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| 1676–83 |
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| Kara Mustafa Pasha, brother-in-law of his predecessor, Kopruluzade Fazil Ahmed Pasha, served as grand vezir. | 1 |
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| 1677–81 |
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| First war with Russia (See 1681). Problems with maintaining the sultan's suzerainty in the Ukraine, encouraged by the Russians, led to several unsuccessful Ottoman campaigns against Russian forces that occupied the area between the Dnieper and the Bug. In the Treaty of Radzyn (Bahchesaray), signed in 1681, the Ottomans abandoned claims to the Ukrainian territory beyond the Dnieper. | 2 |
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| 1682 |
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| Death of Evliya Chelebi (b. 1611), famous for his massive travelogue Seyahatname. In the course of his service as an Ottoman soldier and official, he spent a good part of his life traveling in all parts of the empire and recording in detail his impressions of people and places. His accounts are a treasury of information, although in some instances he appears to have described journeys that he never made himself. | 3 |
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| 1682 |
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| Ottoman conquest of upper Hungary from the Habsburgs. | 4 |
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| 1683, July–Sept |
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| SECOND SIEGE OF VIENNA (See 1683, July 14–Sept. 12). A large army led by Kara Mustafa Pasha assaulted the walls of the Habsburg capital but met with a staunch defense and was forced to retreat after the arrival of Polish reinforcements led by John Sobieski. The Ottoman army was defeated at Gran (Nov. 1) and withdrew in disarray. Blamed for the debacle, Kara Mustafa was executed (Dec.). | 5 |
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| 1683–99 |
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| War with the Holy League. An alliance of the Habsburgs, Venice, Poland, and Russia confronted the Ottomans with offensives on several fronts and inflicted on them unprecedented territorial losses. On the Austrian front the Ottomans lost Hungary, Transylvania, Croatia and Slovenia (1684–87), and Belgrade as well as territories in Serbia and Macedonia (1688–89). An Ottoman counteroffensive (1690–91) recovered Belgrade and restored the Danube defense line but failed to recapture Hungary. The Ottoman army successfully defended Temesvar (1695–97) but was then virtually destroyed at Zenta (Sept. 11, 1697), leading the sultan to make peace overtures. | 6 |
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| 1685–87 |
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| The Venetians captured the Dalmatian coast, the Morea, and Athens. | 7 |
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| 1687–91 |
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| SULTAN SULEYMAN II. Sultan Mehmed was deposed (Nov. 8, 1687) for failing to handle the crisis that developed in the wake of the disastrous European war. The new ruler, Sultan Ibrahim's second son, faced mass discontent over the burden of new taxes, debasements of the coinage, arrears in the payment of soldiers' salaries, soaring of food prices, and the widespread famine of 1687. Bands of rebellious troops terrorized the capital for several months until Suleyman led a crackdown on them. | 8 |
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| 1689, Oct. 25 |
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| Kopruluzade Fazil Mustafa Pasha, younger brother of Fazil Ahmed Pasha, was appointed grand vezir. He worked vigorously to bring discipline to the army and reform state finances, but was killed on the battlefield in Aug. 1691. | 9 |
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| 1691–95 |
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| SULTAN AHMED II. After Suleyman's death, Sultan Ibrahim's third son assumed the throne. He proved incapable of directing the affairs of state or pursuing the reforms set in motion by Fazil Mustafa Pasha. He also took an intransigent position with the European enemies, keeping the costly war going. | 10 |
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| 1694 |
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| Capture of Basra by the Muntafiq Arabs, who had been steadily extending their power in southern Iraq at the expense of Ottoman authority. It was retaken by the Ottomans in 1701. | 11 |
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| 1695–1703 |
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| SULTAN MUSTAFA II. With the death of Ahmed (Feb. 6, 1695), Mehmed IV's son Mustafa took over. Serious defeats prompted him to end the long European war, while domestically his able grand vezir, Amjazade Huseyin Pasha, tried to improve conditions. | 12 |
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