Vlad the Impaler - The original Dracula of Romania

Vlad the Impaler: The original Dracula of Romania.

 If you look to the west of the Romanian city of Bucharest, you will see a huge castle.  It was just evening when the ground under the red sky turned red with the blood of the city's elite.  Their bodies are tied to the chairs of the dining room of the fort.  A bamboo fruit has been inserted through the eyes of some, a gap has been created in the throat of some, a sharp spear has come out through the mouth through the back of some.  Sitting in front of them, Vlad Tapis is eating his dinner with one mind, so many notable people have been killed on his orders.

 Vlad Tepis, whose name stands for Vlad the Impeller, is known as a hero of Romanian folklore.  How did he become the national hero of a country whose title was ‘The Impeller’ for stabbing and killing the enemy?  Let's hear that story.

 Ottoman panic

 The rise of Vlad III did not happen very naturally, and it was rather normal for a man known as 'The Impeller'.  Although Vlad's family was largely landowners, they established the state of Vallacia (present-day southern Romania), but their behavior was not at all aristocratic.  War was in their DNA, and it was easier for them to dominate by fighting than to argue about politics.  And the horrific bloody state of the war had a profound effect on little Vlad's mind, and that turned him into a bloodthirsty king.

 But history might have been written differently if Vlad's father, Vlad II, had made a strange decision for his son.  Valakia was then hovering between the two surrounding mighty kingdoms, the Ottoman Empire of Sultan Mehmed on the one hand, and the invading Hungarian Empire on the other.  In such a situation, Vlad II decided to have the relatively strong Ottomans by his side, so he sent his two sons to the Turkish court.  They will remain captives there, as a sign of loyalty to the Ottoman sultan.  The decision was effective for a short period of time, although it was a peace treaty between Valakia and the Ottomans, but in the long run the consequences were dire.

 Vlad III grew up in a hostile environment from an early age, again as a prisoner.  It was from here that the art of torturing prisoners entered his head, as well as the idea of ​​imagining everyone as his own enemy.  Vlad II thought his two sons would be treated equally by the Ottomans, but the reality was completely different.  Radu, the younger brother of the third Vlad, began to enjoy more opportunities than his brother from the very beginning for one reason or another, and his good intimacy with the future Sultan Mehmed II also grew.  As a result, he began to receive better treatment than other prisoners, and at one point converted to Islam and took his place in the royal court.

 Meanwhile, the third Vlad had to spend the day in the dark dungeon eating regular whip house.  Vlad III became vindictive while living like a prisoner in the dark tunnel of foreign lands.  Moreover, after leaving the party and joining the group of infidels, Vlad became angry with Radu and Sultan Mehmed, who influenced him, and became mentally ill.

 The two brothers were growing up in the Ottoman Empire when bad news came from Vallakia.  Vlad II was assassinated by assassins, along with his eldest son, Mirzia.  The assassins have seized control of Vallakiya.  Vlad wanted to go to Valakia to avenge his father's murder, asked permission from the Sultan, and recaptured the Valakia throne.  And this is where the Turks made the biggest mistake.  They thought that Vlad had been held captive for so long and that Valakia would rule according to their orders, much like a feudal lord.  But strangely, Radu did not agree to go to Valakia, he has adapted very well to the new identity in the new country.  The two brothers came to Turkey as brothers, and at the time of departure the two became rivals.

 Vallakiya leader

 The situation took a turn for the worse.  Although Vlad has successfully recaptured the throne of Vallacia, his inexperience turned him into an easy target.  Within a few days, Valakia was ousted and his kingdom was taken over by the mighty Hungarians.  Vlad is alone now, with no friends or the only surviving brother in the family.  Vlad completely failed, could not avenge his father's murder, could not even prove himself as better than his brother.  The grumpy and arrogant Vlad joined hands with his then-enemy Hungary to regain his throne.  He will give all the secret information of the Turks from the experience of Turkey to the Hungarians, he will overthrow the Ottomans with the Hungarian army, in return the throne of Valkyrie will be written in his name.

 Eight years later, Vlad took to the streets with the army that stood against him and pulled him down from the throne.  In any case, the current Vlad is very different from the Vlad of eight years ago.  Vlad is now mature enough to fight the harsh reality, Vlad is now ready to lead his people.  Valakia also needs a skilled ruler at the moment, in his absence the veil of anarchy has descended on Valakia.  The merchants are fighting among themselves to seize the market, the elites are biting to seize power, and on this occasion the thieves and robbers have established a reign of terror over the common people.  It is not necessary to bring Valakia back to its old glory unless it is an iron-hard ruler.

