Mehmed III was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 until his death in 1603. Mehmed was known for ordering the execution of his brothers and leading the army in the Long Turkish War, during which the Ottoman army was victorious at the decisive Battle of Keresztes. This victory was however undermined by some military losses such as in Gyor and Nikopol. He also ordered the successful quelling of the Jelali rebellions. The sultan also communicated with the court of Elizabeth I on the grounds of stronger commercial relations and in the hopes of England to ally with the Ottomans against the Spanish.

The Long Turkish War, Long War, or Thirteen Years' War was an indecisive land war between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire, primarily over the principalities of Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia. It was waged from 1593 to 1606, but in Europe, it is sometimes called the Fifteen Years War, reckoning from the 1591–1592 Turkish campaign that captured Bihać. In Turkey, it is called the Ottoman–Austrian War of 1593–1606.