Shields High: The Real Dracula

are also all figures in the twentieth century. Now, because of the industrialized scale of the slaughter in the twentieth century, clearly by sheer numbers, those evildoers will be in something of a category by themselves, although if you look at the body count of say Genghis Khan, it would rival, including innocent women and children, anything done by the evildoers

of the twentieth century. And is it really possible that all of the worst, most fearsome evildoers in history were alive in a one century period, in fact, doing their deeds within decades of each other. Probably not. But let's return to the question. Those are all real people. And when some people think monster, something very different comes to mind. The locknest monster, the abominable snowman, the wolfman. Monster conjures up horror stories of recent decades and myths and legends

of the past. Now, what if I told you there was a figure in the actual past who was a very real monster in both senses, a remorseless, bloodthirsty killer on a massive scale, as well as being the basis for one of the most enduring monster myths monster legends of all time, as well as, believe it or not, being a national folk hero in Romania, a talented military commander, a Christian crusader against the Jihad, an exceptional builder and administrator,

and a man who founded what became the capital of Romania with the city of Bucharest. Well, all I have to do is say one word to answer this for you, Dracula. I know what your mind goes to when you hear that word, right, an elegantly dressed count with a thick Romanian accent, then slicked back hair with two prominent fangs, who vaughns to drink your blood. And that's certainly part of the Dracula mythology as represented in pop culture for

say the last hundred years. Some of you might even think about a chocolate sugary cereal or a beloved numerically literate character on Sesame Street known simply as the Count. But what about the actual guy, the actual man, not the horror films with the comic strips, or even the timeless classic novel written by an irishman named Bram Stoker

in eighteen ninety seven. Well, my friends, there was a very real man named Dracula, and he's actually one of the most fascinating and terrifying characters of the fifteenth century Western world. He was a minor prince in Eastern Europe, set in the middle of warring factions to include Hungary, Serbia, Moldovia, Germans, Saxons, Transylvanians, Greeks, and yes, of course, the Ottoman a horde at his doorstep, the Caliphate of Islam, seeking the ultimate conquest of all

of Christendom. His name was Vladcheppes or Vlad the Third, better known as Vlad Dracula and later on Vlad the Impaler. Have you heard about this prince of Wallachia, famous for ordering the cruelest of tortures for thousands of his enemies at a time. In fact, Vlad Chepesh or Vlad the Third would become so expert in the utilization of this impalement technique that he would become known as the Impaler.

Now this is a particularly brutal form of execution that has been known in the historic text going back to the time of Hammurabi in the eighteenth century BC, and much like crucifixion for the Empire of Rome, this was the means that the Ottoman Empire used to terrify anyone who would stand in its way. In fact, during the fifteenth century when our tale takes place, it was a common fact of conquest and retribution, and there were two

main ways that impalement would take place. In the more standard variation, the executioner would take a spear and insert the sharp and in or near the navel of the poor victim, press all the way through the guts until the spear tape came out the victim's back, and then the spear would be planted in the ground, upright with the ghoulish, ghastly sight of a victim atop the spear, sliding down slowly, writhing to death in agony and bleeding out.

Believe it or not, this was considered the less awful version of this form of execution, in order to generate the absolute maximum of misery and suffering, and therefore spread a message even further of the terror that awaited anyone

who stood athwart the Sultan's ambitions. Sometimes, impellment would involve using the blunt end of the spear, inserting it in the individual's rectum, and then planting the sharp part in the ground, and then the person would slowly, based on their weight, have the blunt end of the spear driven through their abdomen over time, and they would bleed to

death in misery. It was an awful way to go, and it was standard practice as a tool of execution and terror for the most powerful regime in the world in the fifteenth century, the Muslim Ottoman Empire based in what is modern Turkey. In fact, to understand the world of Dracula, the real Dracula, one has to first understand the history, the context, politically militarily of Eastern Europe and the Ottoman Empire in the early to mid fifteenth century.

