TUBKET. 



TURKEY. 



8S4 



f l1 im. J Oman II., son of Ahmed L, succeeded. A short but 

 tmVsapr war with Poland was the most remarkable event of the 

 resn'of Ufa prince, who soon incurred the hatred of the nation. In 

 TiekHcei of the Uw which declares that the Sultan shall have no 

 in bis harem, except slave*. Oman oboee three wives among 

 the us^Hera of his first omorrs ; and he conceived the fantastic 

 plan of making pilgrimage to Mecca : the Janiasaries, being informed 

 ofths*, rose m open rebellion, and pat the question to the Mufti, if 

 ic was legal to kill those who gave bad advice to the Sultan and urge 

 Urn to innovations. The answer of the Mufti was afflrmative. Osman, 

 having refused to deliver up Us counsellors, was deposed and put in 

 prison, when be was strangled. His counsellors were likewise put 

 to death. His .nde, th. deposed Mnrtapha, was delivered from his 

 and again proclaimed Sultan. Daring his second reign 

 showed symptoms of insanity, and he was again deposed 



by tb. J 



[1*25 14<X) Murad or Amurad IV., brother of Osman II., and son 

 of Ahmed I., a child of twelve yean, was raised to the throne. For 

 the In* tan yean be reigned under the guardianship of his mother. 

 During the last eeren years of his reign, he erinced the character of 

 oroel but active and enterprising tyrant. Soon after his accession 

 a rebellion, which broke oat in Asia, headed first by Bekir, pasha of 

 Baghdad, and after his death by Abacah Pasha, led to a long series 

 of misfortunes and defeats, with the temporary loss of several of the 

 Asiatic provinces, and Baghdad fell into the hands of the Persians. 

 A rebellion broke out also among the Tartan of the Crimea, who 

 in Ii4 defeated the troops of the Kapudan Pasha. In the same 

 year ISO long barks, manned each with 70 Coeaaks, 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 Murad heard their cries, "The only means to 

 save the empire is thy sword ! " This encouraged the young Sultan : 

 he left the seraglio sod presented himself to the troops, who received 

 him with shouts of joy (163S). Two yean afterwards Murad, at the 

 hestd of a strong army, marched to the rescue of his Asiatic provinces. 

 In his first campaign he took En-rum, Eriwdn, 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 returned 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 1 97th day after leaving Scutari 

 Baghdad was taken by storm (Dec. 25, 1638). According to some 

 historiini 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 

 fell during the siege, and the remainder were massacred during and 

 after the storm. A peace was concluded with Persia in 1639, the 

 Persians retained Eriwan, but Baghdad and its extensive territory 

 was ceded to the Porte. Mured IV. died soon after his triumphal 

 entrance into Constantinople in 1640. 



[1040-1648.] Ibrahim L, youngest brother of Murad IV., and son 

 of Ahmed I., succeeded. The conquest of Azof from the Cossaks, 

 and a war with Venice, which resulted in the temporary conquest of 

 a part of Candia, were the most remarkable events of the short 

 reign of Ibrahim I. He spent his time in luxury and debauchery : 

 ana frequent rebellions characterised his reign. Ibnthim perished 



hi consequence of a revolt of the Janissaries. 

 [U48-16S7.] 



. 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 L A long series of disasters marks the minority 

 of this sultan. An expedition against Candia 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 Janissaries 

 ravaged the environs of Constantinople ; bands of robbers ravaged the 

 best provinces of Asia; from 1U48 to 1656 there were fifteen grand- 

 vudrs, making as many changes of ministry ; and in consequence of a 

 evolution in the seraglio, the old Sultana Mah-peiker was strangled 

 51). At last Mohammed Konrili became grand-vizir in 156, and 

 under his and bis lucceesor's administration Turkey recovered from 

 her depression. 



