Koča's Frontier

Koča's Frontier (Serbian: Кочина крајина, Kočina krajina) refers to the territory liberated by Serbian rebels in the Sanjak of Smederevo (Ottoman Empire), during the Austro-Turkish War of 1788–1791. Rebellion was planned already in 1787, since it was anticipated that the Habsburg Monarchy will enter into war against the Ottomans. The Habsburg-organized Serbian Free Corps, among whom Koča Anđelković was a prominent captain (hence the historiographical name of the movement), initially captured and held various central parts of Ottoman Serbia during 1788 and 1789. After the arrival of regular Habsburg armies, who captured Belgrade from the Ottomans on 8 October (1789), the liberated Serbian territory was much expanded and became a Habsburg protectorate under military administration, called Serbia (German: Serbien). By the Treaty of Sistova (1791), Habsburg forces had to retreat, and the entire liberated territory was returned to the Ottomans. Such outcome also ended Serbian hopes for liberation through alliance with the Habsburgs.