During his childhood, Vlad is believed to have studied all of the academic disciplines. He was also educated in warfare and close combat.
Vlad’s father (Dracul) was toppled from power in 1442 by factions allied with Hungary. He was forced to pay a tax to the Ottomans to secure their support for his return to power. As part of the deal, Vlad Tepes and his brother Radu were sent to the Ottoman royal court as effective hostages.
After Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453, war raged between Hunyadi and Sultan Mehmed. In 1456, Vlad was allowed to lead an army into Wallachia where he reclaimed his throne and allegedly killed the Hungarian puppet leader, Vladislav II, in personal combat.
Vlad’s second reign as Prince of Wallachia lasted six years. During this time, he strengthened the agricultural economy and the military. He ruthlessly punished thieves and criminals in an effort to restore order to the population. However, he also built them new villages and helped local merchants by limiting foreign trade. He ruthlessly punished the boyars (nobles) who he saw as betraying Wallachia by surreptitiously making alliances with Hungary.
Three years into his second reign, the Pope called for a crusade against the Ottomans. It was to be led by the new Hungarian leader, Matthias Corvinus. The Impaler allied with Corvinus against the Ottomans after executing the Turkish emissaries sent to make peace with him.
Between 1459 and 1462, Vlad used his knowledge of the Ottomans to annihilate their campaign in Europe. Meanwhile, Corvinus sat on the sidelines and pocketed the money given to him by the Pope.
When Vlad ran out of money and was threatened with defeat, he sought the help of Corvinus. Having spent the Pope's money on luxuries, Corvinus imprisoned him and forged a letter to the Ottomans in which Vlad requested peace. He then blamed Vlad for making victory impossible and used this as an excuse for the war's failure in subsequent letters to the Pope.
Vlad spent 12 years in prison while his brother Radu became the Ottoman puppet leader in Wallachia.
When Radu died in 1475, pressure on Corvinus had grown sufficient enough to allow the Impaler to reclaim his throne with Hungarian support.
Vlad Tepes was killed in battle near Bucharest shortly after returning to conquer Wallachia in 1476. The Turks took his head to Constantinople as a trophy. Some rumors suggest he was betrayed and murdered by the Boyars.
Vlad Tepes the Impaler is revered in Romania and Bulgaria for defending them against Ottoman rule. In Turkey and Western Europe, he is regarded as a monstrous and vile leader who took gratuitous pleasure in the painful execution of his enemies. This is principally due to popular embellishments of his sadism in German stories. Russian sources describe his deeds as justified, though authorship can be attributed to Romanian scholars.
Thank you for this summary. I learned similar from the movie Dark Prince, which I enjoyed thoroughly and watched several times.
And ladies, he is cute! I met the actor Rudolf Martin at one of his movie screenings.
https://www.amazon.com/Dracula-Dark-Prince-Rudolf-Martin/dp/B0000633QU
“During his childhood, Vlad is believed to have studied all of the academic disciplines.”
I assume they mean Multiculturalism, LGBTQ, Sensitivity Training and Tolerance for all except white males?
Re: Vlad the Impaler
Not to be confused with your boy Vlad, the KGB/FSB agent, Putin.
“who he saw as betraying Wallachia by surreptitiously making alliances”
Never-Vladers.