgrade to Istanbul, where he died on August 17, 1834 (according to other sources on July 30 or 31, 1833) under mysterious circumstances, possibly through poisoning.

literature

• Smail Balić: Gradaščević, Husein-kapetan . In: Mathias Bernath, Felix von Schroeder (Hrsg.): Biographical Lexicon for the History of Southeast Europe . tape 2 , 1976, p. 78-80 ( ios-regensburg.de ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Agilolf Keßelring: Guide to History: Bosnia-Herzegovina (PDF file; 4.06 MB) . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn a. a. 2007, p. 22