Ever since the victory of the Seljuk Turks over the Byzantine armies at Manzikert in ten seventy one, the nomadic people known as the Turks continue to consolidate power in what we call Asia Minor in historical studies, or just

in today's geography, Turkey. The Ottomans, named for Osman One of their chieftains from the thirteenth century highly successful in being a warlord and consolidating more and more power, and by the fourteen hundreds had effectively taken all of the major land of the Byzantine Empire east of Constantinople, and

Constantinople itself was next on the list. This was a city whose strategic importance geographically is hard to overstate, and despite the encroachments of the Muslim Turks, the Byzantine Empire thought that its Theodosian walls could perhaps hold out indefinitely around the city of Constantinople itself. And Constantinople was more than just a massive base and an incredibly lucrative area for trade, was also the heart of the Eastern Orthodox

Christian faith. The Byzantines thought of themselves not as Eastern Orthodox or Byzantine, but as Romans, and so in many ways the city of Constantinople was second to Christianity, only to Rome and the Pope in terms of importance. While in fourteen fifty three, right in the middle of Dracula's life, Constantinople would fall to the Turks. This dramatically increased the threat to all of Christendom of a direct Muslim invasion of Europe, and our own Count Dracula was on the

very front line of that battle. Dracula's often thought of as Transylvanian, but in truth he was the voivode or prince of Wallachia. It's in what is today Romania in the center of the country. Transylvania, even more mountainous and rugged, is just north of Wallachia, and this was a very dangerous neighborhood to be a boyar their term for a noble. Wallachia was surrounded by a hostile, intrusive and expansive powers

on all sides. The considerably more powerful Kingdom of Hungary to the west was constantly setting up puppet rulers and occasionally snagging pieces of what is today's Romania than Wallachia. Transylvania for itself. The Polish and Germanic kings were no better. Even the Moldovians would become involved, as well as the Serbians and Bosnians, who, along with Wallachians. Lectrocula himself were on the very front line of the battle against the

invading Ottoman Empire. Every year during the campaign season, the Ottoman Sultan would push deeper into what we think of today as the Balkans seizing more fortresses, demanding tribute from more Christian prince including the hated dev Shehrma, a system of human tribute the Ottoman's demanded that would become infamous

throughout the centuries. In the Devshrma, Christians, mostly Greeks, but many youths from the Balkans as well, would be offered up by their localities by their nobles to be trained in the Ottoman court. These Christian boys, taken from their mothers and fathers, would be raised as the property of the Sultan himself, fanatical Muslims who sought to use the power of the Ottoman state to expand the Caliphate, and were the basis for the Janissary Corps, the most elite

of all of the Sultan's troops. Others became high administrators in the Ottoman court, but all were forced to turn upon the countries, the nationalities, the religion that they grew up with. The dev Shehrma turned these young Christians into warriors against their own faith. For Islam it was had

by those who suffered under its yoke. Before we get to Dracula himself must be understood that the history of warring royal houses in the fifteenth century in this part of Eastern Europe, right along the fringe of the Islamic Empire, was straight out of a Game of Throne's storyline. There

were constant usurpations, assassinations, poisonings, ambushes during diplomatic calls. One of the worst reasons for all of this mess was that bastards, those born out of wedlock, would often make claim to the throne, and in the Eastern Orthodox culture, at least as it was practiced in Hungary and Serbia and Romania, anyone with any basis for a bloodline claim who was bloody minded enough to murder all of his rivals was very possibly the king or the prince, at

least for a time. The reign of Wallachi in Transylvania, Bulgarian, Serbian Bosnia nobles was often only a few years, in some cases only a few months, and these reigns did not end with a gentlemanly handshake and retirement, but a beheading and sometimes a massacre of an entire family. It was into this world that Vlad the third Vlad Sheppes

Dracula was born in about fourteen thirty one. They're not exactly sure of the year, but they are sure that it was in a house in Transylvania that still stands to this day. Vlad's father, Vlad the Second, was a member of a holy order of Crusaders known as the Order of the Dragon. The Romanian word for this is Drakul, So Vlad the third are Dracula's dad was actually Vlad Drakul. The man we're talking about now was called Dracula, as

in Little Drakul, son of Drakul, or the Dragon. Just as Dracula would be later on, Vlad the Second would be drawn into the constant border wars and skirmishes between princes in and around Wallachia. In fourteen forty two a d. The Sultan Murraud the second was very unhappy with the fact that Vlad the Second had not supported directly the

latest Ottoman invasion. Remember, these incursions by the Muslim Ottoman Empire into Eastern Europe were happening yearly now, seizing more fortresses, more territory, terrifying and often massacring the local Christian population. But Vlad the seconds hold on power in Wallachia is weak.

