broke out (1804), smaller uprisings also broke out in Drobnjaci (1805), Rovca and Morača. Prince-Bishop Petar I (r. 1782-1830) sought the help of Russia in 1807 to create a new Serbian Empire centred on Montenegro. He waged a successful campaign against the bey of Bosnia in 1819; the repulse of an Ottoman invasion from Albania during the Russo-Turkish War led to the recognition of Montenegrin sovereignty over Piperi. Petar I had managed to unite the Piperi, Kuči and Bjelopavlići into his state. A civil war broke out in 1847, in which the Piperi and Crmnica sought to secede from the principality which was afflicted by a famine, and could not relieve them with the rations of the Ottomans, the secessionists were subdued and their ringleaders shot. Amid the Crimean War, there was a political problem in Montenegro; Danilo I's uncle, George, urged for yet another war against the Ottomans, but the Austrians advised Danilo not to take arms. A conspiracy was formed against Danilo, led by his uncles George and Pero, the situation came to its height when the Ottomans stationed troops along the Herzegovinian frontier, provoking the mountaineers. Some urged an attack on Bar, others raided into Herzegovina, and the discontent of Danilo's subjects grew so much that the Piperi, Kuči and Bjelopavlići, the recent and still unamalgamated acquisitions, proclaimed themselves an independent state in July, 1854. Danilo was forced to take measurement against the rebels in Brda, some crossed into Turkish territory and some submitted and were to pay for the civil war they had caused. Petar II Petrović-Njegoš further united Montenegrin tribes, forging structure of the state, and Montenegro independence in 1878, as well solidarity with Serbia and Serbdom. Croatian historian Ivo Banac claims that with Serbian Orthodox religious and cultural influence, Montenegrins had lost sight of their complex origin and thought of themselves as Serbs. Like at the time of Danilo I, was advocated physical persecution of Muslim population, also making part of religious definition of Montenegrin identity. 20th century In 1904 Nikola I Petrović-Njegoš reorganized the Principality of Montenegro into "captaincies", each organized on a tribal level. Every nahija had its own elder (from the corresponding tribe). The tribal assemblies were attended regularly by all grown men from the corresponding clan. The "General Montenegrin Assembly" was the highest political body and a mediator between the Montenegrin people and the Ottoman authorities. It was composed of