[1687-1691.] Soliman IL, brother of Mohammed IV., and son of Ibrahim 1.
[1691.1695.] Abmed IL, brother of Soliman II. The Austrians con tinued their victories; they took Belgrade, and routed the Turks at Slankatnen, whereupon the fortress of Grand-Waradin surrendered to Leopold I. The Venetians conquered Chios. The internal state of the empire was deplorable ; there was rebellion in all the provinces.
[1695-1703.] Mustapha IL, son of Sultan Mohammed IV. Under this reign the Turks gained some advantages over the Venetians by recovering Chios; and the Tartars ravaged part of Poland. lint in Hungary the Austrians were still victorious, and a strong body of them crossed the Danube and penetrated as far as the foot of the Balkan. In 1696 Peter the Great concluded an alliance with Austria against Turkey, and took Azof. In the following year the Venetian fleet was defeated by the Turks at Mitylene, but Prince Eugene defeated the grand-vizir in the battle of Zenta. These events led to the peace of Carlowicz in 1699. Venice was confirmed in the posses sion of the Moron as far as the isthmus of Corinth, and of Dalmatia ; Russia made only a truce for two years; Poland received Podolia, the Porto renouncing this conquest, and the fortress of Kaminiec Podol ski ; Austria received all Hungary, except the Banat of Temesvdr, and the protectorship of Traneylvania, which country, as well as Hungary, ceased to be vassal states of Turkey. The Osmanlis felt the decline of their power with deep regret. An insurrection was prepared; the rebels marched to Constantinople, and Mustapha was deposed in 1703.
[1703-1730.] Ahmed III., brother of Mustaphn IL, and son of Mohammed IV., succeeded. He was at first unable to quell those disorders which were the cause of his accession, and in fifteen years he had fourteen grand-vizirs. In his reign Charles XII. of Sweden took refuge in Turkey. The Sultan, after trying in vain to get rid of the king, at last declared war in his behalf against Russia, and but for the treason of Baltdji Mohammed, Peter the Great would have been obliged to snrrender to the Turks with his whole army. The empress Catherine, who was with him in the camp, saved him by bribing the grand-vizir. The peace of the Pruth was concluded in 1711, and the czar was allowed to retire to his empire after having ceded the fortress of Azof. Charles XII. left Turkey in 1713. In 1714 the Sultan led his army into Greece, and the grand-vizir, Damah 'Ali Pasha, wrested the Mores from Venice in ono campaign. Upon this the emperor Charles VL concluded an alliance with Venice, and Turkey became involved in a war, the result of which was to lessen her influence in Europe. Defeated by Prince Eugene at Peterwaradin
in 1716, and at Belgrade in 1717, the Turks were disbanded; and in 1718 the Sultan concluded the peace of Passarowiez, by which ho ceded to Austria the Banat of Temesvdr, and the western part of Wallachia and Servia, with Belgrade; ho also restored his Venetian conquests, except the Mores, which was coded to Turkey. A war against Persia soon followed, in which the Turks were allies of Peter the Great, and acquired a considerable part of north-western Persia, which was afterwards (1726) coded to the Sultan. In 1730 Shah Tahmsisp suddenly recommenced hostilities, and recovered the ceded provinces. When the news of this invasion reached Constantinople, the Janissaries revolted, and the Sultan was deported. During the reign of Ahmed IIL the first printing-offioe was established in Con stantinople under the patronage of the grand-vizir Ibrahim.
[1730.1754.] Mahmud L, the son of Mustapha II., neat mounted the throne. His serasker, 'Ali If ekhn-Zade, defeated the Persians at Hamadan, and conquered Tabriz ; the divan then concluded a peace with Tahmisp, which dissatisfied the nation. A revolt ensued, and the brave 'Ali Hekim-Zade was appointed grand-vizir. Shortly after this, Nadir-Khali-Khan usurped the throne of Persia, and renewed the war with the Turks, who, though at first victorious, were entirely defeated under 'Abdfi-llah Koprili, and compelled to renounce the provinces which had been ceded to them during the reign of Ahmed III. (1736). Previously to this peace differences had arisen between the Porte and Russia. Feth-Ghiray, the khan of the Crimea, had received orders from Constantinople to march across the steppe of the Kuban, to cross the Caucasus, and to attack the Persians in Georgia. The territory in his line of march was in part claimed by Russia, whose commander in Daghistan, the Prince of flame Hom burg, declared to the khan that he considered his march through the Kabarda as a violation of the Russian territory; and as the khan continued his march in spite of his menaces, he attacked the Tartars as soon as they had crossed the range of the (humans, and approached the river Samar, near the frontiers of Daghietan. Feth-Ghiray defended himself until orders came from Constantinople to return to the Crimea. In 1737 Austria concluded an offensive and defensive alliance with Russia, and declared war against the Porte. The Austrians, defeated in several pitched battles, concluded peace with the Porte at Belgrade (1739), and ceded to Turkey the western part of Wallachia, and Servia, with Belgrade. But the Russians overran part of the Crimea, took Choczim by storm, and conqnered Moldavia.