Selim II had been a poor ruler, however, with the help Sokollu Mehmed, his talented grand vizier, his rule was relatively successful.  His son, Murad III became sultan following Selim's death in 1574.  Murad severely limited Sokollu's powers and ruled as a despot.  In 1578, Sokollu, the guardian of the empire, was assassinated by a political enemy at court.  This left Murad to rule on his own.  Shortly, after Sokollu's death, Murad ordered his army to go to war with Persia.  Although this conflict lasted for twelve years, it yielded on slight territorial gains and exhausted the Ottoman treasury.  To compensate for his war expenditures, Murad's government further debased the already weak currency.  The elite Janissaries were greatly alarmed by the debasement of their salaries and in 1589 they revolted.  They did so again in 1591 and 1592.  In 1593, the sultan's own cavalry guards, the sipahis, rebelled.  Murad successfully quelled all of these rebellions, although not without making serious concessions to the Janissaries and weakening his power base.  Following the sipahi revolt in 1593, the war hungry sultan sent his armies into Europe against the forces of the Austrian Empire.  Murad III died in 1595 of an unknown stomach ailment.
         Mehmed III succeeded his father as sultan.  He continued his father's war against the Austrians.  In 1596, Mehmed lead the Ottomans to victory at the hotly contested Battle of Mesokeresztes, although this battle did not end the hostilities between the Ottomans and the Austrians.  That same year, irregular troops known as Celalis staged a major revolt in Anatolia; this revolt caused most of Asia Minor to descend into anarchy.  It also gave Shah Abbas of Persia the opportunity to invade Azerbaijan and Far Eastern Anatolia.  The Shah's actions prompted Mehmed to declare war on the Persians in 1603.  Shortly thereafter, he died and his son, Ahmed, was crowned sultan.
         The new fourteen-year-old sultan was immediately faced with a two front war.  Realizing he was overextended, he pressed for peace with the Austrians.  In 1606, the Ahmed agreed to the Treaty of Zsitva-Torok, which ceded most of Hungary to the Austrians.  At the same time, the Ottomans still had to face the Persians and Celali rebels.  Three years later, the Celali rebellion was finally put down.  In 1617, Ahmed I died before he could reach a peace agreement with the Persians.  His mentally ill brother, Mustafa I, followed him on the throne.  The Janissaries deposed Mustafa within a year and replaced him with Ahmed I's thirteen-year-old son, Osman II.  As soon as Osman was crowned he was forced to make peace with Persia, although it did not come cheaply; the Ottomans were forced to relinquish all of Azerbaijan to Shah Abbas.  Osman had always dreamt of military glory and was disappointed that he had not been allowed to fight the Persians longer.  In 1621, Osman decided to invade Poland, in search of his place in history.  Despite initial successes, Osman lead his army to a crushing defeat.  He returned to Istanbul in 1622, at which time the Janissaries, alarmed by Osman's military blunder, assassinated him.  This was the first case of regicide in Ottoman history.  The Janissaries returned Mustafa I to the throne.  Mustafa remained as sultan for only fifteen months, then he was again deposed because of his mental problems.
         This time Mustafa was replaced by Ahmed I's other son, Murad IV.  Murad was only fourteen when he became Sultan and his early reign was very chaotic.   A year after he ascended the throne, another revolt broke out in Anatolia; as it spread, Murad IV lost governing authority over much of the empire.  Even Istanbul was run by Janissary faction leaders.  That same year, 1624 the Persians seized Baghdad and the Cossacks began to raid Black Sea Ports.  The empire was in total disarray.  Finally in 1628, order was restored; however, Murad still had no real governing authority.  He was simply a pawn of his overbearing mother, Kosem, and the Agha (leader) of the Janissaries.  Four years later, Murad IV finally took control of the government and he ruled with an iron fist.  In 1640, Murad died childless from cirrhosis of the liver.  He was only twenty-eight years old.  On his death bed, Murad called for the execution of his mentally unbalanced brother, Ibrahim.  However, Kosem was determined to save her last son from death.  She did succeed and after Murad died Ibrahim became sultan.
         Ibrahim was a disastrous sultan; he was decadent and impulsive.  Furthermore, like his uncle Mustafa I, he suffered from mental illness.  In 1640, Ibrahim sent his armies to retake the Black Sea Port of Azov, which had been seized by Cossack raiders three years earlier.  Thanks entirely to the military, the port was recovered.  Pleased with himself, Ibrahim sent his armies to invade Crete in 1645.  The invasion of Crete created a new conflict with the Venetians.  In 1648, while the siege of Crete's capital, Candia, continued, the Venetians blockaded the Dardanelles.  Furious over the lack of military leadership exhibited by Ibrahim, the Janissaries assassinated him later that same year.  He was followed on the throne by his seven-year-old son, Mehmed IV.  Mehmed's mother, Turhan, and powerful grandmother, Kosem, ruled the empire for the young Mehmed.  However, in 1649, the Janissaries seized power in Istanbul and they allowed the Celalis to govern most of Anatolia.  This delicate system of government lasted only two years; then the empire descended into anarchy once again.  Finally, in 1656, Sultana Turhan encouraged the young Mehmed to appoint Koprulu Mehmed as his grand vizier and grant him dictatorial powers.  Over the next three years, Koprulu Mehmed turned the empire around dramatically.  He reestablished control of Istanbul and the provinces, he ended the Venetian blockade of the Dardanelles (which had been ongoing since 1648), and he took control of the former provinces of Wallachia and Transylvania in Europe.  Koprulu Mehmed died at the age of 76 in 1661.  He was immediately replaced by his twenty-six-year-old son,  Koprulu Ahmed.
