Vlad the Impaler: Heroic Defender or Ruthless Tyrant? - Audio History Documentary - History Well Told

Episode Transcript
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(00:05):
The man known to history as Vladthe Impaler, Vlad the Third, or
Vlad Dracula was possibly born in November or December of 1431
in the citadel of Sigeshwara in the Principality or Voivodership
of Wallachia. Which today lies in modern day
Romania. However, there is no certainty

(00:25):
in this, such is the lack of substantial records for the time
and place, and it is also possible that he was born at
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Vlad's father was Prince Vlad the Second, ruler of Wallachia,
the illegitimate son of Prince Mircha the First, the brave of
Wallachia. The identity of Vlad the
Impaler's mother is not known for certain, but many historians

(02:16):
believe she was Vlad the Second's first wife, Kniaghna,
also called Eupraxia of Moldavia, the eldest daughter of
Prince Alexander the Good. Alternatively, Vlad the Impaler
could also have been conceived by one of Vlad the Second's
mistresses, but there is no way of knowing for sure.
Yet. Regardless of who his biological

(02:36):
mother really was, Vlad was regarded as a legitimate son of
Vlad the Second, also known as Vlad Dracol.
Vlad the Impaler's early life, and indeed much of his
subsequent career, can be examined best by looking closely
at that of his father. Vlad the Second's early years
were not well documented, but hewas most likely kept as a

(02:59):
hostage in the care of the Hungarian and German courts of
the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismundthe First.
In the 1400s and 1410s, hostages, or pledges as they
were more often known at the time, were a regular feature of
political life. The 15th century Europe.
These were used to secure the faithfulness of a follower by

(03:20):
keeping a family member at the court of their Liege Lord.
It was also a way to maintain the association between noble
families and build relationshipsfor Vlad the Impaler's
grandfather, Mircha the First, Vlad the Second's father.
It allowed him to gain further access to the Royal Courts of
Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as securing a

(03:42):
more opportunistic future for his illegitimate son.
Conversely, for Sigismund, it allowed him to ensure the
loyalty of the voivodership of Wallachia on the eastern borders
of the Kingdom of Hungary as a consequence of the arrangement.
Vlad the Second was educated as a nobleman at the Hungarian
court and most likely converted from Eastern Orthodoxy to Roman

(04:05):
Catholicism, the standard faith of the Holy Roman Empire, while
he was staying in Hungary or theGerman states.
After Mircha the First's death in 1418, Vlad the Second was no
longer required to remain at thecourt of Emperor Sigismund, but
chose instead to stay on as the Emperor's page, allowing him to

(04:25):
further his chivalric and aristocratic education.
His half brother Mikhail or Michael the First succeeded
their father back home in Wallachia, but Michael himself
died shortly thereafter in 1420.At this juncture, Vlad the
Second turned his focus on. Acquiring.
To avoid bordership of Wallachiafor himself competing with his

(04:46):
surviving family members. As well as the.
Other illegitimate children of Mircha for the title.
It is worth. Assessing the political
landscape of Southeastern Europe, the region in which fled
the second and fled the impaler would operate throughout their
lives at this juncture. For centuries, the Balkans
region had been largely dominated by the Byzantine

(05:07):
Empire, the name for the state which had survived from the
Eastern Roman Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean after the
Western Roman Empire was overrunand collapsed.
In the 5th century, but the Byzantine Empire was on its
knees by the. Late 14th and early 15th
centuries, controlling little more than the city of

(05:28):
Constantinople, the city known as Istanbul, today guarding the
gateway between Europe and Asia.As well as some small
territories in Greece. Much of its other territories in
regions such as Anatolia in western Turkey, Thrace, Bulgaria
and Macedonia have been conquered by the rising power in
the region, the Ottoman Turks, aMuslim power who had expanded

(05:50):
out of the region approximating to modern.
Day Turkey. Further to the northwest, the
main power was the Christian Kingdom of Hungary, the ruler of
which was Empress Sigismund, at whose court fled.
The second was a pledge for so many years.
And then between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire
were several smaller states suchas the Kingdom of Serbia, the

(06:12):
Kingdom of Bosnia, the Voivodership of Wallachia and
the Principality of Transylvania, the latter 2
constituting much of modern day Romania.
In the 15th century, there were two processes playing out across
the region. Firstly, the Ottomans were set
on capturing Constantinople and bringing the long lived
Byzantine Empire to an end. Secondly, the Ottoman Sultan's

(06:35):
wish to expand further northwestinto Christian Europe.
In the process, the buffer states on Hungary's eastern and
southern borders, such as the Boivordership of Wallachia,
would become key battlegrounds during the 15th century in the
fight against Ottoman expansion.Indeed, fighting had occurred at
the Battle of Kosovo in June 1389, when the Ottomans clashed

(06:57):
in a bloody but indecisive battle against the Serbs,
Bosnians and other Christian powers in the Balkans.
In the aftermath of this, the Serbs were weakened to the
extent that they largely became vassals of the Ottomans.
At the time of Vlad the Third's birth around 1431, Wallachia was
still largely a client principality of the Kingdom of

(07:18):
Hungary, but this was increasingly challenged by the
Ottomans, and many of the boyarsor nobles of Wallachia were
considering which side it would be best to be on.
As the Turkish expansion continued, both Vlad the Impaler
and Vlad the Second would be highly involved in these
affairs. The population of the
Principality of Wallachia was just as distinctive as its

(07:42):
geography, made-up of different cultures, including
Transylvanians, Slovaks, Germans, Greeks, Hungarians,
Roma, Slavs, Jews and Turks, andfollowers of various religions
including Eastern Orthodoxy and Christianity.
But there were also Protestants,Jews, Muslims, Pagans and
Catholics. The land and its people were

(08:03):
battle scarred, hardened by the continual fighting, external
pressures and internal upheaval from serving as the field upon
which wars were fought by the Islamic and Christian armies for
the fate of Europe. As an illegitimate son of
Mircha, the first Vlad the Second was not directly in line

(08:24):
for the throne following his half brother's death in 1420,
but he would ultimately reign asVoivoda twice, firstly from 1436
till 1442 and again from 1443 until his death in 1447, but at
the time of Vlad the Impaler's birth.
This all lay. Ahead and that juncture, Vlad

