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| 1748–56 |
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| Construction of the Nur-u Osmaniye mosque in Istanbul, the last great work of Ottoman religious architecture. It assimilated European stylistic influences into the classical Ottoman tradition. | 1 |
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| 1750 |
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| Construction of the Sultan Mahmud fountain in Cairo, which introduced a new type of public fountain (sabil) with a round shape and original decorative elements (probably copied from Istanbul). The design became a popular model for other fountains built in the following 50 years. | 2 |
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| 1754–57 |
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| SULTAN OSMAN III. The second son of Mustafa II was an inept man who left little mark on Ottoman affairs. His edicts restricting the public activities of women and enforcing the distinct clothing of non-Muslims won him no popularity with the public. | 3 |
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| 1755, Sept |
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| An immense fire in Istanbul, followed by another in July 1756. | 4 |
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| 1757, Oct |
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| A disastrous attack by beduins on the annual Damascus pilgrimage caravan to Mecca, in which thousands of pilgrims were killed or left to die in the desert. This was the worst of the 19 serious attacks on the caravan since 1700. | 5 |
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| 1757–74 |
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| SULTAN MUSTAFA III. The accession of Mehmed III's son Mustafa (Oct. 30) inaugurated some internal improvements directed by his able grand vezir, Ragib Pasha. But during the second part of his rule he brought to an end the longest continuous period of peace in Ottoman history (1747–68) with a disastrous war against Russia. | 6 |
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| 1757–63 |
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| Mehmed Ragib Pasha (1699–1763) served as grand vezir. A learned man and capable administrator, he succeeded in keeping the empire out of foreign entanglements. Like previous reformers, he worked against great odds to fight government corruption and reform state finances. | 7 |
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| 1759 |
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| A major earthquake in southern Syria and Palestine, causing massive damage. | 8 |
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| 1768 |
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| Death of Yusuf al-Sim‘ani (Joseph Assemani), a Maronite Christian from Lebanon known for his learning in Syriac and Arabic manuscripts. He became librarian at the Vatican Library. | 9 |
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| 1768–74 |
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| War with Russia. Russian advances in Poland and designs on the Crimea prompted the Ottomans to declare war, for which their forces proved ill-prepared. The Russians occupied Moldavia and Wallachia (1769–70), incited a short-lived revolt in the Morea (1770), destroyed the Ottoman fleet in the port of Cheshme, near Chios (July 6, 1770), and took the Crimea (1771). After their army was routed in Bulgaria (1774), the Ottomans sued for peace. The Treaty of Kuchuk Kaynarja (July 21, 1774) gave Russia the territory between the Dnieper and the Bug as well as Azov, but returned Moldavia and Wallachia to the Ottomans and recognized the Crimea as independent. The Russians gained the right to build an Orthodox church in Istanbul and protect the Orthodox in Istanbul, provisions that they subsequently used to claim Russian protection over all Orthodox Christians in the empire. During the war the Austrians had seized the northwestern part of Moldavia (the Bukovina), which the Ottomans ceded to them (May 7, 1775). | 10 |
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| 1768–73 |
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| Ali Bey al-Kabir established virtually independent rule in Egypt. He was a Mamluk of Circassian origin who was purchased in Cairo in 1743 and gradually rose in influence, winning the top office of sheik al-balad in 1760. In 1768 he deposed the Ottoman governor and assumed the post of acting governor. He stopped the annual tribute to Istanbul and in an unprecedented usurpation of the Ottoman sultan's privileges had his name struck on local coins in 1769 (alongside the sultan's emblem). In 1770 he gained control of the Hijaz and a year later temporarily occupied Syria, thereby reconstituting the Mamluk state that had disappeared in 1517. But he lost power in 1772, and died on May 8, 1773. | 11 |
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| 1771 |
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| Ali Bey of Egypt, in alliance with Zahir al-Umar of Galilee, overthrew Ottoman authority throughout Palestine and captured Damascus. But the Egyptian commander Muhammad Bey Abu al-Dhahab abruptly withdrew and returned with his forces to Egypt, while Zahir continued his revolt against the sultan. | 12 |
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