        In 1663, Ahmed led the Ottoman army deep into Europe to wage war against the Hapsburgs of Austria.  That summer, he won a major victory against the Austrians at the Battle of Neuhausel.  He and his troops wintered in Belgrade, in the spring of 1664; his troops began the long march towards Vienna.  Unfortunately for the Ottomans, they were met with a crushing defeat at the Battle of St. Goddard.  Despite their victory, the Austrians had suffered heavy casualties and they pressed for a quick peace.  The result was the treaty of Vasvar, a diplomatic victory for the Ottomans since it merely restated the terms of Zsitva-Torok.  What Koprulu Ahmed had failed to win by war, he won instead by diplomacy.  Now at peace with the Hapsburgs, Ahmed turned his sights towards Crete.  In 1666, he sent reinforcements to Candia (Crete's capital) and in 1669, after a twenty-five-year siege, the city fell to the Ottomans.  This brought the Venetians to the peace table and they grudgingly agreed to recognize Ottoman sovereignty over their former territory, Crete.  In 1672, Koprulu Ahmed began the last of his military campaigns; this one was against the expansionist king of Poland, John Sobieski.  The war with Poland ended four years later with the Treaty of Zurawno, which forced Sobieski to make serious concessions to the Ottomans.  A few days after the treaty was signed, Koprulu Ahmed died.
        Mehmed IV was now faced with the difficult task of choosing a new grand vizier.  He decided to appoint his son-in-law, Kara Mustafa.  A year after his appointment, in 1677, the Russian army moved into Ottoman territory in the Ukraine.  Kara Mustafa bumbled the coordination of Ottoman defenses in the area and he was forced to relinquish control of the Ukrainian territories to the Russians in 1681.  In 1683, Kara Mustafa's next military blunder got underway.  He decided to declare war on the Hapsburgs.  The Ottoman army swooped into Eastern Europe and by the summer they were at the gates of Vienna.  The second Ottoman siege of Vienna was lifted when the Polish army, under the control of John Sobieski, attacked the Ottomans.  The second siege had resurrected the Holy League, now comprised of Venice, Austria, and Poland, with additional help from Safavid Persia.  The Ottomans were forced to withdraw from Vienna to Buda.  In 1686, Buda fell to Holy Leagues forces as well.  The Ottomans withdrew again, this time to Belgrade.  After the fall of Buda, the Austrians seized the Danube Basin, the Venetians took Morea, and the Polish began to annex ports on the western coast of the Black Sea.  It was also at this time that the Russians joined the alliance.  In 1687, Kara Mustafa led a massive force against the Austrians at Mohac.  Unlike the first Battle of Mohac, this one was a horrible defeat for the Ottomans.  The defeat resulted in Kara Mustafa's execution and Mehmed IV's deposition.
        Mehmed IV's replacement was his older brother, Suleyman II.  Suleyman was unable to stop the Austrian advance into Ottoman territory and in 1688, the Austrians took Belgrade.  This forced the Ottoman army to retreat to the former imperial capital of Edirne.  The Austrians were now in control of Bosnia and Serbia and the Venetians had made advances in Albania, Greece, and Dalmatia.  The empire was on the brink of collapse.  It was at this point that Suleyman II decided to appoint Koprulu Mustafa (Koprulu Ahmed's brother) grand vizier.   Koprulu Mustafa began his administration by rooting out corruption in the government and reforming the military.  In 1690, he led a freshly equipped Ottoman army against the Austrians and retook Belgrade for the Ottomans.  The following year, the sultan died and his brother, Ahmed II, replaced him.  Ahmed retained Koprulu Mustafa as grand vizier and supported him in his decision to lead the Ottoman army against the Austrians once again.  This time the two forces meet near the small town of Slankamen.  The Austrian forces, under the capable command of Prince Ludwig Peterwardein, soundly defeated the Ottomans.  Among the battle's heavy casualties was Koprulu Mustafa himself.  A lull in the fighting between the Holy League and the Ottomans took place for the next four years.