(08:46):
the Second was assigned by the Hungarian nobles to serve at
Sigeshwara to defend the region against any possible Ottoman
incursions. His task was to defend the
mountain passes from Transylvania into Wallachia from
enemy raids, particularly from the Ottoman Empire, a powerful
Islamic realm. If Wallachia fell to the Ottoman

(09:08):
threat, this would potentially open the rest of Europe to a
massive assault by the Islamic forces, weakening the Christian
states. Upon coming to power in 1436,
Vlad the Second found himself ata precarious crossroads.
His principality torn between the growing strength of the
Islamic Ottomans and the divisive factions of the

(09:29):
Catholic European Court. Vladrakul was expected to side
with his fellow Christians against the Turks, who had
already taken much of the Orthodox lands of the Byzantine
Empire. In 1431, the same year Vlad the
Impaler was born, his father wasinducted into the Chivalry Order
of the Dragon, a military order founded by Emperor Sigismund in

(09:53):
14 O 8. The order was responsible for
protecting Christian lands from their many enemies, particularly
from the Ottoman Turks to the southeast.
As a result of becoming a memberof this prestigious order, Vlad
the Second received the cognomenDraco, derived from the word
drac or dragon, although in modern Romanian drac translates

(10:15):
to the word Devil. Vlad the Second Dracul would
have several children, 3 legitimate sons, Mircha the
Second, Vlad the 3rd, and Urraduthe Handsome, and at least one
illegitimate son, Vlad the Monk.The sons all received the
subriquet named Dracula, meaningSon of the Dragon, after Vlad

(10:35):
the Second had been inducted into the Order of the Dragon.
Dracula would become a synonymous moniker for Vlad the
Impaler and a title he would proudly bear throughout his
life. In contrast with modern times in
which the name Dracula has become synonymous with evil.
At the age of 5, Vlad Dracula, in line with his family's

(10:57):
position as one of the bulwarks of Christian rule in the Balkans
protecting against the Ottoman advance, began training for
knighthood at Tira Gorbishteh, learning the skills expected of
a boyar's son, including jousting, horsemanship, court
etiquette, strategy, swimming, hunting, tracking and combat

(11:18):
training. Vlad excelled at these
activities and seemed to thrive during the intensive physical
training, building the foundation for his upcoming
military career. It would serve him well in his
future career as Prince of Wallachia and as a commander,
leading soldiers and volunteers against his many enemies.

(11:38):
He would also have become familiar at an early age with
the new firearms and cannons which were beginning to be
introduced into Europe's armies and which would transform the
nature of warfare in this highlymilitarized part of the world in
the years ahead. As second son of Vlad the
Second, the young Vlad Dracula was raised in an aristocratic

(12:00):
household alongside his siblings, educated as was
appropriate for all young boyarsor nobles of the period,
studying and reading philosophy,writing mathematics, the
classics and different languagesunder the tutelage of noble
women, tutors and courtiers. Vlad was most likely raised
under the Eastern Orthodox faithand was also taught history,

(12:23):
politics and the delicate natureof Wallachia and its place in
the larger scheme of matters of land, faith and war.
Following the deaths in quick succession of Emperor Sigismond
in 1437 and then his successor as Holy Roman Emperor and King
of Hungary, Albert the Second, on the 27th of October 1439, the

(12:45):
Hungarian nobles voted Waddiswavthe Third of Poland in as the
new King of Hungary. The following year, Waddiswav
chose. A Hungarian Boyer and military
commander, John Hunyadi, also known as Yanku of Hunedwara, to
serve as Voivoda. Of Transylvania, Punyadi sought
to continue Hungarian influence in Wallachia and demanded that

(13:09):
Vlad the Second take part in hisongoing efforts to resist the
Ottoman advanced NW. Conversely, the Turks were
seeking to invade the Principality of Transylvania at
this time and asked the Wallachians to assist them.
Vlad the Second ignored the Ottomans, turning to serve
alongside the Hungarians and Transylvanians.

(13:30):
John Hunyadi, Vlad the 2nd and their allies successfully
pacified the eastern counties, pushing the.
Turks back and ultimately reinstating the protection of
Hungary's southern border in March 1442, when the future of
Vlad the Impaler was still only in his early teens.
Vlad the Second was promptly accused of treason by the

(13:52):
Ottomans for helping the Hungarians and faced reprisals.
Shortly after his shared victoryover the Turks, Vlad Drakul
brought his. Sons Vlad and Radu to the court
of Sultan Murad the Second and all of them were immediately
imprisoned by the Ottomans and held until a new alliance could
be arranged between Vlad the 2ndand the Turks.

(14:14):
The Sultan demanded payment and a show of loyalty so Vlad Dracul
could redeem himself in the eyesof the Turks for his efforts.
He reluctantly agreed, handing over his sons to the Sultan as
hostages until the debt was repaid to the Ottomans.
All of this highlights the increasing difficulties faced by
the nobles of Wallachia in this period, caught as they were

(14:37):
between 2 powers, the King of Hungary and the Ottoman Sultan,
who both viewed the Wallachians as their subjects.
Vlad the Second return to Wallachia from the Ottoman
court, having left his sons behind as pledges only to find.
That he had been replaced with Basarab, Dracol's cousin, by
John Hunyadi during his absence.Punyadi then turned his focus on

(15:00):
the approaching Ottoman army anddefeated them in August 1442
following the Turk attempt to annex Wallachia.
Vlad Dracul tried to remain neutral during the period of his
son's imprisonment and hoped to see them released shortly after,
while he also sought during the mid 1440s to build a
relationship between the Turks and the Christians of Wallachia

(15:23):
and Hungary, hoping for a diplomatic resolution to the
growing tensions which Wallachiahad become the epicenter of in
the course of the mid 1440s. Vlad the Second, Dracul's
compromise position in which hissons were effectively being held
as Shorty for his good behaviourby the Ottomans, was eventually
uncovered in Buddha, the Hungarian capital, infuriating

(15:47):
the Hungarians, who under the command of Juniadi, LED an
attack against Vlad the Second, forcing his eldest son Mircha to
flee. With the aid of the Ottomans,
Vlad the Second was able to overthrow the Hungarians and
retake Wallachia, but his success was short lived.
The Boyas, led by a cousin of Vlads confusingly called

