Ahmed III ( Ottoman Turkish: احمد ثالث Aḥmed-i < u > s </ u > āli < u > s </ u >) < span dir =" ltr ">( December 30 / 31, 1673 – July 1, 1736 )</ span > was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a son of Sultan Mehmed IV ( 1648 – 87 ).

Portrait of Ahmed III by John Young

Ahmed III cultivated good relations with France, doubtless in view of Russia's menacing attitude-in fact, both his wives were Frenchwomen.

In 1710 he convinced the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III to declare war against Russia, and the Ottoman forces under Baltacı Mehmet Pasha won a major victory at the Battle of Prut.

Miniature of Ahmed III.

Forced against his will into war with Russia, Ahmed III came nearer than any Ottoman sovereign before or since to breaking the power of his northern rival, whose armies his grand vizier Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha succeeded in completely surrounding at the Pruth River Campaign in 1711.

Sultan Ahmed III had become unpopular by reason of the excessive pomp and costly luxury in which he and his principal officers indulged ; on September 20, 1730, a mutinous riot of seventeen janissaries, led by the Albanian Patrona Halil, was aided by the citizens as well as the military until it swelled into an insurrection in front of which the Sultan was forced to give up the throne.

Sultan Ahmed III receives French ambassador Vicomte d ' Andrezel at Topkapı Palace.

French ambassador Marquis de Bonnac being received by Sultan Ahmed III.

The reign of Ahmed III, which had lasted for twenty-seven years, although marked by the disasters of the Great Turkish War, was not unsuccessful.

Ahmed III left the finances of the Ottoman Empire in a flourishing condition, which had remarkably been obtained without excessive taxation or extortion procedures.

Sultan Ahmed III

The Harem with the Sultan Ahmed III

A passage in Voltaire's Candide has the book's eponymous main character meet the deposed Ahmed III while on a ship from Venice to Constantinople.

* Fountain of Ahmed III

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