 But before that we need freedom.  Vlad remembered the days of the Danes in Turkey, in order to give the people a taste of freedom, they must first stop the corruption and anarchy that have been created by these elites.  Vlad created villages for farmers across the state, forming local governments with these ordinary farmers.  In order to keep foreign traders from making more profit, he imposed additional taxes, provided opportunities for local traders, and as a result, it did not take long for Valakia's economy to recover.

 But the aristocracy was not spared, Vlad was already angry at them for killing his father.  As much as the poor or the common people were punished for breaking the law, the law was made for the elite several times over.  Earlier, a beggar or a thief was sentenced to death by burning, mutilation or other inhuman punishment for petty theft.  The same kind of punishment was imposed on the elite this time.

 The 'Robin Hood' of the poor and common people became known as 'The Impeller' at that time.  As soon as he opposed the bloodthirsty third Vlad, he would be placed on top of a sharp wooden plank, the wooden plank would slowly enter the body of the accused, and everything would leak out.  Thus death would be very painful and the accused would slowly embrace death.  One of the main means of entertainment for Vlad was the humming that came out of the defendant's mouth in agony!  Vlad's activities spread throughout Europe, and even the Turks, to whom Vlad was once a prisoner, began to fear the monster created by their oppression.  In Romania, 'Tapis', meaning 'The Impeller', was added next to Vlad's name.

 The rivalry of brotherhood

 In any case, it was Vlad's anger at his younger brother, Radu, that led to his downfall.  Vlad advanced along the banks of the Danube, occupying the Ottoman territory.  Realizing that this bloodthirsty man had come a long way from the north-east, the sultan's heart sank.  And with the decision that it should not be allowed to grow, he jumped on Valakia with his huge janissary force.  Realizing that he could not stand, Vlad quickly retreated, but on his way set fire to his own village, pouring poison into the well so that the Turkish army could not advance because of the lack of food and drink.  Of course, there was not much benefit.  But the last surprise in the capital was waiting for the Sultan.  Upon entering the capital, the Turks saw a horrible sight.  The corpses of the Turks are scattered as far as the eye can see!  Vlad's favorite weapon, the woodpecker that comes out of the mouth, is the perfect plan for The Impeller.  The Sultan could no longer bear to see this scene and returned to Turkey.  However, the responsibility went to Radu's shoulders, he had to finish his brother.

 Radu knew his brother better than the others, so he was not too scared.  Moreover, he has one of the main weapons to win the war - money.  Radu gradually advanced with the help of the Ottoman Empire's mountainous resources.  He won the support of the aristocracy with money, and continued to shell the impregnable forts on the top of Vlad's hill.  Vlad's wife committed suicide by jumping from a mountain into a river, thinking death was more reasonable than being caught.  Vlad took the opportunity and fled to Hungary.  But there is danger too!  He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for treason.  By the time Vlad returned to his homeland 12 years later, his only relative in the world, Radu, had died.  After Radu died, Vlad suddenly realized he had no one else.  Vlad died on the battlefield within months of the third reign of Vallacia.

 To some, Vlad is just a monster who kills people for no reason at all.  To some, he is the protector of the motherland, Romania's Robin Hood, who took a little too hard to protect the country from corruption and anarchy.  But whatever the reality, you can never deny that Vlad the Impaler has become a greater king than his country and has left a lasting impression on the pages of history.

 The legendary Dracula

 But how exactly did the word ‘Dracula’ become associated with Vlad’s name?  If you want to know that, you have to go back to his father's time.  At that time, the Christians created a military order, the Order of the Dragon, with the aim of influencing the Ottomans throughout Europe.  Soon after joining the order, Vlad II was given the nickname 'Dracula', which means Dragon in Romanian.  Another meaning of this is ‘devil’ or devil.  That is why the name Vlad was assigned to the third Vlad, the son of Dracula.  In this way Dracula merged with the name of the third Vlad.

 Bram Stoker, meanwhile, borrowed the main character's name from Vlad's nickname in his famous "Dracula" novel, saying that much of the character is in the novel.  Although Vlad never drank blood or had sunlight, he had no problem.  He was a normal human being, not a mythical vampire at all.  Moreover, although Transylvania is in present-day Romania, according to historians, Vlad never set foot there.

 Bram Stoker is somewhat influenced by Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who murdered about 600 women and bathed them in their blood!  And the idea for Dracula's behavior in the novel came from Stoker's colleague Sir Henry Irving.  So why Transylvania?  Why Dracula?  Evidence of this is Jules Verne's The Castle of the Carpathians.  It was there that the vampires first established a relationship with Transylvania, and Stoker followed suit.  And the name Dracula was also discovered by Stoker after a lot of research, the real name is Count Vampire.

 References: Vlad the Impaler: In Search of the Real Dracula - M.J.  Trow