Some of our readers commented saying that Vlad the Impaler is one of the most interesting leaders in history, we agree. Besides his brilliance in using traditional warfare strategy, we are especially amazed at the brutality of his use of impaling his enemies. Comparing impalement to scaphism and crucifixion, we rate this form of death as one of the worst possible forms of death.
It’s 1462, and the Ottoman sultan rides at the head of his army through the dark hills of Wallachia. The land is essentially a provincial backwater on the edge of his empire. The ancient forests, and puny towns are a far cry from the glamour of his capital and likely not the sort of place the mighty Sultan would concern himself with. Just nine years before, his crack janissaries, Christian children bought as slaves and taught only war and to serve the Sultan had conquered Constantinople, bringing an end to the 1,500 year rule of one of the mightiest empires the world had ever known. This victory had given the Sultan Mehmed the second, the epitaph he would be known by throughout history: Mehmed the Conqueror.
That makes it a little strange that the Sultan would lead his army into Wallachia personally. Compared to the glory of conquering the Romans, what is there to be had in Wallachia. But Memhet is here for a reason.
Figure 1. Memhet II
He had dispatched diplomats to this tiny province or Romania to request tribute and a token of submission to the rightful ruler of rulers. The upstart local prince instead requested that the Turkish diplomats remove their hats in a show of respect. Two men refused, citing religious reasons. The prince commended their devotion to God and obliged them by ordering their turbans nailed to their skulls, so that they would never have to remove them again.
He then had the heads, turbans still attached, sent back to Constantinople as a message: there would be no tribute from Wallachia.
Though Mehmet was far too busy to deliver his justice to this young rebel at the time, the Sultan never forgot an insult and now, he has at last come to Wallachia to put the prince in his place.
But already, he’s running into problems. There’s no food, for one. The retreating Wallachians have burned every field and slit the throat of every animal, throwing their corpses into every well to poison the water.
The only people the army sees are Wallachian warriors that ambush their camps in the night, setting the tents on fire and butchering his troops before melting back into the primordial hills.
“What sort of prince is this?” The Sultan must have wondered, “who governs so savage a people.”
Outside the tiny city of Targoviste, he got his answer.
Figure 2. Vlad meets with Turkish envoys.
As the sultan advanced with his army onto the plain before the city, he beheld a site that is said to have haunted his nightmares for the rest of his life. A forest of stakes, seven acres across. On each stake is a captured Turkish prisoner, 20,000 of them, groaning in agony as their blood drips down onto the muddy field. Ravens fly amongst the forest of dying men, pecking away eyes and flesh.
“What sort of prince is this?” The Sultan must have wondered, “who governs so savage a people.”
On the highest stake, standing apart from all the others is the body of the Sultan’s vizier Hamza Pasha, who led the delegation sent to collect tribute.
The sultan, seeing this brutal display, turned his army around and went home, after all, who could fight a man like this.
That man, whom even the mighty Sultan feared, was named Vlad Dracula. But the turks took to calling him a different name. Vlad Tlepesh, or “The Impaler.”
At least that’s the story anyway. The historical truth that has emerged around Vlad the Impaler is a bit more complicated.
It’s hard to come to a conclusion about who Vlad the Impaler really was. So much of what we know about him has been filtered through centuries of embellishment. But even with what we do know, it’s hard to judge him by the same standards as we would today.
Enemies are everywhere and the only way you can possibly survive is to make people too afraid to cross you. How far would you go in that situation? Is any measure off limits when it’s the difference between freedom and slavery? The difference between life and death? How many of your ideals about being a good ruler can you hold on to in that situation?
But the turks took to calling him a different name. Vlad Tlepesh, or “The Impaler.”
Can you even really be a good person in a time and place like that?
That’s probably why at different times and to different people, Vlad has been seen as a heroic Christian warrior, resisting the infidel Muslim Turks, to a bloodthirsty monster the likes of which there are few people to compare, and finally as a nationalist freedom fighter, protecting his realm from domination by a powerful empire.
As we’ll see, there’s a bit of truth in all of these interpretations, and much of the accounts of Vlad’s evil may be propaganda. But there remains enough detail to paint a picture of a man who sought to rule a divided land in a dangerous time and didn’t shy away from any means necessary to do so.
Love to read history? I highly recommend buying the new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. Check the price on Amazon.