He has to worry about the most powerful man and hungry at the time, John Hunyadi, and the last thing Vlad the Second wants is then the most powerful ruler in the world, Murraud of the Ottoman Empire to engage in a full scale invasion of Wallachia, or even to

just support one of Vlad's rivals to his throne. So when the Sultan tells Vlad the Second to show up in Gallipoli to pay homage and perhaps talk about the future, lad shows up and brings his two sons, Vlad the third Dracula and Radu, Dracula's younger brother, leaving behind in Wallachia in the city of Targo Vista, the seat of Lad the Second's power, his eldest son Murcia. Well, it turns out the visit to the good old Sultan Murad

was a family trip that Dracula would never forget. He's roughly ten years old at the time, and he shows up expecting the pomp and circumstance of noble to noble discussions, and Muraud promptly has Vlad the Second, Dracula and Radu

thrown into chains and placed in a dungeon. You have to remember that at this time sultans were often known to order the execution of all male relatives, brothers in particular, and given the fact that the harems were well frequented by the sultans, this could mean the execution of dozens of small children and even babies, all to protect the sultan's grip on power. So to say that the rulers of the Ottoman Empire were willing to engage in vicious

brutality is an understatement. That was for their family members. Imagine what they're willing to do to somebody who stands in the way of their power, who's an enemy. So Vlad the Second, Flad the Third, Dracula Radu are being held in captivity, and a deal is struck, Vlad the Second can return to Wallachia, returned to his main city of Turgo Vista, and Dracula and Radu will stay behind in the Ottoman court as hostages. Now, to be fair, the Ottomans did treat Vlad the Third and Radu as

nobles in the court. Dracula himself would become absolutely fluent in Turkish as well as other languages, get an incredible education from some of the most learned people in the Western world at that time, as well as being instructed in all the finest arts and tactics of the Ottoman military.

The Sultan did not know it at the time, but his most senior, talented and gifted advisors and instructors were rigorously training a man who would become among their most vicious foes in the finer points of combat, artillery, horsemanship, archery, leading men in battle, and all the internal intricacies of the Ottoman culture and the Sultan's court. This would prove invaluable for Dracula later on. Radu, on the other hand, Dracula's younger brother, would become known as Radu the Handsome.

He became a favorite of both the men and women of the Ottoman court, and there are even contemporary chroniclers who believe that he was the Sultan's lover for a time. As we would see later, Radu turned Turk entirely and would even fight against his own brother on the side of the Ottomans. Apart from the rigorous academic and military training that Dracula received during this period, it was terrifying for a preadolescent to be dropped off in a foreign culture.

In a famous incident, the sons of a Serbian ruler Brankovic were also being held hostage around this time, but they wrote what the Sultan considered treasonoist letters home, so the Sultan had their eyes gouged out with red hot pokers, despite please from his wife, who was sister to his two royal guests. If you crossed the Sultan, the price was terrible, and as it turned out, Dracula most found

this out the hard way. You see, while he was being held captive in the High Court of the Ottomans, Christian forces back in Eastern Europe were actually undergoing another crusade. In fourteen forty two, a crusade was declared by Pope Eugenius the Fourth. Twenty five thousand men under Polish, Serbian, Hungarian and other commanders beat the Turks, made it deep into modern Bulgaria, capture the city of Sophia, and forced

the Sultan Maraud to come to terms. He in fact agreed to restore Basses to Christian control and release Dracula and his brother, along with all other important royal captives in the Ottoman court, back to their homes, but the Christian forces did not keep their word. In fact, Dracula's father Drakkol in written correspondence, made it clear that he believed his continued assistance and alliance with the Crusading forces against the Turks would result in the execution of two

of his sons. This didn't seem to bother him too much. In fact, it was a sacrifice he indicated he was willing to make as long as his favorite son, Mercia, was able to take up his line. And Marcia was part of these crusading efforts into modern Bulgaria, including the disastrous Battle of Varna, where the Turks finally defeated the Christian forces decisively. This Battle of Varna in fourteen forty four a d was a disaster for the allied Christian forces.

