History « Aaron Hollman's Blog

The Real Count Dracula

Jun 30
2009

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Vlad III Tepes (Dracula)

I should begin this post by first stating that Dracula was not a vampire. He was a fifteenth century prince in what is now present day Romania. This does not mean that his blood lust was any less strong than the fictional vampire that Bram Stoker first wrote about, in fact, it was just the opposite.

Dracula’s real name was Vlad Tepes III, Prince of Wallachia but he is known by many names. Vlad the Impaler, Vlad Dracul, even Dracula. The name Dracula comes from Dracul which means ‘Dragon’; he was of the Order of the Dragon Knighthood. He earned the name ‘Impaler’ for his preferred method of execution, slow impalement upon a stake. (for details see Methods of execution. Caution: graphic content)

During his young life, Vlad was sent by his father, Vlad II Dracul to be a hostage to the Ottoman Sultan. In exchange for sending Dracula and his younger brother, Radu, as hostages, the Ottomans agreed not to attach Wallachia. It was this experience that helped to form Dracula’s hatred for the Ottoman’s as well as his hatred of his father, whom he accuesed of breaking his oath to the Order of the Dragon, which was to fight the Ottomans no matter what.

After his father’s assassination, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire put Dracula on the throne of Wallachia to be a puppet ruler for the him. Dracula’s reign was brief. The next year a Hungarian regent named John Hunyadi invaded Wallachia and ousted the Prince. He was forced to flee to Moldavia where he was protected by his uncle, Bogdan II.

In 1451, Dracula returned from his exile in Moldavia during a Hungarian campaign to drive the Ottoman’s from Serbia. Dracula took it upon himself to invade his homeland of Wallachia and take the throne for himself. A combination of his attack and Hunyadi dying of the plague helped cement his position of power.

The early part of his main reign focused on eliminating threats to his own power. His first task was to physically kill many in the nobility class. Much of the nobility was killed by his own hand. In addition to killing, he also reduced the role that nobility had in his land by raising the peasantry to power.

After his power was strengthened, he turned his attention back to the thing he hated most in life, the Ottoman empire. He allied himself with Hungary and stopped paying the tribute to the Sultan that his father had been paying. In late 1461, Vlad crossed the Danube and devastated the area of Turkish control. He did not discriminate who he killed; men, women and children were all killed by his rage.

Eventually, Dracula’s brother, Radu, who sided with the Turks, was left to fight Dracula alone; his Turkish allies had fled, disgusted they were unable to subdue Dracula. Radu struck a deal with the Hungarian King to imprison Dracula. During his imprisonment, Radu was in control of Wallachia.

Fortune shined on Dracula again when his release from captivity coincided with the death of Radu from syphilis. Dracula, once again, sat on the Princely throne of Wallachia.

Dracula’s final reign would be short, lasting barely a month. On December 14, 1476, Dracula was killed in a battle against the Turks near Bucharest. His body was taken by the Turks who decapitated the head and sent it back to the Sultan. The Sultan displayed the head on a pike for all to see that the Impaler, the man who had plagued them, was finally dead.

Starting shortly before his death then immediately after, accounts of Dracula’s cruelty spread throughout Eastern Europe from Germany to Russia as propaganda. The cruelty of his deeds was used to comfort a suspicious public that their government was not that bad. In short, the stories of Dracula were ‘feel good’ pieces.

The legend would exponentially grow once Bram Stoker had published his story of Dracula. It was Stoker who first linked the 15th Century Romanian prince with the mythical creature, the vampire. Today, the tales of Dracula have given rise to a whole genre of vampire based stories. From the major motion pictures such as Nasferatu, The Lost Boys, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Twilight (based on a series of novels) to television series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Forever Knight, True Blood and Moonlight, the vampire genre is alive and well thanks to this long dead prince of darkness.

