Vlad the Impaler

 Vlad the Impaler

Vlad the Third, or otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler, or Vlad Dracula or Vlad Tepes, was the voivode, meaning military governor or prince, of Wallachia (a region in Romania). He was born in 1431 in Sighisoara, Transylvania, and died in 1476, north of modern-day Bucharest, Romania. He was the voivode of Wallachia in 1448, from 1456 to 1462, and then in 1476. He had earned his name due to his brutal ways of punishing his enemies, which obtained him infamy in 15-th century Europe. 

 

Vlad was the second of four brothers born into the noble family of Vlad II Dracul. His nickname Dracula, which means son of Dracul, is derived from the Latin word Draco, meaning Dragon, was adopted once his father was inducted into the Order of the Dragon, which was created by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund against the Ottoman Empire. Vlad moved to Targovishte, Wallachia, in 1436 when his father took up leadership of the Wallachian principality. In 1442, Vlad and one of his younger brothers were sent to the court of the Ottoman Sultan, Murad the 2nd, as an assurance to the throne that their father would acknowledge and follow the Ottoman policies, defying the Holy Roman Empire’s orders. However, when Vlad returned in 1448, his father and elder brother were found assassinated by Wallachian boyars, or nobles, about a year ago. 

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Facts:

Combining all of his battles and methods of torture, the death toll caused in his enemies was a total of about 100,000.

The name Vlad Dracula was translated as Son of the Dragon, but later turned into Son of the Devil. 

The author of Dracula, Bram Stoker, had been inspired by the former to write his book. 

Vlad had once impaled 20,000 people in a single day.

He is said to be one of the first European rulers to popularize the use of gunpowder.

Vlad used biological warfare against his enemies, by spreading illnesses.

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Following their deaths, Vlad began the first of many lifelong campaigns to secure his position as the voivode of Wallachia. However, he had many competitors. His adversaries included the boyars, and his younger brother, who was being supported by the Sultan. He had won and stayed as the governor for a short period of time, but was overthrown after only two months. After fighting for the throne for 8 years, Vlad finally came back to power. 

At the time of his second period of rule was when he earned the name Vlad the Impaler. He became well known for punishing his enemies in a very cruel and painful way, by impaling them with wooden stakes and leaving them there to die. But he not only did that to enemies from within the district, but also foreign enemies. Once, in 1462, while he was retreating from a battle, he impaled the bodies of the dead enemy soldiers as a strategy to ward off the Ottoman forces.

 That year he escaped Ottoman capture only to be seized by Hungarian soldiers and imprisoned by Matthias the 1st of Hungary, whose assistance he had sought. Vlad regained his seat in 1476 but was killed in battle the same year when he was found by Ottoman patrols. He was supposedly decapitated and his head was sent to the Sultan. He remained a folk hero in the region for his efforts against Ottoman encroachment.