The 28th Ottoman Sultan, Selim III, was born in 1761. His father was Mustafa III and his mother was Mihrisah Sultan. After Ahmed III (1730), sultans Mahmud I and Osman III had no children and since no male prince was born in the dynasty in the forty years that passed, Selim's birth was celebrated with a week-long festivities. When his father died in 1774, Selim was only 13 years old, so his uncle Abdulhamid I ascended to the throne and treated his nephew well throughout his reign. After his uncle's death, Selim became the next sultan in 1789 at the age of twenty-eight.
When Selim III ascended to the throne, he tried to prevent the ongoing Russian and Austrian war from getting worst. The badly-shaped Ottoman army was in a disorderly state and was not in a position to continue the fight against the enemy, hence they demanded peace as soon as possible. Therefore, Selim III was forced to make peace. The end of the Russian war was also the beginning of the Nizam-i Cedid (New Order) system, which symbolized the Selim period (1792). He successfully continued the work of establishing an army trained in European style and building a new navy. He imposed new taxes and prevented losses. He emphasized savings, ending the use of luxury imported goods, increasing state revenues and developing trade. However, after a while, the sultan lost its influence over the army, administrators and the people as a result of his unstable decisions and reforms. The land losses in Arabia reached dimensions that would shake the Ottoman dynasty and damage sultan's legitimacy (1806). In addition, the effects of the French Revolution began to be seen in the Ottoman Empire as well. In 1807, the army went on a Russian expedition, but as a result of the uprising against Selim III in Istanbul, the sultan was dethroned. His nephew Mustafa IV ascended to the throne in his place. Selim III was killed in the palace by rebels in 1808.