Selim III (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثالث Selīm-i sālis) (December 24, 1761 – July 28/29, 1808) was the reform-minded Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. The Janissaries (Janissaries) eventually deposed and imprisoned him, and placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV. Selim was killed by a group of Assassins subsequently after a Janissary revolt.

He was a son of Mustafa III (1757–74) and succeeded his uncle Abdülhamid I (1774–89). He was born in Constantinople. His mother was Valide Sultan Mihr-i shah.

The talents and energy with which Selim III was endowed had endeared him to the people, and great hopes were founded on his accession. He had associated much with foreigners, and was thoroughly persuaded of the necessity of reforming his state.

However, Austria and Russia gave him no time for anything but defense, and it was not until the Peace of Iaşi (1792) that a breathing space was allowed him in Europe, while Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and Syria soon called for Turkey's strongest efforts.

İlber Ortaylı (born 21 May 1947, Bregenz, Austria), is a leading Turkish historian, professor of history at the Galatasaray University in Istanbul and at Bilkent University in Ankara. Since 2005 he has been the head of the Topkapı Museum in Istanbul.

As the son of a Crimean Tatar family who fled Stalin's persecution and deportation, he was born in a refugee camp in Bregenz, Austria on 21 May 1947 and came to Turkey when he was 2 years old. Ortaylı attended elementary school and St. George's Austrian High School in İstanbul and then Ankara Atatürk High School. He graduated from Ankara University Mekteb-i Mülkiye (Faculty of Political Science) and completed his postgraduate studies at the University of Chicago under Professor Halil İnalcık and at the University of Vienna. He obtained his doctorate at Ankara University in the Faculty of Political Sciences. His doctoral thesis was Local Administration in the Tanzimat Period (1978). After his doctorate, he attended to the faculty at the School of Political Sciences of Ankara University. In 1979, he was appointed as associate professor. In 1982, he resigned from his position, protesting the academic policy of the government established after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état. After teaching at several universities in Turkey, Europe and Russia, in 1989 he returned to the Ankara University and became professor of history and the head of the section of administrative history.

Mahmud II (Ottoman Turkish: محمود ثانى Mahmud-ı sānī) (20 July 1789 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. He was born in the Topkapi Palace, Constantinople, the posthumously son of Sultan Abdulhamid I. His reign is notable mostly for the extensive administrative, military and fiscal reforms he instituted, which culminated into the Decree of Tanzimat (Reorganization) that was carried out by his sons Abdülmecid I and Abdülaziz I.

His mother was Valide Sultan Naksh-i-Dil Haseki (she was a cousin of Napoleon's wife Josephine. In 1808, Mahmud II's predecessor (and half-brother) Mustafa IV (1807–08) ordered his execution along with his cousin, the deposed Sultan Selim III (1789–1807), in order to defuse the rebellion. Selim III was killed, but Mahmud was safely kept hidden by his mother and was placed on the throne after the rebels deposed Mustafa IV. The leader of this rebellion, Alemdar Mustafa Pasha, then became Mahmud II's vizier.

Murad III (Ottoman Turkish: مراد ثالث Murād-i sālis, Turkish:III.Murat) (4 July 1546 – 15/16 January 1595) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death.

Born in Bozdağan or Manisa, Murad III was the eldest son of sultan Selim II (1566–74), and succeeded his father in 1574. Murad began his reign by having his five younger brothers strangled. His authority was undermined by the harem influences, more specifically, those of his mother and later of his favorite wife Safiye Sultan. The power had only been maintained under Selim II by the genius of the all-powerful Grand Vizier Mehmed Sokollu who remained in office until his assassination in October 1579. During his reign the northern borders with the Austro-hungarian empire were defended by the Bosniak kapetan Hasan Predojević. The reign of Murad III was marked by wars with Safavids and Habsburgs and Ottoman economic decline and institutional decay. The Ottomans also faced defeats during battles such as the Battle of Sisak.

Murad took great interest in the arts, particularly miniatures and books. He actively supported the court Society of Miniaturists, commissioning several volumes including the Siyer-i Nebi, the most heavily illustrated biographical work on the life of Muhammad, the Book of Skills, the Book of Festivities and the Book of Victories. He had two large alabaster urns transported from Pergamon and placed on two sides of the nave in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and a large wax candle dressed in tin which was donated by him to the Rila monastery in Bulgaria is on display in the monastery museum.

Selim II (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثانى Selīm-i sānī, Turkish:II.Selim; 28 May 1524 – 12 December/15 December 1574), also known as "Selim the Sot (Mest)" or "Selim the Drunkard"; and as "Sarı Selim" or "Selim the Blond", was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574.

He was born in Constantinople a son of Suleiman the Magnificent and his third and favourite Ruthenian wife Hürrem Sultan (Roxelana).

In 1545, at Konya, he married Nurbanu Sultan, originally named Cecilia Venier-Baffo, a Venetian noblewoman, and mother of Murad III, who later became the first Valide Sultan who acted as co-regent with the sultan in the Sultanate of Women.

After gaining the throne after palace intrigue and fraternal dispute, succeeded as Sultan on 7 September 1566, Selim II became the first Sultan devoid of active military interest and willing to abandon power to his ministers, provided he was left free to pursue his orgies and debauches. Therefore, he became known as Selim the Drunkard or Selim the Sot (Turkish:Sarhoş Selim). His Grand Vizier, Mehmed Sokollu, a Serbian devsirme from what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina, controlled much of state affairs, and two years after Selim's accession succeeded in concluding at Constantinople an honourable treaty (17 February 1568) with the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian II, whereby the Emperor agreed to pay an annual "present" of 30,000 ducats and essentially granted the Ottomans authority in Moldavia and Walachia.