Mehmed IV was known by contemporaries as a particularly pious ruler, and was referred to as gazi, or "holy warrior" for his role in the many conquests carried out during his long reign.

[6] The empire faced palace intrigues as well as uprisings in Anatolia, the defeat of the Ottoman navy by the Venetians outside the Dardanelles, and food shortages leading to riots in Constantinople.

When Mehmed IV accepted the vassalage of Petro Doroshenko, Ottoman rule extended into Podolia and Right-bank Ukraine.

His next vizier, Köprülü Mehmed's adopted son Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa, led campaigns against Russia, besieging Chyhyryn in 1678 with 70,000 men.

[9] He next supported the 1683 Hungarian uprising of Imre Thököly against Austrian rule, marching a vast army through Hungary and besieged Vienna.

At the Battle of Vienna on the Kahlenberg Heights, the Ottomans suffered a catastrophic rout by Polish-Lithuanian forces famously led by King John III Sobieski (1674–1696), and his allies, notably the Imperial army.

[10] In 1672 and 1673, the sultan, who embarked on two Polish-Lithuanian campaigns with serdar-ı ekrem and Grand Vizier Fazıl Ahmed Pasha, and the acquisition of the Kamaniçi Castle, returned to Edirne after the signing of the Bucaş Treaty.

The Turks retreated into Hungary; however, this was only the beginning of the Great Turkish War, as the armies of the Holy League began their successful campaign to push the Ottomans back to the Balkans.

In May 1675, Mehmed IV's sons Mustafa II and Ahmed III were circumcised and his daughter Hatice Sultan was married.

Mehmed IV witnessed the double execution: he offered the man conversion to Islam so as to avoid being stoned to death (he was beheaded instead).

When the news of the defeat and the mutiny arrived in Istanbul in early September, Abaza Siyavuş Pasha was appointed as the commander and soon afterward as the Grand Vizier.

However, the lack of information about them (except for his Haseki) and the relatively low number of children has created controversy over the actual existence of some of them.