Draft:Aleksa Dukić

Aleksa Dukić (Serbian Cyrillic: Алекса Дукић; 1772 - 1833) was a Serbian cartwright who worked during the time of Karađorđe's Serbia. He came into prominence after he fashioned two cannons from cherry trunks to signal the beginning of the First Serbian Uprising.

Cartwright Aleksa Dukić hailed from the vicinity of Topola. Karađorđe used Dukić's cannons at Rudnik, on the Javor peak, to signal an attack and to scare the Turks 1n 1804 before the entire Serbian population rose against the Ottoman Empire that kept Serbia in bondage since 1459 with the Fall of Smederevo Fortress.

Turkish inns were commonly called by their original name, hans and caravanserai, fortress-like buildings with walls first used as trading posts and overnight inns but during conflict they were also used as miltary bases. The burning of Turkish inns was started by Aleksa Dukić from the village of Banje with his company, burning the Turkish inns not only in villages but towns and cities, in Topola, Žabar and Jagnjilo, and the revolutionaries continued to burn the han in Orašac immediately after the Sretenje Constitution and the election of Karađorđe as supreme commander (Vožd) of the Serbians. No sooner, Turkish fortresses (hans) were set ablaze throughout Karađorđe's Serbia, and later the revolutionaries began to besiege cities as well. One of the first besieged cities was Rudnik, liberated on 18 March 1804.Immediately after two decisive Battles of Batočina and Jagodina were won. At the same time, Valjevo was also liberated under the leadership of Jakov and Matija Nenadović, and shortly afterwards the siege and fall of Šabac took place, with others following suit. Cartwright Dukić's role took on more responsibilities as the revolution spread throughout Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Dalmatian coast and Montenegro during Napoleon's rule. In 1805 Russian expeditionary forces were sent by Alexander I of Russia to the help Karađorđe free Serbia from the Ottoman Empire and aid Petar I Petrović-Njegoš in Montenegro to stop Napoleon's conquest of the Balkans. Then, there followed an Adriatic Campaign from 1807 to 1814.