Mohammad III	Ahmed I	Mustafa I	Osman II	Murad IV
Ibrahim I	Mohammad IV	Sulaiman II	Ahmed II	Mustafa II

In 1595 Mohammed (Mehemmed) III acceded to the Ottoman throne and - in accordance with custom - had his nineteen brothers executed. Unfortunately he died soon after (1603) leaving only two sons:  Ahmed aged fourteen, and Mustafa aged twelve. Since it was feared that Ahmed would die without heirs, Mustafa was not killed. Ahmed did indeed die in 1617, when his eldest son (Osman) was still only thirteen, and the imbecilic, paranoid Mustafa ruled for three months before being unceremoniously deposed in favor of Osman. Osman II's rule (1618-22) was so bad that rebellious troops brought back Mustafa. Osman was strangled in prison. Mustafa once again proved his incompetence and after fifteen months (1622-23) was deposed in favor of the twelve-year-old Murad IV - one of Ahmed's younger sons. Murad IV was manipulated and humiliated by scheming courtiers and undisciplined troops until May 1632. Thereafter Murad IV ruled with an iron fist. (The misogynistic, alcoholic Murad executed roughly 25,000 of his subjects, some for the most trivial of reasons). The reign of the psychotic, sex-crazed Ibrahim I (he had the 280 women of his harem drowned because he heard a rumor that one of them had been unfaithful) marked a return to faction and violence. Ibrahim was overthrown by rebellious janissaries, and strangled in prison.

Mohammad (Mehmed) IV was too young to govern, but fortunately in 1656 an extremely able Albanian, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha was appointed Grand Vizier. His ruthless and bloody rule restored a degree of central control, and his son, Köprülü Fazil Ahmed Pasha succeeded him as Grand Vizier. Fazil Ahmed (Grand Vizier 1661-76) was a moderate, fair, and able administrator, who curbed corruption and restored the Empire to solvency. Mohammad IV spent his time hunting. Kara Mustafa Pasha, the next Grand Vizier launched the fateful attack on Vienna that led to the rout of Turkish forces in Europe and his own execution (December 1683). Mohammad IV just carried on hunting. His disgusted janissaries rebelled, released Mohammad's younger brother, Sulaiman II, and locked up Mohammad in a cage instead. Sulaiman showed some ability as a ruler and appointed the able Fazil Mustafa as his Grand Vizier, but died after only four years on the throne. Ahmed II, his half brother, likewise ruled only briefly. Mustafa II was energetic and committed to retrieving the Turks' military fortunes. Unfortunately for this plan, he underestimated both Peter the Great and Eugene of Savoy. Mustafa retreated to the pleasures of Adrianople and was deposed in 1703 by rebellious janissaries.

In the early seventeenth century, the Ottoman Empire faced intermittent warfare with Persia on its eastern frontiers. The Persians had seized Baghdad from Ottoman control, and from 1623 to 1639 Turkish troops made repeated attempts to regain it. In 1639 after finally retaking Baghdad, the Ottomans concluded the Peace of Zuhab with Persia settling their territorial differences (and incidentally establishing the present-day border between Iraq and Iran).

The Ottoman Empire launched a brief and unsuccessful attack on Poland in 1620-21. A much greater military effort was launched against Venice in 1645 with an Ottoman landing in Crete. The island's Greek Orthodox population had no love for its Catholic Venetian rulers and most of the island soon fell. The Venetians retained the Cretan fortress of Candia and used their navy to harass Ottoman ships supplying the besieging troops. The Venetian navy almost entirely destroyed the Ottoman navy off the Dardanelles (1656), but the Ottomans rapidly built more ships. However, it was not until 1669 that they were finally able to overcome the garrison at Candia. In 1661, an Ottoman army was sent to suppress György Rákóczi II of Transylvania, who was attempting to throw off Turkish control. The Ottoman army performed poorly against the Hapsburg forces sent to assist the Transylvanians, but Leopold I was far more concerned with beating the French than the sultan, and concluded the Peace of Vasvár (1664) recognizing Turkish control in Transylvania. In 1672 the Turks allied with the Cossacks under Petro Doroshenko and attacked Poland. After a serious reverse at the Battle of Chotin (1673), the Turks were able to regroup and obtained the cession of Podolia from the Poles in the Peace of Zorawno (1676). Despite local Cossack resistance, the Ottomans were able to retain the southern Ukraine for the rest of the century.

Leopold I wanted peace with Turkey at almost any price, but Kara Mustafa amassed a massive army and attacked the Hapsburgs lands in 1683. Bypassing some major fortresses, Mustafa aimed directly at Vienna, convinced that after its fall "all the Christians would obey the Ottomans". The Siege of Vienna was relieved by a small army of Poles and Germans under John Sobieski, which completely routed the Turks, who fled in panic. The "Holy League" of Austria, Poland, Venice, and Russia proceeded to defeat the Ottomans in a series of engagements from the recovery of Nove Zamky fortress (1685) and Buda Castle (1686) to the battles of Slankamen (1691) and Zenta (1697). In 1699 in the Treaty of Carlowitz (Karlovci), the Ottomans surrendered Hungary, Croatia, and Slovenia to the Hapsburgs, much of Greece to Venice, and Moldavia to Poland. The following year in the Treaty of Constantinople, Russian control of Azov was conceded. Although the Turks were later able temporarily to regain some of the lost territory, they never again posed a serious threat to Europe.