The King of Poland was killed in hand to hand combat, along with thousands of the finest knights of Christendom, and just to make a point about what they do with other captured nobles, the Turks cut off Ladislaw's head and raised it on a pike for all to see, most notably for Dracula. The Christian forces had betrayed their agreement, they had broken the treaty, and now the Sultan was on the offensive. He very well could have had both Dracula and Radu executed, but he didn't. He saw value

in them. It was just a question of how long he would hold them in court before deploying them for

his own purposes. But then word came down from Maraud himself to Dracula that his father Led the Second and his son Murcia were ambushed and murdered by treasonous boyars nobles in their home region of Wallachia, And after swearing allegiance to the Sultan on a Bible and on the Quran, Dracula was given leave to return home to Wallachia to seize his birthright, become the voivode or prince, seek retribution for his father and brother's murder, and become a useful

ally for the Sultan put in place to help with the Ottoman campaigns to come. Or so Murad thought. It

would not be quite so easy. As Dracula made his way to Wallachia, you have to remember that back in the Ottoman court, Radu, his younger brother, had stayed behind, and one of his closest companions and yes believed to be his lover, was someone who would come to be known as meh Met the Second or meth Met the conqueror, the Sultan who took Constantinople, and he absolutely in time would want Radu and not Dracula, to be the prince

of Wallachia. It's complicated at this time because Wallachia was a vassal state both of the Turks officially as well as of the Kingdom of Hungary, which would play a large role in the politics and battles to come of Dracula's life. But in fourteen forty seven, Dracula returns home and he is now free, but also a Turkish officer at the same time, somebody trained in the Ottoman ways

of warfare, their language, and their culture. Based on his connections and his family wealth, he's able to cobble together a force that is loyal enough to him that he thinks he has a shot of pushing all of his rivals in Ballachia out of the way. Remember, his father was assassinated by boyars, who quickly divided up power and spoils among themselves. Next door in Hungary, John Hunyadi, who was considered one of the great crusaders against the Ottomans

of his day, lost at the Battle of Kosovo. While that's going on, Dracula decides that the time was perfect because Hunyadi had been backing the other side of the Wallachian power structure. So while Hunyadi is trying to pull things together after a massive loss to the Turks, Dracula stages a coup takes control of Wallachia with some help from Turkish cavalry friends who came along with him, but

this period lasts only two months. Then he fled to Turkey and then finally to Moldavia, where he spent two years in the court there. But in fourteen fifty one, bog Down of Moldavia, who was his ally that allowed him to stay there, was assassinated and Dracula once again had to flee, so he escaped through the Borgo Pass

to Transylvania. During this period, Dracula's trying to lay low, but John Hunyadi, who is the most powerful man not technically the king, but the most powerful man in neighboring Hungary, who was involved at least in some way in supporting the murder of Dracula's brother and dad, has heard the Dracula is in fact in Transylvania and decides that he's going to write letters to all city leaders that if you have Dracula near you, if you have Dracula taking

refuge with you, you must chase him out. Some even went further than this and tried to have Dracula assassinated. First in Brasov, the vice governor there tried to have Dracula killed, but as would be the case many times going forward, Dracula managed to escape the noose at the last minute and get away from an ambush that had been set for him. But then major change in the Ottoman court brings about a change of heart for Hunyadi.

A new sultan rises to power. Me Met this second, and as I said, he would become known as meth Met the Conqueror, and he had absolute designs on the conquest not only of the Balkans, Wallachia, Hungary, but all of Eastern Europe. And then he wanted to strike into the heart of Christian Europe itself, to Vienna and beyond. John Hunyadi of Hungary is one of the few military leaders who recognizes this, and he understands that Dracula will be a very powerful frontline defender of Christendom if only

he had the proper backing. So Hunyadi invites Dracula to make peace with him in person, and gave him a command position in his army. But of course the price of this was that it was up to Dracula to be the front line of defense against the next Turkish invasion. Fortunately for Dracula, but for the detriment of all of Christianity. At the time, methmets sites were focused on a much bigger prize than the rugged and relatively poor area of

Vallachia in what is today's Romania. He was going for Constantinople itself, and in fourteen fifty three the great calamity struck. In fact, there's another Shield's High podcast you can listen to entirely on the fall of Constantinople. But Methmet took fifty thousand Christian slaves and thousands more murdered in the streets.