(16:08):
Vladislav, overthrew him and sought to gain aid from John
Hunyadi. To prevent Vlad Drakul from
returning. The coup by the Boyars resulted
in Vlad 2 having to raise an army with the help of the
Ottomans who had remained behind, and to recruit from
Malakia when Yadi and his forcesarrived.
And in 1447, the Hungarians, Transylvanians and the Walakian

(16:32):
Boyars, led by Vladislav, defeated Vlad Drakul and
Mircha's armies, capturing Mircha.
Mircha was subsequently tortured, having his eyes burned
out and then being buried alive.Vlad Drakul turn to avenge his
son, but was captured and executed shortly after, most
likely either by being beheaded or burned at the stake at some

(16:54):
point in November 1447. It is generally believed that
Vlad Drakul was betrayed in thisinstance by his cousin
Vladislav, who subsequently succeeded to the Void wodership
as Vladislav the Second in 1447.This background of political
intrigue and Indonesian conflict, both within Wallachia
and the wider Balkans, would form all of Vlad the Impaler's

(17:18):
own career. He and his brother Radu had been
left in the care of Sultan Muratthe Second, who treated the
children well despite their status as prisoners.
The boys most likely witnessed the brutality that the Turks
could inflict on their captives during the 1440s and were
advised to remain obedient, according to many historical.

(17:38):
Sources The positive treatment of Vlad and Radu by the Sultan
was due to their being regarded as guests rather than prisoners.
In much the same way as their father had been well treated as
a pledge at the court of EmperorSigismund over 30 years earlier.
The goal of such positive treatment was to engender the
loyalty of the Wallachian Princess and ensure that they

(18:01):
would one day return to Wallachia and rule the
voivodership as pro Ottoman rulers who would ally with the
Turks against the Hungarians andtheir allies.
However, Vlad would prove impervious to these efforts to
win him over. Vlad the 3rd and Oradu Dracula
continued their studies at the Ottoman court at the Agrigos

(18:23):
Citadel in the Anatolian Plateau, located in what is
today central Turkey. Despite their Christian
background, the brothers studiedthe Quran as well as literature
and the Persian and Turkish languages, receiving the
traditional education of noblemen, which included logic,
warfare, philosophy, combat and horseback riding.

(18:44):
Vlad threw himself into the fighting arts, his hatred for
the Turks seeming to drive his training, focusing on his
ultimate goal to become Voivoderof Wallachia and annihilate the
Ottomans. Despite the Ottomans efforts to
control the Balakian Princess, Vlad fiercely resisted and was
subjected to brutal punishment as a result.

(19:06):
Radu conversely embraced his experience with the Turks,
converting to Islam and later volunteering to serve as a
Janissary, the elite household guards of the Ottoman Sultans,
who were usually former Christians who had converted to
Islam and were also circumcised as part of the process.
In this position, Radu grew close to the Sultan's son and

(19:27):
heir, Mohammed the Second, who he would go on to serve later in
his life. As a result of their closeness,
rumors even spread in later years that the 2.
Were lovers. Radu's conversion, closeness
with Mohammed the 2nd and admiration for Ottoman culture
infuriated Vlad Dracula and fuelled his hate for the

(19:48):
Ottomans. After the death of his father
and older brother at the hands of the Hungarians, Vlad Dracula
now found himself to be the heirto his family's position within
Wallachia, and with it a seriouscontender to claim voy
bordership through the elective vote of the Wallachian nobles,
the boyars. Moreover, the death of his
father released Vlad and Radu from their captors.

(20:11):
Wangradu remained behind in Anatolia at this juncture to
continue his service with the Turks.
Vlad swore to avenge his family as he perceived that his father
and brother had perished as a result of Ottoman interference
in Wallachia, and his half brother was lost to him as
someone who had Islamicized at the Ottoman court.

(20:31):
But before he acquired his revenge, he needed an army to
prevent the Hungarians from taking over Wallachia following
Vlad 2's death. The Turks, ironically enough,
provided Vlad the Third Dracula with the army he needed to begin
acquiring power back in Wallachia.
No doubt the Sultan believed that he was effectively arming a

(20:52):
vassal Prince when he did so, but the Turks would learn in due
course that this was certainly not the case.
Arm With this Ottoman support, Vlad was able to seize power in
Wallachia in 1448, when he was perhaps no more than 17 years of
age, certainly no more than 21, he successfully deposed his

(21:12):
cousin, Vladislav the Second. At this juncture, during a
period when Vladislav was battling the Ottomans to the
South, one of Vlad's first fabled acts as Prince was to
invite many of the boyars who may have been involved in his
father and brother's death to a feast.
According to some sources, he then had his men, stabbed them

(21:33):
and take them to be impaled as ashow of strength, although the
truth of these claims is not certain.
Vlad the Third Dracula was only in power for a matter of months
as Prince of Wallachia when he was ousted again by the
Hungarians, Transylvanians and Wallachians, and his cousin
Vladislav the Second was yet again reinstated as Voivoda

(21:56):
after he had returned from his campaign against the Turks.
Vlad was consequently forced briefly into exile, settling in
neighboring Moldavia in order toavoid.
Further problems at home. While in Moldavia, Vlad spent
time in the company of his uncle, Prince Bogdan the Second,
and his cousin Prince Stephen, until Bogdan was assassinated in

(22:17):
October of 1451 by Petru Aran, Bogdan's brother.
Vlad and Stephen fled to Transylvania through the Borgo
Pass, where the two men eventually fell into the care of
John Hunyadi and the Prince of Hungary.
Ladislaus Punyadi had previouslysuffered some significant losses
in Kosovo and Varna over the course of the past couple of

(22:40):
years, costing him influence, power and prestige.
He had lost two of his titles, those of Viceroy of Hungary and
Governor of Transylvania, and was facing further distrust from
the Hungarian Diet or Parliamentary Assembly.
These setbacks aside, he maintained several estates
throughout his domain and still commanded a mighty military

(23:01):
force which he could call upon at short notice.
Hunyadi decided to show Vlad mercy despite his recent
transgressions, knowing Draculashatred could be useful if
targeted at the Turks. Furthermore, Vlads intimate
knowledge of the Ottoman Empire,having spent years at the
Sultans court, could make him a significant and invaluable

(23:22):
advisor for Hunyadi if courted correctly.
While the shared hatred for the Turks of Hunyadi and Vlad, as
well as the growing disillusionment between Hunyadi
and Vladislav, may have also been a contributing factor in
the truce. Punyadi, who was of course
responsible for the death of Vlad's father and brother,
needed allies and Vlad needed protection.

