Vlad III of Wallachia, known as Vlad the Impaler, ruled in the 15th century and is estimated to have killed between 40,000 and 100,000 people during his reign. His preferred method was impalement on tall wooden stakes. In 1462 he retreated before the advancing Ottoman army of Sultan Mehmed II and left a field of approximately 20,000 impaled corpses outside his capital Târgoviște. Contemporary accounts record that Mehmed, who had conquered Constantinople, was so disturbed by the sight that he withdrew his forces. Vlad was eventually captured and imprisoned but the Ottomans never fully conquered his territory.
INTERESTING FACT Vlad III is one of the historical figures believed to have inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Stoker borrowed the name Dracula from Vlad’s father Vlad Dracul. The vampire legend and the real man share almost nothing in common. The real story is considerably worse.
Nearby on the Dark Atlas
The Prince Who Broke An Empire's Will To FightOutnumbered by an Ottoman army, a Wallachian prince chose terror over battle — and made a sultan turn back.
Târgoviște, Romania · 1462 · same site
The Real Warlord Behind Count DraculaBehind the caped movie vampire lies a real medieval warlord whose deeds were more horrifying than Bram Stoker's fiction.
Târgoviște, Romania · 1462 · same site
The Peasant King Burned On An Iron ThroneA soldier who led forty thousand peasants to the gates of power was destroyed by an execution designed to erase the very idea of him.
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