Vlad+Dracula

**//VLAD DRACULA, THE EMINENT FIGURE OF THE MID-1400's//** 1.Vlad Dracula was so smart,strategic and fearless, that he could do something that nobody else could...fight off the invading Turkish armies.The Turkish invaders had masses of troupes, and even against the overwhelming odds, and with not nearly as many troops as the invaders, Vlad still fought them back. 2.Already, at the age of five,Vlad was being trained in the art of war. 3.Vlad was only going to be king for two months, until the kingdom of Hungary decided that he would be a good king,so that's why he was king for much longer. 4.Vlad was born in the Transylvanian city of Sighisoara in December. 5.Vlad was a member of the order of the dragon, a group of people sworn to fight off the advancing turks. 6.At age twelve, Vlad and his brother Radu The Handsome were traded to the Turkish army as hostages. Vlad's father made this trade, because if he did, he would return to his position as Prince of Wallachia (he was in prison at the time). 7.As eminent as he was, Vlad acted cruelly at times.Some people say he acts cruelly at times because his older brother and his father were murdered, so he went a little crazy.Others say that he did it for fun.However, a physician from Idaho by the name of Dr.Thomas McDevitt has another idea.He believes that Vlad had a allergic reaction to his own blood.Some times if you have an allergic reaction to something you develop an addiction to that something.In Vlad's case, blood.So maybe, he only acted cruelly because he had a craving for blood.There is a portrait of Vlad that shows him with dark circles under his eyes, puffy cheeks,and sallow pallid complexion, all symptoms of an allergic reaction. 8.Not much is known about his childhood. 9.Not much is known about where he was buried, although Some people think that Vlad was buried at the island monastery of Snagov. 10.Vlad the impaler had a half brother by the name of Vlad the monk. 11.In Romanian, the name "Dracul" means dragon, but it sometimes means devil. Because Vlad's last name is "Dracula", and adding an "a" to the end of a name makes it "son of"(Vlad Dracula was a son of Vlad Dracul) Vlad's last name means "son of the devil'. 12.Shown below is a portrait of Vlad:

13.Shown below is a picture of castle Dracula: 14.There are many different theories about how Vlad died.Some say he died in battle in 1746. Also, some say he was assassinated by boyars (the ones who killed his older brother and father) right before he attacked the Turks. But then again, others say he was killed on accident by one of his own men. 15.In 1462 the Turks were ready to invade Vlad's castle.Vlad knew about this.So, while they invaded,Vlad and some of his army escaped from the castle through a secret passageway.Vlad was a very smart military leader, so here's what he did:after he got out of his castle he took some horses, and put the horseshoes on the horses, except for one thing, they were on backwards. So as he rode away from the castle, the footprints made it look like he was riding into the castle, not away from it!! 16.Vlad's father (Vlad Dracul) made a deal with the Saxons that if he got power, they could have Vlad Dracula and Radu (The Handsome) as hostages in Adrianople (see question #6). 17.If a boyar (a rich land owning noble) died, Vlad would give the land to a poor family in need. 18.His uncle (John Hunyadi) died of the black plague in 1456. 19.Vlad made it so rich people could not buy their way out of being convicted. 20.Vlad created a medieval police force to enforce law and order. 21.Vlad was a prisoner twice, and a ruler twice. 22.Vlad lived from 1431 to 1476 (45 years). 23.Vlad had three different branches of his "medieval police force". They were:Armasi, the Slugi, and the Viteji. The Armasi served as the executioners. The Slugi found and captured any law breakers. The Viteji patrolled the borders and set up a defense against any attackers attacking the border. 24.Vlad hired some lower class people to do these jobs 25.When Bram Stoker wrote the novel "Count Dracula", he based Count Dracula off of Vlad's last name and some of Vlad's characteristics(to some extent). 26.Shown below is a statue of Vlad's head: 27.Vlad is still a national hero in Romania today, for example:In school buildings they hang pictures of him. On his grave there is a pot of flowers (the flower pot has a picture of him on it), and there is a framed picture of him, and some candles on his grave. They made his house that he lived in as a child into a restaurant. They even have him on Romanian coins. As you can tell, he is a hero in Romania. 28.Shown below is a picture of the tower Vlad was held in when he was a prisoner to Matthias Corvinus: 29.Shown below is a picture of Snagov monastery, where Vlad is rumored to be buried: 30.Shown below is of Vlad's family tree (created by Petre Petrove) 31.Shown below is an engraving of Vlad Dracula:

32.Shown below is Vlad's house that he lived in as a child (it was turned into a restaurant): 33.Shown below are Ducat coins, and I believe they are honoring Vlad: 34.Shown below is a picture of a shield that was held in the weaponry room in Castle Bran (Castle Dracula): 35.Shown below is a picture of a hatchet that was also held in the weaponry room in castle Bran: