Editing Mehmed III (section)

==Reign==

=== Fratricide ===
Upon ascending to the throne, Mehmed III ordered that all of his nineteen brothers be [[Fratricide#Ottoman Empire|executed]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Quataert|first1=Donald|title=The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922|date=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-63328-1|page=90}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=McCullagh|first1=Francis|title=The Fall of Abd-ul-Hamid|url=https://archive.org/details/fallofabdulhamid00mccuuoft|date=1910|publisher=Methuen & Co. Ltd.|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/fallofabdulhamid00mccuuoft/page/72 72]}}</ref> They were strangled by his royal executioners, many of whom were deaf, mute or 'half-witted' to ensure absolute loyalty.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independentliving.org/miles200907.html|title=DEAF PEOPLE, SIGN LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION, IN OTTOMAN & MODERN TURKEY: Observations and Excerpts from 1300 to 2009. From sources in English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Latin and Turkish, with introduction and some annotation {{!}} Independent Living Institute|website=www.independentliving.org|language=en|access-date=2020-01-29}}</ref> Fratricidal successions were not unprecedented, as sultans would often have dozens of children with their concubines.

=== Power struggle in Constantinople ===
Mehmed III was an idle ruler, leaving government to his mother [[Safiye Sultan (wife of Murad III)|Safiye Sultan]], the [[valide sultan]].<ref>Kinross, John Patrick. ''Ottoman Centuries'', p.288. William Morrow & Co., 1977. {{ISBN|0-688-03093-9}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|certain=yes|reason=Very outdated pop-history, not written by a professional historian.|date=October 2016}} His first major problem was the rivalry between two of his viziers, [[Serdar Ferhad Pasha]] and [[Koca Sinan Pasha]], and their supporters. His mother and her son-in-law [[Damat Ibrahim Pasha]] supported Koca Sinan Pasha and prevented Mehmed III from taking control of the issue himself. The issue grew to cause major disturbances by [[janissaries]]. On 7 July 1595, Mehmed III finally sacked Serdar Ferhad Pasha from the position of Grand Vizier due to his failure in [[Wallachia]] and replaced him with Sinan.<ref name=islamans/>

=== Austro-Hungarian War ===
[[File:Surrender of Eger, 1596, A.jpg|thumb|Mehmed III accepting the surrender of Eger, 1596]]

The major event of his reign was the [[Long Turkish War|Austro-Ottoman War]] in [[Hungary]] (1593–1606). Ottoman defeats in the war caused Mehmed III to take personal command of the army, the first sultan to do so since Suleiman I in 1566. Accompanied by the Sultan, the Ottomans conquered [[Eger]] in 1596. Upon hearing of the Habsburg army's approach, Mehmed wanted to dismiss the army and return to Istanbul.<ref>Karateke, Hakan T. "On the Tranquility and Repose of the Sultan." The Ottoman World. Ed. Christine Woodhead. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2011. p. 120.</ref> However, the Ottomans eventually decided to face the enemy and defeated the [[Habsburg]] and [[Transylvania]]n forces at the [[Battle of Mezőkeresztes|Battle of Keresztes]]<ref>Finkel, Caroline. ''Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire'', p.175. Basic Books, 2005. {{ISBN|0-465-02396-7}}</ref> (known in [[Ottoman Turkish]] as the Battle of Haçova), during which the Sultan had to be dissuaded from fleeing the field halfway through the battle. Upon returning to Istanbul in victory, Mehmed told his viziers that he would campaign again.<ref>Karateke, p. 122.</ref> The next year the Venetian Bailo in Istanbul noted, "the doctors declared that the Sultan cannot leave for a war on account of his bad health, produced by excesses of eating and drinking".<ref>Goodwin, Jason. ''Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire'', p.166. New York: Henry Holt & Company.</ref>{{unreliable source?|reason=This is a pop history book, not a real history book |date=September 2016}}

In reward for his services at the war, [[Cigalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha]] was made Grand Vizier in 1596. However, with pressure from the court and his mother, Mehmed reinstated Damat Ibrahim Pasha to this position shortly afterward.<ref name=islamans>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.islamansiklopedisi.info/| title=Mehmed III |encyclopedia=İslam Ansiklopedisi |publisher=Türk Diyanet Vakfı |pages=407–413 |year=2003 | volume=28}}</ref>

However, the victory at the Battle of Keresztes was soon set back by some important losses, including the loss of [[Győr]] ({{langx|tr|Yanıkkale}}) to the Austrians and the defeat of the Ottoman forces led by [[Hafız Ahmet Pasha]] by the [[Wallachian military forces|Wallachian forces]] under [[Michael the Brave]] in [[Nikopol, Bulgaria|Nikopol]] in 1599. In 1600, Ottoman forces under [[Tiryaki Hasan Pasha]] captured [[Nagykanizsa]] after a 40-day siege and later successfully held it against a much greater attacking force in the [[Siege of Nagykanizsa]].<ref name=larousse>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Mehmed III |encyclopedia=Büyük Larousse |publisher=Milliyet Newspaper Press |pages=7927–8 | volume=15}}</ref>

=== Jelali revolts ===
Another major event of his reign was the [[Jelali revolts]] in Anatolia. [[Karayazıcı Abdülhalim]], a former Ottoman official, captured the city of [[Urfa]] and declared himself a sultan in 1600. The rumors of his claim to the throne spread to Constantinople and Mehmed ordered the rebels to be treated harshly to dispel the rumors, among these, was the execution of [[Hüseyin Pasha (Celali rebel)|Hüseyin Pasha]], whom Karayazıcı Abdülhalim styled as Grand Vizier. In 1601, Abdülhalim fled to the vicinity of [[Samsun]] after being defeated by the forces under [[Sokulluzade Hasan Pasha]], the governor of [[Baghdad]]. However, his brother, [[Deli Hasan]], killed Sokulluzade Hasan Pasha and defeated troops under the command of [[Hadım Hüsrev Pasha]]. He then marched on to [[Kütahya]], captured and burned the city.<ref name=islamans/><ref name=larousse/>