RagtAzi, the vassal prince of Transylvania, having ceded a con- 

 siderable territory to Austria, war ensued between the Sultan and 

 M emperor Leopold I. (1660). Ahmed Koprili, the son and suc- 

 Mohamued Koprili, conducted this war with great energy, 

 U>e Turkish arms were signalised by the conquest of Neu- 

 *eL Leutra. Uwenx, and Novigrad. The auxiliaries of the 

 Tartar khan pmrtrated into Moravia aud Silesia. But in 1664 the 

 grand vUir was routed by the Austrlans at St-Ootthard. Some days 

 *T?J >S t ^5* AhlD6d K5 P rnt concluded the peace of Vasvdr, by 

 Turks were compelled to evacuate Traniylvania, and to cede 

 ^.T^JS.?** '!* . f naa * tr J wU< * tnated between the Danube 

 JU^T* HtfeJP 1 )* I *! npted by the conquest of Candia 

 by, Ahmed Kuprlli in 1W9. In a war with Poland the Turks were at 

 first braten at Chocrto ; bat they afterwards took this important fur- 

 re*, as well a the country between the Dniester and the Dnieper, 

 and encamped under the walls of Umberg (1675). There they were 



routed by John Sobieski, king of Poland ; but their power was still 

 so great that, by the peace of Zurawua (1676), they acquired Podolia 

 and the fortress Kaminioe Podolski. The rebellion of Emmerich 

 Tokoli in Hungary, who was supported by the Turks, led to a renewal 

 of the war with Austria in 1682. K:(ni Mustapha Pasha, the grand- 

 vUir, 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 (1083). Few 

 Austrian troops were in Hungary to detain the Turks, and on the 

 14th of July 1688, K4X Mustapha, with 200,000 men, encamped under 

 the walls of Vienna. The heroic resistance of the citizens and the 

 feeble garrison, commanded by Count Starhembergr, saved Vienna 

 from the fate of Constantinople. On tlio 12th of September Kilnl 

 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 Moximilian-Emanuel, elector of Liavaria; and by a 

 body of Polish auxiliaries, commanded by their gallant kin^r, .Inhn 

 Sobiet-ki. [1'or.AND.] The Turks were completely defeated : the 

 victory was mainly due to the military talents of the king of Poland. 

 Kiini Mustapha, abandoning his camp, fled to'Hungary 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 the enemy 

 across the Danube. The Venetians acceded to the league against 

 Turkey, and captured Santa Maura 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. The Janissaries revolted, and Mohammed IV. 

 exchanged his throne for a prison in the seraglio. 



C1687-1G91.J Soliman II., brother of Mohammed IV., and son of 

 Ibrahim I. 



[1691-1695.] Ahmed II., brother of Soliman II. The Austrians con- 

 tinued their victories ; they took Belgrade, and routed the Turks at 

 Slankamen, 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 II., 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. But iu 

 Hungary the Austrian.? 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 Zento. These events led to 

 the peace of Carlowicz in 1699. Venice was confirmed in the posses- 

 sion of the Morea as far as the isthmus of Corinth, and of Dalmatia ; 

 Russia made only a truce for two years ; Poland received Podolia, the 

 Porte renouncing this conquest, and the fortress of Kaminiec Podol- 

 ski ; Austria received all Hungary, except the Banat of Temesvdr, 

 and the protectorship of Transylvania, 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. 



[1708-1730.] Ahmed HI., brother of Mustapha II., 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 Baltiiji Mohammed, Peter the Great would 

 have been obliged to surrender 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, Damali 

 'Ali Pasha, wrested the Morea from Venice in one campaign. Upon 

 this the emperor Charles VI. 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 Possarowicz, by which he 

 ceded to Austria the Banat of Temesvdr, and the western part of 

 Wallochia and Servia, with Belgrade ; he also restored his Venetian 

 conquests, except the Mores, which was ceded to Turkey. A war 

 ogaiust 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) ceded to the Sultan. In 1730 Shah- 

 Tohmosp suddenly recommenced hostilities, and recovered the ceded 

 provinces. When the news of this invasion reached Constantinople, 

 the Janissaries revolted, and the Sultan was deposed. During the 

 reign of Ahmed III. the first printing-office was established iu Con- 

 stantinople under the patronage of the grand-vizir Ibnihim. 



[1730-1754.] Mahmud I., the son of Mustapha II., n r -xt; mounted 

 the throne. His serasker, 'Ali Hekiiu-Zade, defeated the Persians at 