Personal Observations

Although Vlad Tepis III (Dracula) was an Orthodox Christian, later converting to Catholism, his actions were anything but Christian-like. His methods of rule and war were nothing short of terroristic in nature. The execution of not only war prisoners in the most inhumane of ways, but also innocent men, women, and children in the same manner would strike terror and fear into enemies and citizens alike.

It is easy to see how Bram Stoker drew from this Romanian prince the inspiration for his vampire horror story Dracula, an evil character who was not as evil as his real life influence.

aaron

As always, corrections and comments welcome.

Vlad III the Impaler – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HowStuffWorks “Who was the real Count Dracula?”
VLAD TEPES – The Historical Dracula
Vlad the Impaler
Vampire TV shows – Snarkerati bloodlust
Order of the Dragon – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Written by Aaron Hollman in: History | Tags: History, late middle ages

The Battle of Tours

Jun 18
2009

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When: October 10, 732
Where: Near Tours, France
Belligerents: Carolingian Franks vs. Umayyad Caliphate
Result: A Carolingian Victory

The Battle of Tours was fought near the modern French city of Tours between the Carolingian Franks and the Umayyad Caliphate. The Caliphate was a Sunni Muslim Empire that had stretched from Pakistan to Western North Africa along Africa’s Northern Coast. It had then moved up through the Straights of Gibraltar into the Iberian Peninsula, present day Spain.

Islam had been spreading for about a hundred years and already it was knocking at Europe’s Western door through the Iberian Peninsula. In an eight year campaign, the Umayyad forces, led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad, met little resistance from the Visigoth Kingdoms that ruled the area and eventually conquered it. Later, they pushed on up into parts of France where they met stronger, more organized resistance. The Islamic advanced was stopped for a short time by Duke Odo of Aquitaine at the Battle of Toulouse in 721. This, however, did not stop the ambitions of the Caliphate.

Eventually, the Umayyad Caliphate, led by Abdul Rahman, sacked Aquitaine, forcing Odo to flee North. He approached his Frankish rival, Charles Martel, whom he had previously been at war with, and requested his aid to thwart the Muslim advance. Martel would grant aid under the condition that Odo submit to him as his overlord. Reluctanly, Odo conceded and Martel began making plans to stop the Muslim advance.

Since Charles did not have any cavalry to speak of, it was important for him to select the place and time of the battle. To accomplish this, Charles quietly took his force of approximately 30,000 infantry through back-roads to a high, wooded plain. On seeing this, Abdul Rahman paused his forces for a week to consider his options while his skirmishers tried to draw Charles’ forces out into the open.

For a week, the Franks had not taken the bait and stayed within the safety of the wooded area. Finally, Abdul Rahman became impatient. He sent his cavalry to attack Martel’s infantry. The infantry repulsed the cavalry charges, thanks in part, to the wooded area they were in. The wooded area was not ideal for cavalry and did not allow it to maneuver very well. Eventually, the cavalry broke through Martel’s infantry and attempted to kill Charles. Charles was quickly surrounded by his personal body guards who repulsed the attack.

While Charles was being attacked, a portion of his forces were releasing prisoners that had been captured by the Umayyad from their rear camp. Word came to the Umayyad that the camp was being attacked and believing that their spoils were being plundered, most of the Caliphate army retreated to protect it. After the retreat, Charles did not relax. Instead, believing that the Muslims would reengage, he prepared his own forces for a new attack. An attack that never came. The Caliphate had retreated back to the Iberian Peninsula never to return that far into Western Europe again.

Personal Observations:

Many modern historians still debate the importance of the battle on both sides, personally, I view the Battle of Tours as one of the most pivotable battles in Western Civilization history. Had the Umayyad Caliphate won the battle, Islam might have spread throughout most of Western Europe leaving, at best, little safe haven for Western Christianity. Christianity could be as obscure today as Zoroastrism. This would have drastically changed the way the modern world has been shaped. It is interesting to ponder all the possible courses history could have taken had this battle turned out differently.

aaron

The Battle of Tours Poitiers (732)

Charles Martel – Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours

Battle of Tours – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles Martel – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Odo the Great – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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