(23:45):
Each could provide the other with exactly what they required
in the short term. It is not known for sure whether
a genuine peace had been reachedor whether there was simply a
mutual understanding of Vlad andHunyadi's need for each other,
and Mohammed the Second ascendedthe Ottoman throne in January of
1451. Vladislav sent congratulations

(24:07):
to the new Sultan and restarted the two sided alliance between
Wallachia and its neighbors, extending its hospitality and
service to both the enemy realmsof the Kingdom of Hungary and
the Ottoman Empire. This arrangement both protected
and threatened Wallachia, but gave Hunyadi an opportunity he
could extend to Vlad Dracula to help him fight the Turks.

(24:30):
Vlad was offered a military posting under Hunyadi and also
granted a place at his court. Hunyadi brought the young man
with him to the Hungarian diet and continued to instruct him in
the arts of war and to further his nobleman's education.
Dracula. Swore fealty to Ladislaus when
he was crowned as king of Hungary and Hunyadi was able to

(24:51):
make. Peace with his former enemy
Count Uli Chili, a supporter of the new Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick the 3rd and relative of the previous emperor
Sigismund. Meanwhile, while Vlad's
influence amongst the Hungarianswas growing in the late 1440s
and early 1450s, his rival for power in Wallachia, his cousin

(25:12):
Vladislav the Second, was finding his own position
compromised during these years. In October 1448, another major
battle had occurred between the Ottomans on the one hand and the
Hungarians and their allies at Kosovo.
The campaign had been led by John Hunyadi.
As a kind of religious crusade, including contingents of German

(25:32):
mercenaries. Vladislav did not send any aid
personally, despite the appearance of some 8000
Wollakians on the field of battle in autumn.
The battle ended in a crushing defeat for Hunyadi and his
allies, opening the way for the Ottomans to initiate a final
assault on Constantinople without fearing any major

(25:53):
military unrest in the Balkans in the years that followed.
For his part, Hunyadi never forgave Vladislav for his
betrayal. A diplomatic and trade war was
consequent, frequently initiatedby Hungary and Transylvania
against Wallachia in the years that followed, and the Hungarian
commander was increasingly in favor of having Vladislav

(26:13):
removed from the voivodership and replaced by Vlad.
Dracula. Five years later came the
seismic event in the expansion of Ottoman power in southeastern
Europe. On the 29th of May 1453, under
the command of Sultan Mehmed theSecond, the Ottoman Empire
conquered the city of Constantinople, ultimately

(26:34):
destroying the remnants of the Byzantine Empire and
establishing the Ottoman Empire's capital there.
The great Church of Hagia Sophia, which had been built as
a Christian cathedral over 900 years earlier, was converted
into to a mosque. The fall of Constantinople to
the Turks, who wielded a mighty army that went unrivalled across

(26:56):
the continent, opened up the possibility that the Sultan,
Mohammed the Second, could now threaten much of southeastern
Europe. And John Kunyati was advised
that because of Vladislav's relationship with the Sultan,
the next assault on European lands would probably fall on
Belgrade. If Belgrade fell, this would
open the Kingdom of Hungary to further assaults by the Turks,

(27:18):
especially by the Turkish fleet,which could use the Danube to
sail into the cities of Vienna and Buddha.
In the winter of 1455 to 1456, the Ottoman army was raised near
the fortress of Adrianopol, or what is today Iderna in
northwest Turkey. Saint John of Capistrano, the
Minarite Franciscan monk who would later be canonized by the

(27:41):
Catholic Church, spoke at Gur, Hungary and inspired others to
action against the Ottomans, exclaiming, God wills it that we
chase the Turks out of Europe. Such words had rallied millions
to crusade over the course of the past four centuries, and
Hunyadi, Vlad and Hunyadi's son Laszlo had been in attendance.

(28:02):
Moved by the call for a new crusade against the impending
invasion of the Ottomans, Vlad was instructed to stay in
Transylvania and give him permission to launch attacks
against Vladislav the Second, which would potentially
alleviate pressures on Belgrade and pull Ottoman focus away from
their objectives in the city. Vlad was more than happy to

(28:22):
oblige. Vlad LED several excursions
throughout Wallachia and Transylvania to harass and
overwhelm Vladislav, who found himself combating both the
standing armies and recuperatingfrom small skirmishes.
These culminated in a meeting atthe market town of Tariqsar on
the 20th of August 1456. Here Vlad the Impaler met

(28:45):
Vladislav on the field of battleas their armies prepared to
fight one another. But before a wider clash
erupted, Vlad rode across the field and challenged his foe to
hand to hand combat. Vladislav agreed and in the
clash which ensued, Dracula killed Vladislav the Second.
Thus, after nearly nine years, he had finally avenged himself

(29:08):
on the man who had overthrown and killed his father and
brother. In the days that followed Vlad
he gained the voivodership of Woolacia and established himself
as the undisputed ruler of the principality.
Upon taking up the crown of Woolacia, Vlad took the title
Prince Vlad, son of Vlad the Great, sovereign and ruler of

(29:29):
Ungrew Woolacia and the Dutchiesof Amlash and Fagarash.
The Dutchies had been granted tohim by King Ladislaus for
returning to his favour. He worked with local mayors in
Transylvania and Hunyadi's son Laslo, the new commander of
Belgrade, to establish a relationship with them and
protect his borders to the north.
He tried to incite the Boyas to revolt against his Moldavian

(29:52):
enemy Petro Aron, another local Balkan Prince who, like
Flutterslav the Second, had thrown in his lot some years
earlier with the Ottomans. In 1457, just a few months after
acquiring control of Wallachia, Vlad's cousin Stephen was also
successfully installed in Moldavia following the overthrow

(30:12):
of Petru Aronbe and thanks to the dissidents Vlad had aroused
with the boyars and a troop of around 6000 Wallachians.
By now, Vlad began to develop his identity as both a violent
and strict leader, as well as a strong commander with a mind for
social and economic preservationof the Wallachian state.

