The Slaughter of the Knezes (Serbian: Сеча кнезова/Seča knezova) refers to the organized assassinations and assaults of notable Serbs in the Sanjak of Smederevo in January 1804 by the Dahije, the renegade Janissary officers who ruled the Sanjak independently and in defiance to the sultan after taking it over in 1801. Fearing that the sultan would make use of the Serbs to oust them, they decided to execute leading Serbs throughout the sanjak. A total of 72 notable Serbs were assassinated, and their heads were put on public display. Notable victims were Aleksa Nenadović and Ilija Birčanin. The event triggered the First Serbian Uprising, aimed at putting an end to the centuries of Ottoman occupation.