The Theodosian walls were not enough to prevent this invasion of the Turks against Constantinople from being successful, and in fact, Venetian sailors who escaped told stories of mass impalements the Turks committed outside the city walls of Constantinople. The Christian forces of Eastern Europe knew what was next Belgrade, then Buddha today's Budapest, then Vienna. The Battle of Belgrade put six thousand Christian defenders against an Aman force at least five,

perhaps ten times that size. But John Hunyadi, along with John of Capistrano, somebody who had pulled together what was essentially a people's crusade of just those gathered together on the streets who wanted to wage war against the Turk, were able to hold back the Turkish onslaught at Belgrade. Pope Eugenius the fourth called it the happiest event of his life. So for a time it seemed the direct route for an invasion into the heart of Christendom was

blocked for the Turks. But this would mean they would turn their sights on Volachia. In the background of the siege of Belgrade, Dracula had used a force of mercenaries and friendly boyars to hunt down Vladisla the Second in Turgovista, the capital of Vallachia, and Dracula ended up killing him. This was the man who orchestrated directly the assassination of

Dracula's brother and father, buried the brother alive. In fact, Dracula killed Vladislav the second in single combat hand to hand, so at twenty five years old, Dracula once again became the Prince of Volachia. This would last for six years and would be the most important of the three periods of Dracula's reign, and it would be the time when Dracula used his most vicious and sadistic methods to wage war on the quarreling and backstabbing nobles who had been

a constant threat in the background of his life. But during this period, Dracula also showed himself to be a great builder. He founded the fortress of Bucharest, which would later on become the capital of modern day Romania. He rebuilt a foreboding castle near the Hungarian border that would come to be known as Castle Dracula, and he even

minted his own coins. It was his war on the boyars inside Vallachia, however, that would begin the reputation of Dracula as a bloodthirsty, evil, tyrant, demonic, and perhaps the devil himself. Once story well illustrates this. In fourteen fifty seven Easter Sunday, Dracula seized boyars and their wives at a celebration meal for the holiest day in all of Christianity. Dracula immediately ordered the impalement of the older boyars and

their wives. He marched the younger and healthier ones fifty miles and forced them to help rebuild what would come to be known as Castle Dracula. There was also a method to the sadism and madness. Dracula gave property to peasants and elevated them so they would only be loyal to him. After executing one of these boyars, he would take their property and use it effectively as a bribe to create a new boyar who owed everything to Dracula and knew that if he ever crossed Dracula, he himself

would face impalement. Dracula also understood that he had to build a force that would be loyal entirely to him of cutthroats, mercenaries, and assassins. He pulled together gypsies, tatars, hungarians, serbs, cutthroats from all across the region. He even gave gypsies immunity from crimes that they committed so long as they were willing to join the personal army of Dracula. And

believe it or not, the peasants of this time. Despite his severe and draconian approach to enforcing the law and to dealing with his enemies, the peasants of this time liked Dracula. They thought that he was a builder, that he was fair, that he was fierce and perhaps evil at heart, but that he maintained some degree of honor in all of this. His word was good. It's just if you broke your word to him, he would have

you gutted, impaled, and perhaps lit on fire. And this the legends of Dracula, is where we get the beginnings of the mythology of this monster who drinks blood and who is part of the undead. Dracula was known to go around to peasants and ask them about what was going on in their community, a kind of undercover boss situation where he wanted to know what the ground truth was, but there was no amnesty for people who lied to him,

even if they did not know who he was. There are stories told by some of those who hated Dracula, the Saxons, who were German transplants into Wallachia merchants mostly who felt that Dracula was constantly trying to take more from them and undermine them. But they spread stories far and wide of his cruelty, as did Christian monks, who Dracula felt were always trying to get in the way of his power. It's tough to know how much of these stories are true, but they have been passed down

over the centuries. In one case, Dracula supposedly called together a meal for all of the beggars in Turgo Vista, the capital of Wallachia, and all the realm. They gathered together for a sumptuous feast, the most incredible food imaginable, with endless amounts of ale and beer, all poured for them at no expense. Once they became completely satiated and drunk beyond words, they found out that Dracula had had the entirety of this great hall barricaded, set it on fire,

and burned everybody inside alive. When asked about this, Dracula said that beggars were even worse than thieves, because at least thieves showed some initiative, at least they were willing to do something to take money from you. Beggars just took it from you, slowly and without action. In another famous story passed down through thee a gypsy leader came to complain to Dracula that his constant use of impalement was contrary to the law as it existed at the time.

