06234610.j MGrad or .Amfirad IV., brother of Osman IL, and son of Ahmed I., a child of twelve years, was raised to the throne. For the first ten years he reigned under the guardianship of his mother. During the last seven years of his reign, he evinced the character of a cruel but active and enterprising tyrant. Soon after his accession a rebellion, which broke out in Asia, headed first by Bekir, pasha of Baghdad, and after his death by Abazah Pasha, led to a long series of misfortunes and defeats, with the temporary loss of several of tho Asiatic provinces, and Baghdad fell into the hands of the Persians. A rebellion broke out also among the Tartars of the Crimea, who in 1621 defeated the troops of the Kapudan Pasha. In the same year 150 long barks, manned each with 70 Cossaks, appeared in sight of Constantinople, and ravaged the shores of the Bosporus. The Janissaries, exasperated by all these disasters, set fire to a quarter of Constantinople, and 3liirad beard their cries, " The only means to save the empire is thy sword I" This encouraged the young Sultan : be left the seraglio and presented himself to the troops who received him with sbonta of joy (1633). Two years afterwards iltirad, at the head of a strong army, marched to the rescue of his Asiatic provinces. In his first campaign he took Erz-rum, Eristain, and Tabriz; the people in the rebellious provinces were burnt, together with their villages and towns, and the least fault of his officers was punished with torture and death. He retnrned to Constantinople, and in 1638 opened a fresh campaign for the deliverance of Baghdad. He took one of the great military roads across Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, and arrived before Baghdad on the 197th day after leaving Scutari. Baghdad was taken by storm (Dee. 25, 1638). According to some historians the number of the killed was 80,000, including 30,000 Persian Shiites, inhabitants of Baghdad, who were massacred some days after the storm. Of the Persian garrison of 30,000 men, 10,000 fall during the siege, and the remainder were massacred during and after the storm. A peace was concluded with Persia in 1639, the Persians retained Kriwan, lint Baghdad and its extensive territory was ceded to the Porte. Miirad 1V. died soon after his triumphal entrance into Constantinople in 1640.
[16404 61S.] Ihrahlm L, youngest brother of Mflrad IV., and son of Ahmed L, succeeded. The conquest of Azof from the Cossaks, and a war with Venice, which resulted in the temporary conquest of a part of Candies, were the most remarkable events of the short reign of Ibrahim I. lie spent his time in luxury and debauchery : and frequent rebellions characterised his reign. Ibrahim perished In consequence of a revolt of the Janissaries.
[1618-1687.] Mohammed IV., son of Ibrahim, a boy of seven years of age, began his reign under the guardianship of his grandmother, the widow of Ahmed I. A long series of disasters marks the minority of this sultan. An expedition against Candies failed, and in two battles off Chios and at the outer entrance of the Dardanelles the Venetians destroyed a considerable part of the Turkish navy. The pages of the Sultan revolted ; the troops in Candia mutinied; the Jet:shimmies ravaged the environs of Constantinople ; bands of robbers ravaged the best provinces of Asia; from 1618 to 1656 there were fifteen grand vizir., making as many changes of ministry ; and in consequence of a
revolution in the seraglio, the old Sultana Matepeiker was strangled (1651). At last Mohammed KOprili became grand-vizir in 1656, and under his and his successor's administration Turkey recovered from her depression.
Ragetzi, the vassal prince of Transylvania, having ceded a con siderable territory to Austria, war ensued between the Sultan and the emperor Leopold I. (1660). Ahmed Kaprili, the son and sue comer of Mohammed conducted this war with great energy, and the Turkish arms were aignalised by the conquest of Neu Issutra. Lewenz, end Novigrad. The auxiliaries of the Tartar khan penetrated Into Moravia and Silesia. But in 1064 the grand•vizlr was routed by the Austrians at St.-Gotthard. Some days after his derma Ahmed K.Aprilt concluded the peace of Vasvdr, by which the Turks were compelled to evacuate Transylvania, and to code to Arians that part of Hungary which is situated between the Danube and the Theis•. This loss was compensated by the conquest of Candle by Ahmed Koprili in 1669. In a war with Poland the Turks were at first beaten at Choczlm ; but they afterwards took this important for tress, as well as the country between the Dniester and the Dnieper, and encamped under the walls of Lemberg (1675). There they were routed by John Sobieski, king of Poland ; but their power was still so great thnt, by the pence of Zumwna (1676), they acquired Podolia and the fortress Kaminloc Podolski. The rebellion of Emmerich Takiili in Hungary, who was supported by the Turks, led to a renewal of the war with Austria in 1682. Kdra Mustapha Paella, the grand vizir, commanded the Turkish army as serasker, or general-field marshal ; and the Sultan, preceded by the standard of the Prophet, left Constantinople and accompanied his army to Hungary (1683). Few Austrian troops were in Hungary to detain the Turks, and on the 14th of July 1683, Karl Muetapha, with 200,000 men, encamped under the walls of Vienna. The heroic resistance of the citizens and the feeble garrison, commanded by Count Starhemberg, saved Vienna from the fate of Constantinople. On the 12th of September Kara Mustapha was attacked by an army composed of the Austrian troops, commanded by the Duke of Lorraine; of the troops of the empire, commanded by Maximilian-Emanuel, elector of Bavaria; and by a body of Polish auxiliaries, commanded by their gallant king, John Sobieski. [Powsn.] The Turks were defeated : the victory was mainly due to the military talents of the king of Poland. Kara Mustapha, abandoning his camp, tolllungary with the remnant of his army : 6000 men, 11,000 women, 14,000 girls, and 50,000 children had been carried off by the Turks into slavery. The imperial troops pursued the Turks, and in three years took the capital and the most important fortresses of Hungary, and drove tho enemy across the Danube. The Venetians acceded to the league against Turkey, and captured Santa Mauro and several places in Epirus and Greece, and at last Moroeini took Athens from the Turks, and forced them to evacuate Greece. So much disgrace after so many triumphs made the Turks despair. TheJanissaries revolted, and Mohammed IV. exchauged his throne for a prison in the seraglio.