| |
| 1710–11 |
| |
| War with Russia. Seeking to advance in the Black Sea area and raise a Balkan revolt against the sultan, Peter the Great provoked a confrontation with the Ottomans. His army crossed the Pruth into Moldavia (July 1711) but was soon surrounded by the Ottoman army and sued for peace. The agreement signed at the Pruth (July 21, 1711) provided the basis for the definitive peace treaty concluded in June 1713. The Russians agreed to return all the conquered lands and evacuate Azov. The collusion with Russia by the native princes of Moldavia and Wallachia prompted the Ottoman government to replace them with its own appointees from among the Greek Phanariote families of Istanbul. This new regime lasted until 1822. | 1 |
| |
| 1711 |
| |
| A civil war in Egypt, which raged for some two months and involved nearly all military and ruling groups. In its aftermath, the Mamluk beys emerged as the dominant political force, while the Ottoman governors became figureheads. The factional struggle between beys of the Faqariyya and Qasimiyya factions dominated the subsequent history of Egypt in the 18th century. | 2 |
| |
| 1711 |
| |
| The battle of Ayn Dara in Lebanon, in which Amir Haydar Shihab defeated the chieftain of the Shuf region and consolidated the hegemony of the Shihab family. | 3 |
| |
| 1711 |
| |
| Death of Buhurizade Mustafa Itri (b. c. 1640), a gifted musician who composed sacred and secular pieces (of which only 27 have been found). He belonged to the Mevlevi order and was employed in the sultan's court. | 4 |
| |
| 1712 |
| |
| Death of Yusuf Nabi (b. 1642), an Ottoman scholar and masterly poet who was highly learned in Arabic and Persian literature. In a small book of counsel (Hayriye) written in verse for his son, he provided a vivid commentary on the ways of his time. | 5 |
| |
| 1714–18 |
| |
| War with Venice and Austria. The Ottomans declared war on Venice (Dec. 1714) to regain the Morea. They took the Morea (summer 1715), but their attempts to recover Hungary from the Habsburgs brought them disastrous defeats, including the loss of Temesvar (Oct. 1716) and Belgrade (Aug. 1717). By the Treaty of Passarowitz (July 21, 1718), the Ottomans lost the Banat of Temesvar, western Wallachia (Little Wallachia), and northern Serbia, including Belgrade, but retained the Morea. Their losses indicated again the shift in military power in favor of Europe. | 6 |
| |
| 1716 |
| |
| Death of Mustafa Naima (b. 1655), the first and possibly greatest of the official Ottoman court chroniclers. His history (Razvat al-Huseyin), covering the period 1591–1659, was remarkable for going beyond the traditional chronicling of events and presenting interpretation as well as reflections on the causes of Ottoman decline. | 7 |
| |
| 1718–30 |
| |
| Damad Ibrahim Pasha served as grand vezir, presiding over the innovative changes of the Tulip Period. He began sending Ottoman ambassadors to European capitals for the first time, to secure information about developments in Europe. Sketches brought from France became models for a new pleasure palace he built for the sultan. Named Saadabad, the palace was surrounded by pavilions, statues, fountains, and gardens. The upper classes imitated this new style in a wave of extravagant construction and imported European furniture and artwork. Damad Ibrahim also encouraged scholarship and the introduction of printing. | 8 |
| |
| 1723 |
| |
| Death of Demetrius Cantemir (b. 1673), a Moldavian prince and scholar who acquired knowledge of Turkish, Arabic, and Persian during a period of exile in Istanbul after 1711. He wrote a history of the Ottoman Empire as well as a treatise on Turkish music that included a notated collection of 353 instrumental pieces. This collection remains one of only two extant records of the premodern repertoire of the Middle East (the other being that of Ali Ufki, 1610–1675). | 9 |
| |
| 1723–25 |
| |
| The Ottomans occupied Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Shirvan following the chaos in Iran caused by the Afghan invasion. The Russians also advanced into the Caucasus, and to avert war with the Ottomans, an Ottoman-Russian treaty (June 24, 1724) partitioned Iran's northwestern provinces between the two powers. | 10 |
| |
| 1725 |
| |
| Beginning of rule of the Azm family in Damascus with the appointment of Isma‘il Pasha al-Azm as governor of the province. Between 1725 and 1783, members of the family held power in Damascus for a total of 47 years, in addition to periodic appointments in the provinces of Sidon, Tripoli, and Aleppo. The Azms, whose origins are not known with certainty, belonged to a notable family from the region of Ma'arra, south of Aleppo. | 11 |
| |
| 1726 |
| |
| Beginning of rule of the Jalilis in Mosul with the appointment of Isma‘il ibn Abd al-Jalil, member of a local notable family, as governor of the province. Between 1726 and 1834, members of the Jalili family held the office a total of 78 years, forming a dynasty of sorts in the area. Periodic attempts by the central government to replace them or reduce their power proved unsuccessful. | 12 |
| |
| |