(30:32):
He bolstered the military and economy and rebuilt villages to
allow local merchants to thrive while restricting foreign trade
to help the local market to grow.
The Ottomans sent emissaries to Vlad Dracula following his rise
to power in an attempt to acquire tribute and a free
passage through Wallachia for their troops as a show of
loyalty to the Turks, but Vlad refused to travel to

(30:56):
Constantinople to pay homage to the Sultan.
It is around this time he rebuilt some of the walls around
his cities and fortifications and also began to embrace the
practice of impalement as punishment, a common practice
used to execute prisoners and traitors of the Ottoman Empire,
something he must have witnessedas a young hostage.

(31:17):
The first targets of Vlad's wrath were those responsible for
the death of his brother and father, particularly the boyars
in Wallachia and Transylvania. He seized their assets, lands,
and other commodities, which he then redistributed to his allies
and captured his enemies and brought them into his custody.
The boyars were then executed mainly through the process of

(31:39):
impalement, and the bodies were propped up around his realm as a
warning. His methods were both a message
to his foes and a means to eliminate those who had dared to
challenge him. Other methods of torturous death
Vlad had allegedly carried out included allowing animals to
feast on his victims, exposing them to the elements, burning

(32:01):
them alive, cutting off body parts such as fingers, toes,
limbs, eyes, ears, noses, tongues, breasts, nipples,
penises, etcetera, skinning themalive and boiling.
It was said he would sometimes feast while people were impaled
or tortured, revelling while people died around him.
If we are to believe the tales of Vlad the Impaler's beastly

(32:24):
behavior, then women were subjected to some of the worst
abuses of the hands of the Prince, particularly with
respect to their sexual fidelity.
If a woman was discovered to have had an affair while
married, or had been promiscuouswhile unmarried or widowed, Vlad
apparently treated them to especially severe punishments,
including mutilation and impalement on a hot poker while

(32:47):
their lovers watched in horror. The paramours would often be
made to be involved in the torture, forced to consume the
mutilated body parts while theirpartner bled out.
How much of this supposed behaviour should be literally
believed is open to interpretation.
Much of it may have been the fanciful imagination of writers

(33:08):
in the more civilized climes of Vienna and Buddha writing about
a supposedly savage border Lord far away in Wallachia.
Some of this brutality is more attestable.
For instance, Vlad was especially violent towards
foreign peoples on his lands. There were populations of Saxons
or Germans from the southeasternregion bordering on what is

(33:30):
today Poland and the Czech Republic, who settled throughout
the Wollakian principality and served as a separate community
within the realm. In one notable story, Vlad
learned that a Wollakian merchant in the city of Brazov
had his goods taken by Saxon merchants who had refused to pay
him. Vlad allegedly had all the

(33:50):
Saxons in Brasov rounded up and impaled for their treachery
towards a Wallachian citizen. The extent of this is again
unclear, but there were extensive pogroms of the Saxons
in Wallachia around the mid 16thcentury.
Legends surround Vlad Dracula pertaining to his cruelties, but

(34:10):
also to how much his own people feared his wrath.
One famous story concerned the Golden Cup, a magnificent
chalice that was placed in the town square of his capital,
Tirogovista. In Plainview of all who pass by,
the Statute of the Golden Gobletwas simple.
Anyone could use it to drink from, but the cup could never

(34:31):
leave the confines of the square.
At the time there were around 60,000 individuals living in
Tiragavista. The cup was never taken during
Vlad's reign, such was the fear he is believed to have inspired
in his subjects. Vlad was also said to have been
faced with a large population ofpoor individuals and had to come

(34:53):
up with a means of ending poverty in Wallachia.
To do so, Vlad supposedly invited hundreds of the
impoverished from Tirugovishta to a massive feast where they
revelled in the generosity of their Prince and ate and drank
to their heart's content. Vlad responded by locking the
doors of the hall and setting itablaze.

(35:15):
No one escaped. These stories became commonplace
and was sensationalized by the Turks, Saxons, Hungarians,
Transylvanians, and other enemies Vlad made over the
course of his life, while his subjects became all too familiar
with his punishments. Vlad the Impaler also showed a
deep devotion to military and political deeds, such as helping

(35:37):
his cousin Prince Stephen take the Moldavian throne in 1457,
providing about 6000 cavalry mento fight against Petru Iran.
Stephen in return helped Vlad combat the continual raids and
attacks by the Ottomans against the southern border of Ulakya,
attacks which were initiated by the Sultan Mehmed the Second in

(35:58):
response to the new crusade declared by Pope Pius the Second
against the infidels. In January 1460, Vlad Dracula
joined the effort, which was nowled by John Hunyadi's son
Matthias Corvinas, allying himself with Corvinas to combat
the Ottomans. Mehmed the Second took the last
independent city in Serbia, Smederievo, in a violent assault

(36:22):
in 1459. Just a few months later, Vlad's
ally, the Hungarian general Mihali Shilaji, was captured
during a battle near Bazias and was sown in half after being
tortured, A grim fate which manyof his men suffered.
The Sultan then took several cities in Greece and threatened
to return to Wallachia unless tribute called Gizia was paid to

(36:46):
him. Envoys were sent to Vlade Court
to collect both the money and men for the Janissary forces.
It was at this juncture in 1460 that Vlad Dracula decided to
clarify his position towards thepossibility of any relationship
with the Turks. When the emissaries arrived, he
asked them to take off their turbans, part of the traditional

(37:07):
wardrobe of an Ottoman, because removing the hat in the presence
of a Wallachian Prince, especially in his court, was
customary and expected. The diplomats refused as it was
part of their attire. Vlad informed them he would not
give the Sultan anything and would not negotiate, and
promptly had the representativesturbans nailed to their heads as

(37:32):
a form of symbolic rejection of any claims to Turkish
overlordship in Bolakia. It was certainly a blunt and
effective one. Meanwhile, the Turks began
recruiting troops as they crossed the Danube and LED
assaults against the Transylvanians, to which Flad
promptly responded by impaling any prisoners his men took in

