Suleiman the Magnificent
At the time of Suleiman's death, the Ottoman Empire was one of the world's foremost powers. Suleiman's conquests had brought under the control of the Empire major Muslim cities (such as Baghdad), many Balkan provinces (reaching present day Croatia and Hungary), and most of North Africa. His expansion into Europe had given the Ottoman Turks a powerful presence in the European balance of power. Indeed, such was the perceived threat of the Ottoman Empire under the reign of Suleiman that Austria's ambassador Busbecq warned of Europe's imminent conquest: "On [the Turks'] side are the resources of a mighty empire, strength unimpaired, habituation to victory, endurance of toil, unity, discipline, frugality and watchfulness ... Can we doubt what the result will be? ... When the Turks have settled with Persia, they will fly at our throats supported by the might of the whole East; how unprepared we are I dare not say." Suleiman's legacy was not, however, merely in the military field. The French traveler Jean de Thévenot bears witness a century later to the "strong agricultural base of the country, the well being of the peasantry, the abundance of staple foods and the pre-eminence of organization in Suleiman's government".
Suleiman II
Suleiman II shrewdly appointed Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Pasha as his Grand Vizier on 25 October 1689, leading to the reconquest of Belgrade in 1690. Even so, when Russia joined an alliance of European powers, the Ottomans lost the support of their Crimean allies, who were forced to defend themselves from Russian invasion. Under Köprülü's leadership, the Ottomans halted an Austrian advance into Serbia and crushed an uprising in Macedonia and Bulgaria until Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Pasha was killed in the Battle of Slankamen by Austrian forces, two months after Suleiman II died at Edirne Palace in 1691.