        However, following Ahmed II's death in 1695, the Russians went on the offensive.  The new sultan, Mustafa II  (Mehmed IV's son), was caught completely off guard and the poorly defended port of Azov fell to the Russians with little resistance.  The following year, the ambitious new sultan led his troops into Hungary.  He met with several early successes, but in 1697 his forces were defeated by the Austrians and Hungarians at the Battle of Zenta.  The next year, Mustafa II, as his father and uncles had, called on a Koprulu to become his grand vizier.  This time the man appointed was Koprulu Huseyin, Ahmed and Mustafa's cousin.  His first main action as grand vizier was to call for a peace conference.  In 1699, Huseyin went to Karlowitz, Croatia to meet with representatives from Austria, Venice, and Poland.  The resulting treaty was particularly kind to the Ottomans.  They were able to regain Bosnia, Serbia, Wallachia, Moldavia, and parts of Hungary and Greece.  (This ended a sixteen year long war, which had been started by Kara Mustafa's failed siege of Vienna in 1683).  A year later, the Russians also sought to make peace with the Ottomans.  In 1702, court intrigue forced the talented Koprulu Huseyin into early retirement; he died unexpectedly three months later.  The following year, the Janissaries rebelled in Istanbul and forced Mustafa II to abdicate in favor of his brother, Ahmed III.
        The sultan was able to enjoy peace throughout his lands during the first several years of his reign.  This might be due to the fact that tow of the Ottomans chief rivals, Russian and Poland, were embroiled in the Great Northern War with Charles XII's Sweden.  In 1709, Charles is forced to leave Sweden and he sought and received asylum in Istanbul.  This angered the Ottomans' northern neighbor, Russia.  In 1711, the Russians invaded Moldavia and an Ottoman force intercepted them at Pruth.  The ensuing battle was a surprising victory for Ahmed III.  Two years later, the Russians were forced to accept Ottoman dictated peace terms.  They called for the return of Azov to the Turks, the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Poland and the Crimea, and the restoration of Charles XII as Sweden's monarch.  The following year, Ottoman forces, under the command of Grand Vizier Damad Ali went to war with Venice.  The Venetians lost ground quickly and in 1716, Austria entered the war to aid the Venetians, which allowed the Austrians to take Belgrade again.  Due to his military failures in Europe, Damad Ali was replaced as grand vizier by Damad Ibrahim Pasha.  Ibrahim Pasha immediately took steps to end the war with Austria and Venice.  Months after he ascended to power, in 1718, the Treaty of Passarowitz was signed with Austria and Venice.  It granted the Ottomans Morea and most of Dalmatia and Albania (which had all been Venetian).  However, at the same time, it ceded all of Hungary and most of Serbia and Wallachia to the Austrians.  With the exception of an insignificant war with Persia in 1723, Ahmed III again ruled over an empire at peace.  With the help of Damad Ibrahim Pasha, Ahmed set out a vast program of modernization and reform, popularly known as the Tulip Period (this would serve as a precursor to the reforms of Selim III and his successors).  Tulip reforms effected all facets of Ottoman administration from the tax codes to military rules of engagement.  Reactionary forces grew increasing concerned about Ahmed III's Europhile attitude.  In 1730, a group of ultra religious Janissaries revolted; they forced Ahmed to abdicate and executed Damad Ibrahim Pasha.
        Mahmud I succeeded his uncle as sultan.  Before his coronation festivities had finished Mahmud already faced a serious threat from an invading Persian army.  He dispatched troops to the region, but the Ottomans still lost territory to the Persians.  In 1734, the Russians took Azov and ravaged the Crimea; two year later, the Austrians joined the Russians in their offensive .  The Turks suffered many early defeats, but eventually turned the war in their favor.  In 1739, the French negotiated the Treaty of Belgrade between the three warring parties.  The treaty called for the Austrian withdrawal from all of Serbia (including Belgrade), Bosnia, and Wallachia.  The Russians were also forced to make concessions including their withdrawal from Azov.  The remaining fifteen years of Mahmud I's reign were a time a peace throughout the empire (again with the exception of a minor war with the Persians).
        In 1754, Mahmud I died and he was succeeded by his feeble brother, Osman III.  Osman ruled for three uneventful years.  During his last year as sultan, Osman appointed the Raghib Pasha grand vizier.  Raghib was a highly talented administrator and reformer.  Following Osman III's death, Raghib continued to serve as grand vizier for Osman's successor, Mustafa III.  In 1763, Raghib died and Mustafa III began ruling for himself.  Following another five years of peace, the ambitious sultan declared war on Russia.  Sadly, the Ottoman army was ill prepared for the massive Russian counter-attack.  Five Russian armies attacked on five different fronts.  They seized Moldavia, Wallachia, and Georgia.  In 1770, The Ottomans suffered a major defeat on the banks of the Danube River.  The following year, the Russians invaded the Crimea again and to make matters worse, in 1773, Mamluk chief Ali Bey began a rebellion in Egypt.
        Shortly thereafter, Mustafa III died and his younger brother was crowned Sultan Abdulhamid I.  The new sultan was pressured by his advisors to make peace with the Russians as soon as possible.  The following year, the Ottomans and Russians negotiated the Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca.  It granted Russia sovereignty over Moldavia, Wallachia, and Georgia.  However, it called for the independence of the Crimea under the newly formed Tartar Khanate, which was later annexed by the Russians in 1783.  The Russians continued aggressive behavior prompted Abdulhamid to declare war on them in 1787.  The Austrians soon entered the war on the side of the Russians. and the Swedes joined the Turks' side.  When Abdulhamid died in 1789, the situation looked bleak for the Ottomans.

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