Vlad the Impaler’s famous night attack against the Ottoman Empire on 17 June 1462.
Trigger Warning: this post includes graphic descriptions of impalement.
Alrighty then. Shall we?
This caterpillar-sporting chap is Vlad Țepeș, one of the mosts controversial figures in world history. He’s also known as Vlad III, Vlad Dracula, or Vlad the Impaler. We’ll just call him Vlad.
Vlad is currently the Voivode (governor / ruler) of Wallachia, a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It’s a tricky job in an even more tricky location. Wallachia is smack bang in the middle of two opposing worlds, a buffer between East and West, the expanding Ottoman Empire on one side, the ambitious European kingdoms on the other. Maintaining sovereign independence at the crossroads is a sophisticated juggling act requiring constant concessions and tradeoffs.
It’s been less than ten years since the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 and the Islamic Caliphate continues to grow. Naturally, the Holy Roman Empire doesn’t like this. In 1460, Pope Pius II tries to stop the expansion by proclaiming a new crusade, but he’s left hanging. No one responds to the Pope’s call…
