Timok Rebellion of 1883

a popular uprising in eastern Serbia. The Timok rebellion was conducted mainly by the poor from a number of cities and villages. It was headed by the bourgeoisie, which, through the Radical Party, protested against such vestiges of feudalism as payment in labor and bondage imposed for the nonpayment of debts, as well as an unbearable tax burden, bureaucratic tyranny, and the growing power of commercial and usurious capital. The rebellion was sparked by the confiscation of arms held by peasants and by a law replacing the militia with a standing army.

The Timok rebellion began on October 21 in the Timok Region with a battle at Lukovo, in which the rebel troops defeated those of the king. The rebels demanded the liquidation of feudal obligations, a tax reduction, and extended rights for bodies of local self-government. In 1883 a series of battles was fought by the insurgent detachments, which numbered approximately 18,000 men, against the king’s troops. Indecisive leadership and poor preparation and organization on the part of the rebels led to the suppression of the uprising in late 1883. Several hundred insurgents were shot or were condemned to hard labor.