(37:53):
the conflict. In November 1461, he wrote to
the Sultan explaining that he was unable to pay tribute due to
financial issues, noting that hewould be willing to go to
Constantinople to negotiate a deal.
The Sultan heard of Vlad's renewed alliance with Corvinus
at this juncture and attempted to lure Vlad into a trap so that

(38:14):
he could capture him to bring him to Constantinople in chains.
Instead, Vlad learned of the plot and he set his own trap for
the Sultan's Bay or Chieftain ofNicopolis, Hamza Pasha and his
men in a narrow pass north of Giorgio, using gunpowder to
easily overpower the Turks. The Bay and his men were quickly

(38:34):
surrounded and defeated by the Transylvanian army.
Vlad the Impaler then had the Turkish troops killed by
impaling them. He had Pasha skewed on a stake
that would stand taller than hismen to signify his rank and
place. He had the staked bodies placed
in a field forming A macabre forest.
Vlad was evidently perturbing the Sultan in Istanbul at this

(38:58):
stage. When he was informed of the
ambush. He is said to have struck the
messenger who delivered the newsin fury at this latest set back.
Vlad now undertook A fierce campaign into Ottoman lands in
the spring of 1462. Because of his fluency in
Turkish, Vlad was able to infiltrate the Ottoman
territories on the other side ofthe Danube, leading his forces

(39:21):
through the Turkish occupied regions of Bulgaria in between
the Black Sea and Serbia. He would demand the gates to
open for him, and once they did,he would lead an army into the
fray. Vlad the Impaler executed every
soldier and Ottoman sympathizer travelling over 800 kilometers.
During the course of two weeks they killed well over 23,000

(39:43):
Turks and allies, impaling them and leaving their bodies on the
stakes for others to see. In response, the Sultan sent his
men to destroy the port of Brailla in Wallachia, but the
18,000 man force he had sent under his vizier Mahmoud were
defeated by Vlad. And his troops leaving only
around 8000 Ottomans live. These victories solidified

(40:06):
Vlad's place in Europe as a successful warlord, A fearsome
defender of Europe's borders against the Ottoman infidels.
For a short time at least, he was celebrated by the Pope and
was revered by Christians, but was deeply feared by Muslims.
The Sultan grew infuriated at the news of Vlad the Impalers

(40:27):
continuing successes and turned to deal with the Prince himself.
Both rulers now prepared their armies for the upcoming
conflict. The Sultan raced an army of
between 150,000 and 300,000 men comprised of his bodyguards,
engineers, women for comfort, priests, astrologers, Rifleman,

(40:48):
pikemen, cannons, slave soldiers, Archers, infantry,
janissaries and cavalry. Dracula's brother Radu even
served as part of the mustard Turkish forces, commanding
around 4000 cavalry men. Vlad rallied A significantly
smaller force, especially since Corvinus did not aid him despite
Dracula's request for assistance.

(41:10):
Men, women and children aged between 12 and 18 were
recruited, including Roma, slaves and farmers, building an
army of around 30,000 poorly trained, armed and armored
Transylvanians. Even though he was vastly
outnumbered, Vlad the Impaler and his force was able to kill
around 300 jenisseries after theSultan left Vidin and he knew

(41:32):
the only way to win was to commit unthinkable and vicious
acts. Vlad could not hope to win
against the Ottomans in the field.
Now the best he could hope for was to wage a guerrilla campaign
in country that he and his forces had greater knowledge of,
and in which they would have greater local support.
The Prince of Ulakia ordered theevacuation of the neighboring

(41:55):
territories, removing the peopleand animals from the land.
As the Sultan's army advanced, he poisoned the rivers and lakes
with the bodies of animals and humans, and burned farmland to
destroy crops in a scorched earth tactic.
This would leave nothing for theadvancing Turks but barren
fields. Knowing his army would be no

(42:15):
match for the Ottomans, Vlad resorted to ignitrates to harass
the Turkish opponents. Vlad also ordered of men, women,
and children who were suffering from contagious diseases such as
bubonic plague, leprosy, tuberculosis, or cholera to
travel to the Ottoman camps or to stay in villages that would
be in the path of the invaders. This would potentially infect

(42:36):
the area and help contaminate the Turks with the illnesses.
Vlad was essentially using germ or biological warfare here to
slow down the Ottoman advance and deplete their forces.
These efforts were clandestine and incredibly effective in
causing problems for the Ottomans in their attempts to
take Wallachia. The capital of Wallachia, the

(42:58):
city of Teregovista, home to Vlad Dracula's Poinari Castle,
was met with the advancing Turkish troops who previously
had been unable to take either the island of Snagov or the
fortress of Bucharest. Vlad ordered his 24,000 men to
take refuge in the mountains near the capital as the Ottomans
reached the city limits. Knowing that he and his men

(43:20):
would either die at the hands ofthe Sultan's army or from
starvation should they hunker down in the mountains, Vlad the
Impaler implemented his education and past experiences
to escape. Vlad disguised himself once more
and snuck into the Ottoman army camp, passing by unnoticed
thanks to his mastery of the Turkish language, and made his

(43:41):
way through the tents. He discovered the Sultan had
ordered his men to remain in their tents to keep them from
losing their nerve should they fall under attack.
He uncovered the location of theSultan's tent and then slipped
back to his camp in the mountains to plan an attack on
Mohammed's men and assassinate the Sultan in his tent.
Later, on the evening of the 17th of June 1462, the Prince of

(44:05):
Wallachia split his men into twodivisions and had them set to
attack from either side of the camp, using the Turkish
prisoners to help them infiltrate the camp's outskirts.
The first wave hit and rolled through the camp.
The opposite side did not act. The Wolluckians slayed around
15,000 Ottomans, losing only around 5000 men.

