Draft:Milisav Petrovic (revolutionary)

Milisav Petrović-Topolivac also Milisav Petković Tauzendkunstler (Serbian Cyrillic: Mилисав Петровић Тополивац or Милисав Петpовић Таузендкyнстлер or Милисав Петковић-Таузендкyнстлер; Banat, Habsburg Monarchy, c. 1775 - Karađorđe's Serbia, fl. 1806-1811) was a Serbian gunsmith and artillery manufacturer in the First Serbian Uprising. He worked in a foundry with his crew creating cannons from cherry trees for Karađorđe' troops during the the War of Independence.

Biography

Milisav Petrović or Milisav Petković according to other sources, born in Smederevo (though other historian say he came from Banat in Vojvodina), was an artillery manufacturer in Karađorđe's Serbia.Milisav had two nicknames, one in Serbian Topolivac("cannon fabricator"), and the other German Tauzendkunstler, meaning "jack-of-all-trades".

Milisav was well aware of Karađorđe's early successes in Serbia against the Turks. On 8 November 1805, Karađorđe's army entered the centre of the city of Smederevo, where the leader of the First Serbian Uprising, received the keys of the Smederevo Fortress from the Turkish commander dizdar Muharram Gusha auspiciously under a mulberry tree.

On that day, Turks left a lot of guns and ammunition to Serbs, and Karađorđe allowed them to safely leave Smederevo and sail down the Danube river to Vidin, Bulgaria. After this, Smederevo was liberated from the Turks and it was about that time that Milisav Petrović and his wife moved from Smederevo to Belgrade's suburb Dorćol (then known as Zerek) and founded a gunfoundry.

Milisav was a creative craftsman who found different ways to forge weapons when shortages or unavailability of material posed a problem. He would make hundreds of cannons and cannonades with his crew in shop. On his own initiative, he managed to build unique cannons from trunks of cherry trees by pouring molten bronze into an empty trunk hull and creating a unique cannon that was effective enough to scare the Turkish army if not by efficiency but certainly by its thunderous sound.

The cherry tree cannon was artillery whose body is entirely made of cherry wood. It has little significance in combat value as a single weapon because the wood swells under the effect of the explosion after a few shots, but with many such cannons each successful firing had its peculiar effect. The production of these cannons began early in 1806 'en masse'. Cherry guns made in the foundry of Milisav Petrović were important in encouraging and raising the morale of the rebels. They were cheap to make and Milisav's foundry crew worked hard to produce as many as they could throughout the war of independence.

Today Milisav Petrović may be a forgotten historical figure but his cherry cannon has become a symbol of the determination of poorly armed rebels who faced a far more superior enemy and kept it at bay for almost a decade at the turn of the 19th century. The cannon made of cherry tree then continues to inspired the national spirit of the Serbs even today.There is no documentary evidence of Napoleon praising Karađorđe in any French source to substantiate the Serbian claim, but the very fact that cherry tree cannons were used by Karađorđe's troops succeeded in challenging the Ottoman Empire with numerous victories over a force significantly superior to theirs obviously gives some merit to the myth, however oblique.

Though a single cherry cannon was not considered an effective weapon, but Milisav's foundry produced many of them and in great quantity, would make it effective enough that historians are now beginning to understand its value at the time.

These cannons were usually made of wild almond (acacia) and wild cherry wood which were very solid, particularly when fully dry. We read that there were different ways of making the tree or the barrel of the cannon and applied when there was little or no time. For the preparation of these wooden cannons were chosen the straightest tree logs. Stump would be etched to form a tube. To intensify the outside with metal rings would be fastened around the circumference of the trunk itself. The range of these guns was no more 400 to 500 meters.

The only cherry cannon which survived the uprising is in Belgrade's National Museum.

One cannon, preserved throughout the two centuries, is named after the Turkish word 'aberdar', meaning "messenger". Karađorđe used a similar cherry cannon to inform his loyal troops about the impending events (battles).