Vlad III Dracula, known as Vlad the Impaler (Romanian: Vlad Țepeș, Bulgarian: Влад Цепеш,

pronunciation: [ˈvlad ˈt͡sepeʃ] ) or Vlad Dracula (/ˈdrækjələ/ (Romanian: Vlad Drăculea,

pronunciation: [ˈdrəkuleea] , Bulgarian: Влад Дракула); 1428/31 – 1476/77), was Voivode of
Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death. He is often considered one of the most
important rulers Wallachia had and a national hero of Romania.

He was the second son of Vlad Dracul, who became the ruler of Wallachia in 1436. Vlad and his
younger brother, Radu, were held as hostages in the Ottoman Empire in 1442 to secure their
father's loyalty. Vlad's father and eldest brother, Mircea, were murdered after John Hunyadi,
regent-governor of Hungary, invaded Wallachia in 1447. Hunyadi installed Vlad's second cousin,
Vladislav II, as the new voivode. Hunyadi launched a military campaign against the Ottomans in
the autumn of 1448, and Vladislav accompanied him. Vlad broke into Wallachia with Ottoman
support in October, but Vladislav returned and Vlad sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire before
the end of the year. Vlad went to Moldavia in 1449 or 1450, and later to Hungary.

Relations between Hungary and Vladislav later deteriorated, and in 1456 Vlad invaded Wallachia
with Hungarian support. Vladislav died fighting against him. Vlad began a purge among the
Wallachian boyars to strengthen his position. He came into conflict with the Transylvanian
Saxons, who supported his opponents, Dan and Basarab Laiotă (who were Vladislav's brothers),
and Vlad's illegitimate half-brother, Vlad the Monk. Vlad plundered the Saxon villages, taking the
captured people to Wallachia where he had them impaled (which inspired his cognomen). Peace
was restored in 1460.

The Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II, ordered Vlad to pay homage to him personally, but Vlad had
the Sultan's two envoys captured and impaled. In February 1462, he attacked Ottoman territory,
massacring tens of thousands of Turks and Bulgarians. Mehmed launched a campaign against
Wallachia to replace Vlad with Vlad's younger brother, Radu. Vlad attempted to capture the
sultan at Târgoviște during the night of 16–17 June 1462. The sultan and the main Ottoman army
left Wallachia, but more and more Wallachians deserted to Radu. Vlad went to Transylvania to
seek assistance from Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, in late 1462, but Corvinus had him
imprisoned.

Vlad was held in captivity in Visegrád from 1463 to 1475. During this period, anecdotes about his
cruelty started to spread in Germany and Italy. He was released at the request of Stephen III of
Moldavia in the summer of 1475. He fought in Corvinus's army against the Ottomans in Bosnia in
early 1476. Hungarian and Moldavian troops helped him to force Basarab Laiotă (who had
dethroned Vlad's brother, Radu) to flee from Wallachia in November. Basarab returned with
Ottoman support before the end of the year. Vlad was killed in battle before 10 January 1477.
Books describing Vlad's cruel acts were among the first bestsellers in the German-speaking
territories. In Russia, popular stories suggested that Vlad was able to strengthen central
government only through applying brutal punishments, and a similar view was adopted by most
Romanian historians in the 19th century. Vlad's reputation for cruelty and his patronymic
inspired the name of the vampire Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.