Vlad the Impaler: Wallachia's Dark Prince

Perhaps no other person from Wallachia is as well known as Vlad III, or, as he’s more commonly referred to: Vlad the Impaler. His reign and the unquestionably brutal tactics he employed in combating the Ottomans may have, in part, inspired Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and other tales of vampire mythology. That being said, the Wallachian ruler was quite real, as were his actions - most notably the widespread usage of impalement as a means of torture and/or execution - through which he sought to create fear in his subjects and enemies alike. Vlad’s war though, in many ways, marked the last gasp for Wallachia, which over the ensuing decades, fell increasingly under the influence of nearby regional powers, including: the Ottoman Empire, Hungary, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Hapsburg Monarchy, and in time, even Russia. Wallachia itself would eventually give way to the United Principalities, which, in 1881, became the Kingdom of Romania.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:30 Vlad's Childhood in Captivity
01:27 Return to Wallachia
02:06 The Impaler
04:21 Ottoman War
05:38 Mehmed II's Response
06:05 Night Attack at Targoviste
07:25 Escape & Betrayal?
08:54 Third Rule & Death
10:26 End of Wallachia
11:24 Conclusion
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[@PakBallandSami]

this video is perfect to watch in atmosphere iam currently currently

[@GhostCountries]

Oh, thanks Pak Mapping & Sam...Halloween is just around the corner too! 👻🎃

[@vlach1234]

You are underrated! Btw this Is preaty good, I think as a Vlach.

[@GhostCountries]

Oh, thank you so much; glad you enjoyed the episode and thought you might be interested to know that we'll be covering Michael the Brave at some point as well...have gotten quite a few request for him!

[@vlach1234]

@@GhostCountries I bet You will do good! Have a great day!

[@mrXOwarrior]

How about learning about Michael the Brave? Also love to see 1800s Romania.

[@GhostCountries]

We originally had a plan to cover Michael the Brave in a stand-alone episode, but that unfortunately hasn’t happened yet. 😅 However, there really does seem to be a lot of interesting; so, I definitely think we’ll do it!

[@Theunknownpast_official]

Your pronunciation is pretty good man, vlad the impaler is one of my favourite historical leaders to learn about.

[@GhostCountries]

It is a challenge switching between so many different languages for videos 😅, but I do try my best; so, thanks! ...and Vlad is a fascinating historical figure; we'll more then likely revisit Wallachia in a future video, maybe looking into Michael the Brave.

[@Theunknownpast_official]

@@GhostCountries 100% do a video about Michael the brave can't wait till it comes out 😏

[@GhostCountries]

@@Theunknownpast_official You know, a few people have asked for this...so, yeah, we'll definitely be doing it!

[@kirbyward2001]

Love this Vlad history 😀😎

[@GhostCountries]

Glad to hear it kirbyward2001; he's definitely a figure you can't sidestep when looking into Wallachian / Romanian history.

[@iAMaSOUTHpARK]

@@GhostCountries they was kazar kumans dummye Jews and gypsy turcic iranic Avars house of Basarab Drăculești clans

[@miltiadeskomnenos7437]

Great episode!

[@tasmanian5566]

Your channel has been a great discovery, keep it up.

[@GhostCountries]

Oh, thanks 🙌; really glad you came across the channel!

[@joycekochmann8860]

Love the vampire countryball :D

[@kirbyward2001]

Yes? it is pretty cool 😎

[@GhostCountries]

Thanks Joyce! 🧛

[@thinkandrepent3175]

Love your channel and the tidbits of humor are wonderful :P

[@GhostCountries]

Oh, thank you so much...there’s plenty more of that to come. 😅

[@user-tj9fs2vs4p]

good video!

[@GhostCountries]

Glad you enjoyed it. 😆

[@Iv3yzZz]

well, there was also Michael the Brave which you should've mentioned.. he has the grand-grand-nephew of Vlad Draculea, who ruled later in 15th century. He also defeated the turks several times and others too, before being killed by an assassin later on. And of course there si a lot more to be said about Romania's history.

[@GhostCountries]

Actually, we were planning to do a standalone video about Michael the Brave at some point, but unfortunately haven’t got around to it yet. It definitely is going to happen though! And yeah, we’ll be revisiting Romania 🇷🇴 in future videos too, because, like you said, there’s plenty more to cover.

[@Sofia-0001]

@@GhostCountries Michael the Brave was a brilliant military man and the first to unite in 1600 the 3 Romanian principalities.

[@tinavalentino9713]

I am a very happy subscriber, thank you, and I am also following on Instagram now. You somehow capsulize an extensive amount of complicated history into an interesting and brief format. Not sure how you do it but bravo! Waiting for the next episode!

[@GhostCountries]

Thank you so much for subscribing / following us Tina! It can be difficult trimming down a history to make it watchable, but really glad to hear that you like the balance so far and there's plenty more videos planned.

[@mkmkmk9536]

Wow, great episode! Terrifying history😬

[@GhostCountries]

Oh, thanks Matt; yeah, there's no sidestepping the darker parts of Vlad III's rule, but there probably was no better time than now - with Halloween being so close 👻 - to cover it here on the channel!

[@GeoGamer6969]

You got a sub🎉🎉🎉

[@GhostCountries]

Thank you!!!

[@Artur_M.]

Ah yes, the typology of different kinds of impalment - perfect topic for some smalltalk at a party! At least at a Halloween party.

[@GhostCountries]

Yeah, probably not a topic for everyday conversation...but 'tis the season, I suppose. 😅

[@PakBallandSami]

Artur.M we meet again

[@minafm6.145]

I'm your 100th like on this video! When I was 8, my school brought us to Vlad the Impaler's castle. The torture dungeons were quite the sight for children. I still think about it sometimes, but other than that, since I left Romania 2 years later, I never got to learn much about him. So this video was what I needed. Even more terrifying tha what I remebered :D

[@GhostCountries]

Hey, hey! #100 🏆 Honestly, Vlad's story is really fascinating to me. I know he often is painted as basically a villain - at least, outside Romania - but it isn't so black and white considering when considering the history. On that note, I don't know if you saw, but Netflix has a show called Rise of Empires: Ottoman and season 2 deals with the Ottoman-Wallachian War. It's pretty decent, even though it does dip into Hollywood theatrics and veer of from actual historical events towards the season's end.

[@minafm6.145]

@@GhostCountries I haven't seen it, but I will definetly check it out! Thank you :)

[@jiayizhou323]

First time to hear the story of Vlad! pretty interesting.

[@GhostCountries]

Oh, thanks Jiayi; glad we could share this bit of Wallachian / Romanian history with you!

[@Historical_events]

Good job!

[@GhostCountries]

Thanks for commenting Historical_events; Wallachia and Vlad III felt pretty appropriate with Halloween being right around the corner. 🎃

[@Sofia-0001]

The brightest rulers of Wallachia were Mircea the Elder and Michael the Brave. Imagine that these guys destroyed the mightiest armies of their time and in the case of Michael the Brave also defeated every empire around.

[@GhostCountries]

…and on that note, we actually were planning a third episode that dealt with Michael the Brave; since the Wallachia episodes have gotten a lot of attention recently, I think it’s definitely something we can fit into the schedule this year!

[@nikobelllik3231]

Constantine brancoveanu did a lot of ROMANIANS as well...all from the house of Draculesti

[@nikobelllik3231]

Vlad Tepes was not dark he was a champion of Christ... he was leader of order of the dragon and he did not kill animals or dip his bread in blood Vlad Tepes is our king he built monasteries and churches...Vlad Tepes is the reason why Jesus still exists in the world and why Islam didn't take over the world