Draft:Djordje Zagla

Djordje Zagla (Serbian Cyrillic: Ђорђе Загла;last half of the 18th century - Belgrade, Serbia, 30 November 1847) was Serbian chief military leader in Smederevo during the First Serbian Uprising.

Djordje Zagla came from Blace in southern Serbia while others say that he came from Thrace. He arrived in Belgrade with his three brothers after the outbreak of Karađorđe's insurrection and immediately joined Karađorđe's troops. He soon became the chief military leader in Smederevo under the command of voivode Vujica Vulićević.

Djordje Zagla was born in the village of Blace in southern Serbia, now North Macedonia.

In the beginning of the First Serbian Uprising against the Dahis, Zagra and his three brothers (Dimitrije, Pavle, and Todor) came north to settle in Smederevo. Not long after, Zagla became a Bimbasha in Smederevo under the command of Vujica Vulićević. Later, when Smederevo and the surounding villages along the river Ralja united into one administrative center and became seperate from the nahija, then the entire Raion came under the command of voivode Vule Ilić-Kolarac while Djordje Zagla kept his title -- Bimbasha.

Zagla is recorded in the Serbian historiography as a brave man who distinguished himself in many battles with his brave deeds and multiple wounds. His most remarkable feats of bravery were in the Battle of Suvodol in 1809, when he and his commander Vule Kolarac led a frontal attack on the Turkish Army, confussing the enemy totally. In the battle Zagla recived a stomach wound from a Turkish bayonet but it wasn't mortal.

After the re-conquest of the Ottomans in 1813 when Karadorde was forced to flee Serbia, Zagla and his three brothers moved to Mitrovica and took up the same trade that they had before the revolution. Trade, however, suited the brothers pretty much, except for Zagra who missed soldiering.

When Miloš Obrenović sounded the Second Serbian Uprising call to arms, Djordje Zagla left Mitrovica for Belgrade. Like in the first battles beginning in 1804, he distinguished himself in the second liberation movement. It was in Belgrade where he settled down after the war and lived happilly with his new-found wife.

Djodje Zagla died on 30 November 1847 and was buried near St. Mark's Church in the Palilula municipality.

In Serbian literature, Marinko Paunović wrote about two young people who loved each other in a long-forgotten book entitled "Belgrade, the Eternal City", which was published back in 1967, on the occasion of the Sesquicentennial of the Serbian Revolution and following the Liberation of Belgrade in 1807.

Paunović found the romantic story among Branislav Nušić's notes, from the time when Nušić had yet to reach the reputation and popularity that he now possesses. The "Romeo and Juliet" type story revolves around a young couple -- Djordje Zagla and Julia Badža -- during the time of Karađorđe's Serbia.

Djordje Zagla is also the subject of ballads sung by our contemporary guslars.