Dracula heard him, listened very respectfully, and then had this gypsy leader boiled alive and forced his followers to eat him. That's right, forced cannibalism while Dracula watched. In one of the stories about his severity but also strange honesty, a merchant passing through Dracula's territory had his goods parked outside of Wanner Dracula's palaces. Some of this merchant's gold duckets

had gone missing over the course of the night. He went to complain to Dracula about this, as Dracula had given him his word that in his realm there would be no stealing. Dracula immediately put out that anybody who was involved in this theft would be impaled, and anyone who did not tell about who was involved in the theft would share the same fate. So the thieves were quickly found, but in the meantime, Dracula also had every single gold coin that was missing placed back among the

merchant's belongings. Later in the day, Dracula asked the merchant if all had been made well, but he had made sure that there was one additional gold coin given to the merchant fortunately for him, He said everything was well, but he did find one additional gold coin among his belongings. Dracula laughed and said how fortunate this merchant was, because if he had not told Dracula about the extra gold coin, he would have had him impaled on the spot, and

the merchant knew it was true. Dracula also savagely punished women for infidelity, with tortures and mistreatments that I can't even tell you here. Needless to say, he was not above mutilation and the worst and cruelest kinds of punishment. In his own courtyard of his p alice at Turgovista, Dracula had steaks laid out constantly so that people could see the most recent victims of his impalement frenzy. But it wasn't only impalement that Dracula had his minions engaged.

He also blinded, burned, decapitated, strangled, roasted, skinned, and buried alive. He even had secret trapdoors in his palaces with sharp steaks placed below so he could throw unsuspecting people who displeased him down to their immediate death. As part of his war on the Saxon merchant class, who were constantly trying to back other people for the throne of Vallachia Vlad the Impaler Dracula, as he is now known, would overrun, burn down entire cities, and then impale every man and

woman that he captured. From fifteen sixty to fifteen sixty two. His war on the Boyars caused thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of casualties, many of them impaled, but his campaign was successful. He managed to stay in power, and that was why the Sultan meth Met the conqueror, decided to send some of his emissaries to pay Dracula a visit.

The emissaries of the Sultan were welcomed into Dracula's court at first, although he recognized that there was no way he was going to play out his youth again and go pay the tribute to the Sultan in person. He also refused the five hundred boys of tribute for the janissary program of the Turks, and in one infamous episode, one of the Turkish intermediaries refused to take off his cap. This offended Dracula, so he had the cap the Turban

nailed into the Turk's head. Dracula also famously did this to two Genoese merchants who came to eat with him and did not remove their hats in his presence, nails directly into their skulls, and as they were being murdered in this way, Dracula said that he wanted to help

them respect their traditions forever. With the murder of an envoy and the rejection of the Sultan's request for an in person audience, it was clear that the Sultan was going to have to take out this troublemaker, so he sent an initial force in fourteen sixty two to go after lured impaler. As Dracula was known to the Turks at that time sixty thousand men plus twenty thousand irregulars, but the Turks did not realize just who they were

up against. Dracula was able to trap and murder the first senior Turkish official who came after him with forces, and also was able to take the fortress of geer Yu by yelling to the Turks in perfect Turkish just to open the gate. They couldn't believe that somebody from Wallachia spoke fluent Turkish. Dracula recognized the only way to deal with the vastly superior Turkish force was to go

completely scorched earth. He even would send in sick people that had the plague or that had other diseases into the Ottoman camp to see if they could spread the disease. He engaged in constant guerrilla tactics anything he could do, poisoning of wells, slaughtering of livestock, paying assassins and brigands to pick off any Turkish forces that got separated from the main army. If it was a means to strike at his enemies, Dracula was willing to do it, no

matter how vicious, no matter how cunning. And then one of the most famous of all instances of Dracula's life, the Sultan Methmet and his vastly larger force thought that it had boxed in Dracula and his forces in a mountainous area, while Dracula decided to turn the tables. This led to what is known on June seventeenth of fourteen sixty two as the Night Raid of Turgovista. This was a raid into the Ottoman camp with nothing but torches by Dracula and his cavalry and his army of irregulars

intended to kill the Sultan himself in his tent. It was a massacre. Dracula and his forces operated at night as though they could see perfectly well. According to the chroniclers who observed the battle, they knew the terrain better. They were entirely at home, going from tent to tent, massacring members of the Turkish military who were caught completely unaware.

