Thread by @LandsknechtPike

Today is the anniversary of the heroic night attack at Târgoviște which happened June 17, 1462 when the famous Vlad Țepeș, Vlad the Impaler, also known as the notorious Vlad Dracula, attacked a large Ottoman force that invaded his lands in a daring night attack of their camp.

Vlad the Impaler grew up as a hostage in Ottoman captivity, sent there by his father Vlad II Dracul, Voivode of Wallachia, together with his brother Radu, to secure peace with the Ottomans. This made Vlad familiar with the Ottomans, and also made him dislike them even more.

After the death of his father and elder brother, Vlad became a potential claimant to Wallachia which was in turmoil. Situated between two mighty superpowers of Hungary and Ottoman empire, the local noble boyars tried to seize power with the help of one or another.

Vlad the Impaler failed to take power the first time, but was successful in his second reign of Wallachia, 1456-1462. During these years, he consolidated his power in brutal ways, punishing the treacherous boyars with cruel punishment of impalement, which is how he got his name.

Vlad learned about this cruel punishment of impalement during his captivity in the Ottoman empire, as it was practiced by the Turks. He would adopt it and got his nickname from it, the Impaler. His style of rule was harsh and brutal, but he was also in a difficult situation.

The other nickname that Vlad had, the now infamous Dracula, was inherited from his father Vlad II Dracul, who had this name because he belonged to the Order of the Dragon, a chivalric order of noble Christian knights from Central Europe and the Balkans who fought against Ottomans

The Ottoman danger was always present for the small European borderland principality of Wallachia. Vlad the Impaler first had to pay tribute to keep peace. However when pope Pope Pius II declared a crusade in 1459, Vlad was the most Christian ruler enthusiastic to join.

Unfortunately for him, Vlad was the only one who showed enthusiasm for the crusade, as othe European leaders were not interested. Because of this, Ottoman sultan Mehmed II took the initiative and attacked the Christian lands instead and went on offensive.

In 1560 the Ottomans captured Michael Szilágyi, the Hungarian general and former regent, who was Vlad's ally. They tortured his men to death and sawed him in half. Vlad responded by not paying tribute anymore and having sultan's envoys killed in a brutal manner as well.

The Ottomans responded by sending their forces on Vlad's territory and tried to pillage and capture young boys to recruit as janissaries, but Vlad skillfully managed to catch them and capture them before they crossed the Danube and had them impaled. Vlad showed no mercy!

The Ottomans tried to negotiate to deescalate the conflict and sent Hamza Pasha to a diplomatic meeting. The Ottoman secret plan was for Hamza and his 1000 men to capture Vlad and bring him to Constantinople, but Vlad found out about it and ambushed and impaled Hamza instead.

Vlad decided to bring the war to the Ottomans and captured the Turkish fort of Giurgiu, after using his knowledge of their language to trick them into thinking he was a Turk and letting him in with his men, then killing them.

Next Vlad devastated the Turkish-occupied lands of Southern Wallachia and crossed the Danube into Bulgaria. He dealt with the Turks and their sympathizers brutally, while the local Christian population hailed him as a liberator. Vlad settled Christian Bulgarians on his territory.

Vlad to Hungarian king Corvinus: "I have killed peasants men and women, old and young, ... We killed 23.884 Turks without counting those whom we burned in homes or the Turks whose heads were cut by our soldiers... Thus, your highness, you must know that I have broken the peace"

The terror and devastation that Vlad brought to the Turks angered the sultan greatly, and he decided to lift the siege of Corinth to deal with him. Meanwhile the European Christendom rejoiced Vlad's success and many thanked him for keeping Turkish pressure off of them.

The Ottomans gathered a huge army to invade Wallachia, probably around 40000 men with sultan Mehmed II himself leading it. Vlad could only gather around 20000 men to defend his land, most of them poorly equipped peasant levies. The Hungarian king once again didn't help him.

Because of his smaller force, Vlad decided to use brutal guerilla tactics and scorched earth policy. He had the wells poisoned and created marshes. As the huge Ottoman army approached, Vlad's forces kept ambushing the Turks and retreating. Vlad's tactics were very successful.

Emboldened, Vlad decided for a daring night attack on the Ottoman camp near Târgoviște. He first infiltrated the camp himself, disguising himself as a Turk and investigated where the sultan was and about enemy defenses. He then made a well planned attack on the camp at night.

Vlad attacked the huge Ottoman camp with only around 10000 horsemen. They were illuminated with torches and completely shocked the Turks, causing much panic and fear, slaughtering many, and launching several attacks before the Ottomans were able to organize themselves.

Vlad aimed to kill the sultan Mehmed II himself after he successfully routed the Ottoman cavalry, but he mistakenly went for the wrong tent. Mehmed was fleeing in terror and had to be brought back by his men. Vlad eventually ordered an organized retreat as well.

Night attack at Târgoviște was a daring and heroic feet, despite not killing the sultan. It was a moral victory for Vlad, although it could have been greater. According to chronicles a boyar named Galeş was failed to attack the camp with the second army as planned due to fear.

The Ottomans continued their campaign and took over some cities that have been emptied by Vlad. On top of his scorched earth policy, Vlad demoralized the Turks by raising a whole forest of impaled Ottoman prisoners which was a terrifying sight for the invaders.

Ottoman chronicler wrote that Sultan gained respect for Vlad after seeing this sight, "The sultan was seized with amazement and said that it was not possible to deprive of his country a man ... who had such a diabolical understanding of how to govern his realm and its people."

Instead of looking for further engagements with Vlad, the Ottomans decided to put Vlad's brother Radu in charge of Wallachia and counted on the treacherous boyars to abandon Vlad, which they did, after Radu promised to give them back their privileges. This way Vlad lost Wallachia

Despite his big military success against the much stronger enemy which gained him praise from the entire Christendom including the pope, the betrayed Vlad had to flee north to Hungary, where ultimately king Matthias Corvinus betrayed him as well and imprisoned him.

Vlad the Impaler should be hailed as one of the great rulers and military commanders of his era, and a warrior for Christendom, and his night attack - a wonderful display of valiant courage in face of much larger army! He struck great fear into Ottomans!