CZERNY ( GEORGE ( i.e. Black George) (1766-1817). The leader of the Servians in their struggle for independence, generally known as KAHN (Turk, kura, black) GEORGE. He was born December 21, 1766, in the neighborhood of Belgrade. In 1787 he was involved in a rising against Turkish rule, but later settled down as a cattle-dealer. In August, 1801, a band of Janizaries broke into his dwelling and plun dered it, and in retaliation he collected a band of malcontents, and entered upon a course of guerrilla warfare. Gradually his followers in creased: in 1804 he captured the fortress of Shabatz. and subsequently invested Belgrade. In the beginning of 1806 he routed the Turks at the rivers Drina and Morava, and captured Bel grade in December, 1806. The cause of Servia was aided by the war which at this time broke out between Russia and Turkey. After the Treaty of Slobosic (July S, 1808), Czerny Georcre was elected Governor by the people, and recognized as Prince of Servia by the Sultan. The French invasion of Russia in 1812 com pelled the latter country to let Servia shift for itself. Hostilities recommenced; the Turks were
successful, and Czerny had to flee to Russia. He afterwards went to Austria, where he lived for some time. Meanwhile the freedom of Servia was secured through the leadership of Milosh Obreno vitch, and in July, 1817, when Kara George returned, intending, as some suppose, to rally his partisans round him for the furtherance of his ambitious schemes, he was murdered at the instigation of Prince Milosh. This was the beginning of a feud between the factions which lasted throughout the greater part of the nine teenth century. Kara George's second son. Alex ander Karageo•gevitch, was Prince of Servia from 1842 to 1858. but was finally expelled and died in exile in 1S85. Consult: Ranke, Die see hisehe Rerointion (Hamburg, 1829) translated by Mrs. Keri in Bohn's Library under the title of A History of Serria and the Serrian Hernia tion (London, 1853) ; Denton, Serria and the Serrians (London, 1862).