Thousands were hacked and bludgeoned to death, and Dracula almost pulled off the incredible feat of killing the most powerful men the world met the second in his own tent. His most elite forces targeted one red tent that they believed belonged to the Sultan. They got inside massacred everyone, only to realize it was the wrong tent, a senior verzier perhaps, but not the Sultan himself. Dracula and his forces, after hours of massacre and mutilation of the Turks, pulled

out before sun up. The Turkish forces were deeply demoralized, but the Sultan would not stop. He ordered the continued march to Turgo Vista, and when they got to the city, they saw one of the most terrifying scenes described in all the Dracula literature, the Forest of the Impaled, thousands and thousands of bodies impaled high on stakes, arranged like a forest just outside of Turgo Vista proper. The Turkish soldiers were horrified, and they just can't take it anymore.

With winter coming, they decide it's time to turn back. That's right, an entire Turkish invasion force turned around by the absolute ruthlessness of Dracula, Prince of Wallachia. It's hard to fully gauge just what a seismic shift this was in the Ottoman plans for conquest. But for an army led by the Sultan himself, with his crack troops, his janissaries, his spa he's, the elite nobles and the cavalry of the Ottoman Empire, his cannons, his vastly superior forces was

a shock to the Ottoman system. Of course, they returned home claiming victory, but people knew Lord Impaler had frightened away the Sultan himself. It was not over for Dracula, though his brother Radu was now the primary challenger for his throne and had the full backing of the Turks behind him. It was then political intrigue that would undo Dracula, as he was taken prisoner by Matthias kor Venus, the son of John Hunyadi and the most powerful man in

Hungary at the time. Dracula was held as an elite and a noble, but he was under house arrest in various Hungarian palaces during this period, and Radu, his brother, with Hungarian connivance, was able to become the Prince of Vallachia in Vlad's absence. It was said that during Dracula's captivity and Hungary, when some of the most well known portraits of him were painted, that he had a very strange habit of buying mice and birds and impaling them.

But you have to remember that Dracula was a renowned crusader and incredibly able at warfare even with small forces, and that required the kind of mountain hit and run tactics that he had used so successfully against the Turks. So the Hunyadi family, with now Matthias Corvinus as its head, officially became the royal family of Hungary. They took the Hungarian crown and allowed Dracula to marry into their royal family.

Dracula also converted officially to Catholicism at this time from his Eastern Orthodox Christianity, though this was clearly done for political purposes, and during his captivity, his brother Radu ended up fighting a war while he was Prince of Vallachia against the Moldavians, which did not go well, and the sources of the time claimed that Radu ended up dying

of a terrible case of syphilis. During this period, the time was right for Dracula's backers in Hungary to put him once again for a third time, on the throne

of Wallachia. As the prince, he took power, settled some scores with old nemesses by impaling them, of course, and then began yet another campaign against the Turks in fourteen seventy six, this time centered on the area of Srebernitza, where yes he defeated some Turkish forces, impaled all of the survivors, and burned entire villages and forts to the ground. But Dracula had made so many enemies at this point inside of Vallachia that when he returned, though the circumstances

of his actual death seem a bit murky. He was murdered, likely at the hands of an assassin who was posing as one of his servants, paid by the Turks, but also perhaps by the boyar nobles inside Vallachia, or Hungarian or Serbian or other rivals, all of whom had come to hate Dracula with the fire of a thousand sons. By legend, Dracula was buried at the Snagov Monastery, though later on when they exhumed his tomb there was nobody found inside. The myth of Dracula did not take long

to spread far and wide. His exploits, his mass impalements, his murder of thousands and thousands coincided with the invention of the printing press in the mid fifteenth century, and in fact, Tales of Dracula would be among the first for profit books ever published. The German Saxon sources of the time particularly hated Dracula and told the most lurid stories of his impalements and yes, his drinking of human blood.

The Russian sources, on the other hand, viewed him as severe but fair, and over time, in Romania he would come to be known mostly as a national hero who defeated the Turks and prevented what is present day Romania from becoming a Turkish state. But it was the Romanian folklore over the centuries, taking the tale of Dracula and through the oral tradition, beginning to mix it with the folkloric demon known as the Strigoy, that set the basis

for the Dracula tale. We have come to know today of a man undead who must drink the blood of innocent victims in order to stay alive, and who has supernatural powers, can only be killed with a stake through the heart, with silver, with garlic, and has a fear of crosses. All of this comes from the Romanian folklore, which Braham Stoker relied on in large part for his creation of the Dracula myth in his Timeless novel of eighteen ninety seven. So now you know the story of

the real Dracula. He was a historical figure of great importance in his day. But he was also in many ways far more terrifying than a sharp fanged vampire who turns into a bat. Because this Dracula was real. This has been shields high