VLAD DRACULA

At the beginning of the 1400s, the Balkans had established a secret sect against Turkish attacks. The name of this sect is "Order of the Dragon". 3. Vlad's father was a member of this sect. The nickname Vlad Drakul comes from this sect.

In modern Romania, the word 'Dracul' is translated as 'devil' due to Vlad's cruel impression.

His father, who had been defeated by the Ottomans, had given him as a hostage to the Ottomans, Vlad II, in the name of the Non-Aggression Agreement. Vlad III, who was only 12 years old, grew up around the palace in the Ottoman Empire; He established good relations during his time. These good relations would later play an important role in the Ottoman giving him the Principality of Wallachia.

He received his education in Edirne Palace. He received training in state administration, aristocratic logic, Greek philosophy, applied and theoretical mathematics. He was studying in the same group as Mehmet, who will conquer Istanbul in the future so that there would be no discrimination and he would love the Turks.

3. Vlad had a crazy and rebellious character. For this reason, he was often sentenced to flogging. During his education, he learned very closely about Ottoman tortures. For example, impaling…

But Vlad developed and used the torture methods he learned.

After the death of his father and brother, he was the only candidate for the Wallachian Voivode.

He became voivode of Wallachia in 1456. Voivode means commander or prince in Slavic languages. Before the Ottoman Empire annexed Wallachia and Moldavia, the kings of these countries were known as voivodes.

Vlad, who served from 1456 to 1462, was given the title of 'Voivode with Impaler' due to his cruelty during this period.

He used various tortures to punish his opponents in 6 years. The most notorious, the impalement, earned him the nickname Voivode the Impaler.

Voivode, who knew no bounds in cruelty, was doing these tortures in a festive atmosphere.

He was coming to Istanbul to pay taxes, but this suddenly stopped. This was a revolt.

Mehmet first sent his envoys. He tortured the envoys in various ways and sent them back wounded.

He also tortured his people. He tortured women who did not please their husbands. In short, he had turned into a psychopath.

He tortured so badly and cruelly that; death was the easiest way to get rid of Vlad. He tortured people of many races, but the most captives were Ottoman soldiers and Turks living in the Balkans.

He was a good warrior and commander, but he was always hiding in the forests, thinking that he would lose in open battles.

In 1460-61, he advanced to Serbia and the Black Sea coast killed 23,884 Turks and Bulgarians in his own words and impaled 20,000 prisoners of war. In the face of these developments, the Ottoman army, under the command of Sultan Mehmet II, set out on the Wallachian campaign against the Impaler Voyvoda.

Although the morale of the soldiers, who saw people impaled for kilometers on the road, deteriorated, they managed to take the Târgovişte fortress on June 4, 1462.

When they arrived in Târgovişte, about 20,000 people (men, women, children) were impaled. Some soldiers were in a state to lose their minds in the face of this.

Defeated, Vlad made plans to recapture Wallachia. Among these plans were attempts to assassinate Fatih Sultan Mehmet.

He cut his hair, cut his mustache like a Janissary soldier. Dressed as a Janissary, he infiltrated the Ottoman army. But there was an unsuccessful assassination attempt. His wife committed suicide in order not to be captured by the Turks.

Vlad fled after the defeat, but poisoned the wells in the lands he abandoned, burned the crops, even killed all the animals. He released prisoners, lepers, and plagues in prisons and encouraged them to mingle with the Turks.

The Turks entered Vlad's castle. There were torture chambers around Vlad's bedroom. Vlad was asleep, listening to the sounds of torture. There were people in the dungeons who had been tortured but still not dead.

Wallachia came under Turkish rule again. 3. Vlad fled to Hungary. But the Hungarian king arrested and imprisoned him in order not to spoil his good relations with the Ottomans. The period of exile and imprisonment lasted 12 years. In the process, rumors began to spread. Vlad also drank the blood of the people he tortured.

Having regained his freedom after this exile, Vlad declared himself the Prince of Wallachia again, together with his soldiers and the Romanian people, who trusted him.

In 1476, he was killed by Turkish raiders along with his 300 soldiers. Actually, the cause of death is unknown. In some sources, it is written that he was killed by his men and handed over to the Turks. His head was sent to Fatih Sultan Mehmet in Istanbul. His body was thrown into the swamp. According to some sources, his body was buried in the Snagov Monastery near Bucharest. Today, there are pictures of Vlad and some of his personal belongings in this monastery.

The famous Dracula novel was inspired by his name and life. And it became a symbol of Vampirism.

The legend of Dracula, which has been going on for more than 500 years, was published by Bram Stoker in 1897, after which countless movies and books were produced.

There are tourist trips to the castles where he spent his life. There are even horror museums. The Romanian people see him as a national hero, the world sees him as a vampire… Count Dracula…