(44:26):
In the process of Lad Dracula inadvertently entered the wrong
tent. Nevertheless, the incident,
which has become known as the night attack on Tarago Vista,
has gone down in history as one of the most daring elements of
Vlad's colorful career. The episode in which he in early
managed to infiltrate the Ottoman camp and slay the

(44:47):
Conqueror of Constantinople. As dawn rose, Vlad the Impaler
and his men retreated to the mountains and escaped without
any pursuers. Many of the Ottomans were
disheartened and wanted to head back towards the Ottoman lands,
but Sultan Mehmed ultimately determined to continue the
campaign. Yet just hours later they came

(45:08):
upon the macabre field which Vlad had had decorated months
earlier with the bodies of HamzaPasha and his 20,000 man army.
The Turks were horrified by the scene, which even by the
standards of Balkan warfare in this brutal period was
particularly shocking. Consequently, the Sultan now
ordered his men back, leaving Radu with his janissaries to

(45:30):
oversee affairs near Teregovistaon the 22nd of June.
There is a myth that Dracula's first wife, a woman who has
never been officially named and whose identity has been left to.
The legends of Romanian history,saw the arrival of Radu and his
men at the base of the castle ofTargavista, perched up high on
the cliffs overlooking Targavista and the Argesh River.

(45:53):
Despite having one son, Mish, near the bad with Vlad the
Impaler, further details about her remain unknown.
The legend, though, is that at the on the sight of the
Ottomans, Vlad's wife is said tohave remarked she would rather
feed the fish than be taken by the Turks.
She then threw herself to her death in the waters below.

(46:14):
Pradhu now established himself as the new ruler of Wallachia,
while the Ottomans moved on to burn the city of Brailla.
Pradhu Dracula LED several attacks throughout Wallachia,
while his brother and the remnants of Vlad's forces
hurried to the town of Chile. Here, Stephen the Third of
Moldavia had initiated the siege, hoping to take advantage

(46:35):
of the distress his former closeally found himself in as a
result of the massive Ottoman invasion of his lands.
Vlad and his army succeeded successfully repelled Stephen
and his forces, injuring Stephenin the process, but despite this
limited success, Vlad was forcedto flee to Hungary to seek aid
from Matthias Corvinas to plan future battles and strategies in

(46:58):
Hungary. By the end of the autumn of
1462, Vlad believed that he had successfully acquired Hungarian
support to launch a counter attack against the Ottomans the
following spring that Corvinas had actually planned a trap at
Castle King's Rock Vlad just as he crossed into Wallachia.
Why Corvinus betrayed Vlad is not precisely known, although it

(47:21):
has been suggested Corvinus hoped to be named Holy Roman
Emperor and it would have been in his interest to end any
aggression with the Ottomans so that he could turn his
attentions towards Central Europe.
Whatever the purpose of it, Corvinus would not be named Holy
Roman Emperor, although in 1464 he was dubbed King Matthias of

(47:42):
Hungary. Vlad fell victim in late 1462 to
his having been a border warlordcaught between the Hungarians
and the Ottomans. Despite his determined
opposition to the Turks over a decade and a half long period,
he was still distrusted in Buddha, and as a consequence, he
was imprisoned on suspicion of coordinating with the Sultan,

(48:04):
despite how improbable this seems.
Between 1462 and 1466, Vlad was first detained in Orotia
Fortress located in Podu Dambovicier today, then in
Vizigrad. Over the course of this period,
King Matthias and Vlad's relationship grew more
favorable, though he was not released.

(48:25):
In the meantime, his brother Radu, the real collaborator with
the Sultan, ruled Wallachia as the New Voivoda.
During the early years of his house arrest, Vlad Dracula
converted to Catholicism and married Ilona Shilaji, cousin to
King Matthias. He was given greater freedom in
1466. Vlad and Ilona were also gifted

(48:46):
a home in Pesht, one of the two towns on either side of the
Danube, along with Buddha, whichwould later join to become
Budapest. Here they lived with their two
sons, Vlad the 4th, Tepolis and Mircha.
Vlad spent many years here, settling into a seemingly
sedentary retirement, but in truth he longed to return to

(49:07):
Bolakia and reclaim his positionthere.
To this end, in the mid 1470s, after well over 10 years in
Hungary, Vlad Dracula reached out to Stephen, the 5th Batori,
A prominent military commander, future Voivoder of Transylvania,
Hungarian judge, royal and ally of King Matthias, to help him
with the task of building an army comprising of Moldavian,

(49:29):
Hungarian, Transylvanian and Wollakian forces.
The mission for Stephen and Vladwas simple.
Take Walakia from Prince BasarabLaota Chilbatran, who claimed
the Void Votership from Vlad's brother Radu in late 1474 or
early 1475. Radu appears to have died
shortly thereafter while trying to reclaim the position himself,

(49:53):
but the details of his death areunclear.
This left Vlad as the only Dracula, the legitimate son of
Vlad The 2nd Dracul left to seekthe position of Oi Voda, and
Vlad, who was nearing his 50th year by this time, was
determined to reclaim it. He managed to do so with little
effort. Vlad and Stevens forces arrived

(50:13):
in the autumn of 1476 and met noresistance.
Instead, Basarat's army fled andallowed Dracula to resume his
rule over Wallachia. Stephen Batori returned to
Transylvania, leaving Vlad aloneto defend his land from any
threat. Vlad did not have long to enjoy
his reclamation of the rule of Wallachia.

(50:36):
Not long after his reestablishment on the
Wallachian throne on the 26th ofNovember 1476, Vlade lands were
once again besieged by a large army of Ottoman Turks who
campaigned N against him in an effort to reimpose Bassarab as a
pro Ottoman voivoder. Vlad found he had only around
2000 men to fight the Ottomans force of even in excess of 4000,

(51:02):
who relatively easily crushed his Wollakian army.
Vlad also died around this time,though the exact date and
details of his death are not clear, though it was known he
had died by the 10th of January 1477.
He might have died on the field of battle against the Turks, or
may have been betrayed by his Wollakian boyar enemies and

(51:22):
murdered, or was injured in a hunting accident which led to
his death around the time of thenew Ottoman invasion.
There are several myths regarding Vlad Dracula's demise
that have helped fuel the myth of Dracula throughout the world.
A few believe Dracula was not killed during this period,
instead being captured and ransomed, then moved to Italy,

(51:42):
remaining there until his death and being buried at Santa Maria
Nova Church in Naples. This theory has frequently been
disputed and contested by other archaeologists, historians, and
researchers who find the evidence supporting this notion
almost entirely lacking and unsubstantiated.
The most commonly accepted storyabout his death says that Vlad

(52:02):
the Impaler met his end at the hands of the Ottomans, either
being captured by the Turks, beheaded, having his head
preserved in honey and then put on a pipe to be brought to
Istanbul as evidence of his death, or being impaled in the
same manner he had become infamous for.
Either way, the lore of his reign was the stuff of legend

