One of the most famous and beloved stories or perhaps movies of all time would be about Dracula. This blood, sucking creature definitely loves giving us the thrills and chills. In Bram Stoker’s novel about Dracula which was published in 1897, it is the famous narrative of a vampire dubbed Count Dracula who feeds on human blood and hunts down and kills his victims in the dead of night.
Stoker created Count Dracula in the book, which was dubbed the “most bloodcurdling tale” of the century by critics at the time. Many believe, however, that the murderous villain was influenced in part by ‘Vlad the Impaler’, the terrible ruler of Wallachia (now Romania), in the mid-1400s.
During his murderous reign, Vlad III impaled about 20,000 individuals and killed as many as 60,000 others, earning him the moniker ‘Vlad the Impaler’. He was even believed to eat his bread dipped in the blood of his impaled foes. While the legends of the “genuine Dracula” have undoubtedly been embellished through time, the true story of Vlad the Impaler is far more terrifying than anything Bram Stoker could have concocted.
The Son of the Dragon
Picture: Wikipedia
Because the historical record for Vlad the Impaler is sometimes skewed, we only know that he was born between 1428 and 1431 during a period of instability in Wallachia. His mother, the queen, was from a Moldavian royal family, while his father, Vlad II Dracula, was from a Romanian royal family. The surname “Vlad” means “dragon,” and it was granted to Vlad II after he was inducted into the Order of the Dragon, a Christian crusading order. Vlad had two brothers, Mircea and Radu, when he was a child.
Dracula’s land was constantly in upheaval due to its proximity to the warring factions of Christian-ruled Europe and the Muslim-ruled Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans convened a diplomatic council in 1442, and Vlad Dracula was invited. He saw an opportunity to teach diplomacy to his younger kids, so he took Vlad III and Radu along. Dracula and his two boys, on the other hand, were kidnapped and held captive by Ottoman diplomats. He was told that he would be released, but that he would have to leave his sons behind.
Dracula consented because he believed it was the safest option for his family. Fortunately for Vlad III and his brother, they were taught science, philosophy, and the art of war during their time as hostages. Back home, however, things were far worse. Dracula was deposed by a coup engineered by local warlords (boyar). He was murdered in the swamps behind his house in 1447, while his oldest son was tortured, blinded, and buried alive.
How He Took Power And Became Brutal
Picture: NBC News
Vlad returned to Wallachia in 1448 to reclaim the throne from Vladislav II, the man who had succeeded his father. He was successful, but the deposed Vladislav returned and reclaimed the throne after only a few months. In 1456, however, Vlad returned with an army and help from Hungary and was able to reclaim the crown from Vladislav. According to legend, Vlad beheaded his opponent Vladislav on the battlefield. And once he reclaimed his father’s throne, his reign of terror began in earnest.
Some historians believe Vlad III became Vlad Tepes, the Romanian name for Vlad the Impaler, as a result of his family’s tragic killings. According to some versions, Vlad was beaten and tortured when imprisoned by the Ottomans, which could be where he learned the habit of impaling adversaries.
Picture: Explore The Archive
Vlad had to cope with his own opponents soon after reclaiming the throne. Some in Wallachia thought Vladislav II was a better leader, sparking uprisings in villages around the province. The resurrected monarch was well aware that he needed to exert his authority over the populace. As a result, he decided to throw a feast and invite his adversaries.
It didn’t take long for the party to devolve into a bloodbath. The bodies of Vlad’s disagreeing guests were impaled on spikes after being stabbed to death. Vlad’s violent reputation only grew from there as he defended his reign and annihilated his adversaries with the most heinous methods possible.
The Real Reign of Terror
Vlad the Impaler was unquestionably a cruel tyrant. Nonetheless, much of Christian Europe backed his valiant, though macabre, defense of Wallachia against various Muslim Ottoman invaders. Vlad III seemed to enjoy his own savagery, despite the fact that the actual Dracula offered some stability and safety to a vulnerable region.
Impalement was without a doubt Vlad the Impaler’s preferred technique of assassination. A wooden or metal rod was poked through the body, starting in the rectum or vagina, then slowly piercing through the body until it came out the victim’s mouth, shoulders, or neck during impalement.
Picture: The Travel
This torturous method was utilized by Vlad the Impaler to punish and murder anyone who displeased or threatened him, but it wasn’t the only way he showed his ruthlessness. He once had Ottoman diplomats’ turbans chained to their heads after they refused to remove them for religious grounds.
Stories like these abound, and contemporaneous accounts suggest that Vlad the Impaler butchered 80,000 people throughout his reign, impaling more than 23,000 of them, although it’s difficult to tell for sure. His violent rule came to an end in 1462, when he was captured by Hungarian soldiers. The Ottomans had begun a campaign to depose Vlad and replace him with his gentler brother Radu. In turn, Vlad turned to the Hungarians, hoping to strengthen his grip on the kingdom. But, rather than risk war with the Ottomans, the Hungarians imprisoned Vlad.
However, in 1476, he was released and married Jusztina Szilágyi, a relative of Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus, who negotiated a deal with Vlad to restore him to his throne when Radu was deposed. Later that year, however, Vlad died in battle alongside the Hungarians, who were now at war with the Ottomans.
He met the same fate as his old foe Vladislav II, according to folklore. According to legend, Vlad the Impaler was beheaded in combat and his head was marched back to Constantinople and placed in Sultan Mehmed II’s hands to be displayed over the city’s gates. His body was never discovered.
Sources: The Infographics Show, It’s History, All That Is Interesting, Britannica, Live Science
