Hi r/askhistory! At my (British) school, we do an independent research project, and am thinking of choosing a topic that fascinates me in its under-reportedness- the Long War of 1591/3-1606, and its effect on the Ottoman Empire. My exact (working) title is TO WHAT EXTENT DID THE LONG WAR SIGNAL THE BEGINNING OF TURKISH DECLINE? Unfortunately, this means that research is rather hard. I managed to find SOMETHING, but it wasn't really enough, and I also found a book to buy that I have now forgotten (Somebody Taylor is the author?). I need help! Are there any good (English- I'm afraid I cant speak any other languages well enough to read an academic book) sources that you would recommend? The sources could be about the Long War in particular or just about the general decline, but any help would be much appreciated. By the way, if I am barking up completely the wrong tree, please don't hesitate to tell me- it is just an idea (and maybe suggest other related ideas?). Thank you very much everybody!
I'd check the bibliography of Lord Kinross' "The Ottoman Centuries". Of course, he focuses like most on the period after the suppression of the Janissaries as the time of Ottoman decline...
Turkey: A Modern History starts later than you like, but could be useful in your EP to compare when the Ottomans started declining, as the Ottoman decline is covered in roughly 2/3 of the book, but it starts in the 1700s