Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Dracula is remembered today as the leader of what is considered
today Romania.
He was a man who had an immensely brutal and barbaric side, and he would execute scores
of people and his enemies were usually never spared.
He was a man who’s favoured execution is linked to his name, and he is the inspiration
behind Count Dracula.
However throughout his time ruling over Wallachia, he would execute thousands and torture thousands.
But today he is considered a national hero to Romanians, as he was known for his fierce
resistance to the Ottoman Turks, but what is the story of his executions?
Join us today as we look at this and to support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
During his lifetime, there were stories that came out about the brutality of Vlad.
The pope even read stories on him, and poems were written documenting his evil deeds and
his brutality.
In one of these stories, Vlad had two monks impaled to aid them to go to heaven, and he
also ordered the impalement of their animals following the death of their masters.
Many considered him a man who was not afraid of executing monks and those who he had different
beliefs too, and another rumours was that whilst these two monks were in prison, Vlad
caught rats and cut them up into small pieces alluding to the fact he was a crazed maniac.
He was said to have been ‘a man of unheard cruelty and justice,’ and during one event
it was said, ‘Turkish messengers came to [Vlad] to pay respects, but refused to take
off their turbans, according to their ancient custom, whereupon he strengthened their custom
by nailing their turbans to their heads with three spikes, so that they could not take
them off.’
Further stories emerged about Vlad in Germany, and there were accounts of him plundering
in Transylvania and eyewitnesses had seen this happen.
They said Vlad was a ‘demented psychopath, a sadist, a gruesome murderer and someone
more brutal than Caligula and Nero.
One of these German accounts stated that, ‘Vlad] had a big copper cauldron built and
put a lid made of wood with holes in it on top.
He put the people in the cauldron and put their heads in the holes and fastened them
there; then he filled it with water and set a fire under it and let the people cry their
eyes out until they were boiled to death.
And then he invented frightening, terrible, unheard of tortures.
He ordered that women be impaled together with their suckling babies on the same stake.’
But he was a man who was a warmonger, and he had learned about governing a country using
fear and terror.
As a teenager the Ottoman Sultan Murrad II had imprisoned Vlad and Vlad then fought battles
against the Ottomans in his 20s.
But during these battles in the 1450s, he developed a reputation for his evil, and his
strength and influence would grow.
In April 1459, he attacked the city of Brasov in Transylvania and he would lead his men
through the city, burning down buildings and pillaging, and he then ordered dozens of men
women and children out to a hill near to the chapel of St Jacob.
Whilst here then then had these civilians impaled on spikes on the hill, and whilst
this happened Vlad allegedly sat there on a table for lunch whilst his victims were
next to him moaning and writhing in pain.
He it’s believed dipped his bread in the blood of his victims also during this meal.
But Vlad would also be known for being a destroyer, and when he captured land and territory he
would often rampage burning villages and towns, with civilians being burned alive int heir
homes.
But during a banquet in the great hall of his capital Targoviste, he would invite many
local people to his hall for dinner.
Many of these people were known as being beggars and poor, and many were elderly however he
gave the guests a feast and they were amazed at his hospitality.
But then Vlad locked the people in the hall, and he ordered his guards to torch the building,
and they all perished inside of the hall.
IT seemed that killing for Vlad was a sport and something he found entertainment from.
One of the most famous and brutal acts carried out by Vlad the Impaler was the Forest of
the Impaled.
In 1462, Ottoman sultan Mehmed II took his army to fight Vlad’s and the men were greeted
by a horrific sight.
It was referred to as ‘the field of the stakes,’ and it was a huge mass execution
of impaled Ottoman men women and children.
No-one was spared, and birds were picking at the civilians, and there were 20,000 people
dead or dying victims of Vlad the Impaler, with a three mile long section of woodland
containing the bodies as well.
The Ottoman Sultan was shocked and his men fled in fear, but one of the executed was
Hamza Pasha a prominent Ottoman soldier, who was on a stake much taller than the others,
and he had his arms and legs cut off.
Some who upset the ruler were impaled upside down which was brutal.
He would also flay the feet of the prisoners who he captured, and the wounds had salt rubbed
into them.
But the executions and the purges that Vlad the Impaler was known for had gone of for
years before.
He would attack the Boyars, the aristocratic ruling class in parts of Eastern Europe, including
his land of Wallachia.
When Vlad became prince he saw the Boyars as a problem that needed dealing with and
he would invite many prominent ones to his castle fort a meeting.
In this 500 people were gathered in the great hall, and Vlad spoke to them.
But then he ordered them to be seized and many who had brought their families to the
castle were then impaled alive in one huge mass execution in the courtyard of the palace.
It was a huge display of power, and the rotting bodies of the Boyars were left as a strong
message for some time.
He would also use a large copper cauldron in his castle to execute people.
This had a wooden cover over it and the centre of the wooden lid was big enough for the head
of a man to fit through and then the pot was placed on a fire and water was put inside
it.
A prisoner would then be brought out and he was held upside down and his head was placed
through the wooden lid, and the hole and into the boiling water head first.
He killed lots in this way, and in one incident he had 300 people boiled and roasted alive
in groups, and he would force the other victims to eat the meat of their fellow victims until
nothing was left before they too would be roasted alive.
Many at the time believed that Vlad punished people harshly to prevent any further crimes
and actions, but some his actions were completely barbaric.
Today he would have been considered a harrowing war criminal who carried out huge acts of
genocide, but in Romania he is considered a national hero.
Many state he was a tyrant who punished criminals and executed those who were not patriotic
or loyal to him, and some said in his fight against the boyars he was a hero.
Some have claimed that he was one of the greatest Romanian rulers and that he fought for the
independence of the Romanian lands, and his acts have by some been rationalised as necessary
in the interests of the population.
He was a ruler though who would be killed in battle, and the circumstances of his death
are debated.
Some claim he was assassinated, but others say he was mistook for a Turkish soldier.
His head was allegedly sent to Mehmed II, and his body was cut into pieces.
It was a brutal end for one of History’s most notorious rulers.
Thanks for watching
To support please make sure to subscribe
Thanks for watching