Editing Ahmed II (section)

==Reign==
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During his reign, Ahmed II devoted most of his attention to the wars against the [[Habsburgs]] and related foreign policy, governmental and economic issues. Of these, the most important were the tax reforms and the introduction of the lifelong [[Farm (revenue leasing)|tax farm system]] (''[[malikâne]]''). Following the recovery of [[Belgrade]] under his predecessor, [[Suleiman II of the Ottoman Empire|Suleiman II]], the military frontier reached a rough stalemate on the Danube, with the Habsburgs no longer able to advance south of it, and the Ottomans attempting, ultimately unsuccessfully, to regain the initiative north of it.

Among the most important features of Ahmed's reign was his reliance on [[Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Pasha|Köprülüzade Fazıl Mustafa Pasha]]. Following his accession to the throne, Ahmed II confirmed Fazıl Mustafa Pasha in his office as [[grand vizier]]. In office from 1689, Fazıl Mustafa Pasha was from the [[Köprülü family]] of grand viziers, and like most of his Köprülü predecessors in the same office, was an able administrator and military commander. Like his father [[Köprülü Mehmed Pasha]] (grand vizier, 1656–61) before him, Fazıl Mustafa Pasha ordered the removal and execution of dozens of corrupt state officials of the previous regime and replaced them with men loyal to himself. He overhauled the tax system by adjusting it to the capabilities of the taxpayers affected by the latest wars. He also reformed troop mobilization and increased the pool of conscripts available for the army by drafting tribesmen in the [[Balkans]] and [[Anatolia]]. In October 1690, Fazıl Mustafa Pasha recaptured Belgrade, a key fortress that commanded the confluence of the rivers [[Danube]] and [[Sava]]; in Ottoman hands since 1521, the fortress had been conquered by the Habsburgs in 1688.

Fazıl Mustafa Pasha's victory at Belgrade was a major military achievement that gave the Ottomans hope that the military debacles of the 1680s—which had led to the loss of Hungary and [[Transylvania]], an Ottoman vassal principality ruled by pro-Istanbul Hungarian princes—could be reversed. However, the Ottoman success proved ephemeral. On 19 August 1691, Fazıl Mustafa Pasha suffered a devastating defeat at the [[Battle of Slankamen]] at the hands of [[Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden|Louis William]], the Habsburg commander in chief in Hungary, nicknamed “Türkenlouis” (Louis the Turk) for his victories against the Ottomans. In the confrontation, recognized by contemporaries as “the bloodiest battle of the century,” the Ottomans suffered heavy losses: 20,000 men, including the grand vizier. With him, the sultan lost his most capable military commander and the last member of the Köprülü family, who for the previous half century had been instrumental in strengthening the Ottoman military.

Under Fazıl Mustafa Pasha's successors, the Ottomans suffered further defeats. In June 1692 the Habsburgs conquered [[Oradea]], the seat of an Ottoman governor ({{lang|tr|beylerbeyi}}) since 1660. In 1694, they attempted to recapture Oradea, but to no avail. On 12 January 1695, they surrendered the fortress of Gyula, the center of an Ottoman [[sanjak]] (subprovince) since 1566. With the fall of Gyula, the only territory still in Ottoman hands in Hungary was to the east of the [[Tisza|River Tisza]] and to the south of the river Maros, with its center at [[Temesvár|Timișoara]]. Three weeks later, on 6 February 1695, Ahmed II died in [[Edirne Palace]].