(52:23):
and became intermixed with the truth of his life.
It is not known exactly where Dracula was buried, although
there were rumors that he was interred callously by his
adversary, Basarat the Elder. At the Kumana Monastery, which
Vlad had established and constructed in 1931,
archaeologists found a casket draped with a purple and gold

(52:45):
veil at the Snaggov Monastery inBucharest.
Aside from a skeleton, the coffin contained pieces of silk
brocade, a ring like 1 worn by members of the Order of the
Dragon, and a crown reminiscent of an oil painting of LA the
Impaler. Was this Vlad himself?
The contents of the grave of Snagov were taken to the History

(53:06):
Museum of Bucharest to be studied, but all the artifacts
and bones promptly vanished, adding further to the mystery
and legend of LA Dracula and thewhereabouts of his corpse.
In the aftermath of Lad's death,the Principality of Wallachia
continued to experience years ofinstability, being governed by
short lived rulers such as Basara Blautat al Batran, who

(53:29):
briefly reclaimed the voivodership at the time of
Lad's death, but who was then himself quickly overthrown by a
new Hungarian, supported Voivoder Basarab the 4th.
Throughout this tumultuous era, the principality was devastated
as a result of being caught between the Ottoman Turks on one
hand and the Christian Christianpowers to the northwest and the

(53:49):
Kingdom of Hungary on the other.Thus, for instance, on the 13th
of October 1479, the Battle of Bredfield was fought in nearby
Transylvania, a major battle between the Hungarians allied
with the Serbs, Wollakians and others against the Ottomans.
This was the largest battle yet fought in the Balkans to prevent
the Ottoman advance in the aftermath of the fall of

(54:12):
Constantinople, and ended in victory for the Hungarians and
their allies. Ultimately, however, the Turkish
advance was too strong, as sheernumbers led the sultans to begin
imposing themselves more fully over Wallachia, Transylvania,
Moldavia, and Serbia in the early 16th century.
This was compounded by growing divisions within European

(54:34):
Christendom following the inception of the Protestant
Reformation in the late 1510s. Thus, in 1526, Sultan Suleiman
the Magnificent defeated the remaining Balkan powers and the
Hungarians at the Battle of Mohach.
Consequently, for the next two centuries, the Austrian
Hapsburgs were the front line ofEuropean Christendom's defence,

(54:55):
a role it had to perform on manyoccasions, most notably in 1683
when the Turks threatened to capture Vienna itself, and
during which they were only prevented from doing so by the
arrival of the Polish army to relieve the Austrians.
Given all of this, it is unsurprising to find that we're
luckier. Despite Vlad's efforts to
resist, Turkish encroachments fell firmly under Ottoman

(55:18):
control in the 16th century and remained in that position until
the late 18th century, when Turkish domination was swamped
for Russian geopolitical dominance in the region.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, when Romanian nationalism became a
major force in the region in thecourse of the 19th century, Vlad
was reimagined not as a brutal, sadistic ruler, but as a Remain

(55:40):
Indian nationalist himself who had tried to resist Turkish
subjugation of Volakia. Today, Vlad Dracula is
frequently considered to be a prime example of a human
embodiment of evil. His violence and cruelties
towards his own people and enemies became synonymous with
his name. His most famous portrayal came

(56:01):
in the form of Bram Stoker's Dracula, a late 19th century
Gothic novel told from the letters of different characters
regarding their interactions with a strange man, Count
Dracula, who is later revealed to be a vampire.
Stoker took his inspiration fromVlad's name, but mainly from the
mythology of Romania and the wider Balkans and other aspects

(56:23):
of vampiric law. How does 1 appraise a character
such as Vlad the Third Dracula, whose life is shrouded in myth,
exaggeration and fantastical tales?
Firstly, it must be said that many of the tales about him were
doubtlessly embellished and havebeen further so over the last
120 or so years as sensationalist accounts have

(56:45):
abounded of the life of the man who inspired Bram Stoker's
Dracula. What should be said first is
that Vlad was almost certainly not as tyrannical and
bloodthirsty as many accounts ofhis life made him out to be.
These exaggerated tales about him started early and have
continued ever since. Pamphleteers and writers in late

(57:05):
15th and 16th century Europe were just as anxious to concoct
elaborate tales about the strange Lord who lived on the
peripheries of Europe and engaged in excessively cruel
behavior. Thus, any assessment of Vlad the
Impaler must be undertaken with a hefty dose of skepticism about
what has been written about him.Over the last 550 years.

(57:28):
And yet, these reservations aside, there is no doubting that
Vlad's reputation must have comefrom somewhere.
He did widely employ the tactic of impaling his enemies on
spikes, even though it may be fantastical to suggest over
100,000 people fell victim to this proclivity of his.
Equally, he may well have widelyemployed torture and other

(57:52):
terror tactics to try to rule Wallachia.
But while he does not excuse hisbehaviour, this must be viewed
in context. What must be remembered in
interpreting Vlad the Impaler's life was that he was living
through a period of increasing brutality and slaughter in
southeastern Europe. As the religious wars between
the Christians of Hungary and the buffer states such as

(58:14):
Wallachia intensified against the onslaughts of the Ottoman
Turks, Wallachia found itself inthe unenviable position of being
caught in the middle of the clash, being Christian hungry
and the Muslim Ottomans continuously devastated by both
sides as they tried to impose favorable candidates as Voivoda,
all sides engaged in atrocities and criminal acts of violence.

(58:39):
Viewed in this light, Vlad was not really the instigator of
extreme violence in 15th centuryWolakia, but was actually more a
product of the culture of violence.
What do you think of Vlad the Impaler?
Was he a grim hero and a protector of Romania, caught up
in a wider religious war in the Balkans which were luckier found

(59:00):
itself at the forefront of? Or was he a bloodthirsty madman
who exemplified the worst parts of humanity?
Please let us know in the comments section and in the
meantime, thank you very much for watching.

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Vlad the Impaler: Heroic Defender or Ruthless Tyrant? - Audio History Documentary

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Vlad the Impaler: Heroic Defender or Ruthless Tyrant? - Audio History Documentary