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All right, picture this. You're in an army of 100,000 of your closest soldier friends. You guys just conquered Constantinople itself, and now you are standing frozen in horror. You're not facing another army. You're staring at something that no amount of battle experience could ever prepare you for. You're looking at 20,000 people dying on wooden stakes arranged in circles for miles around a city. The commander, Sultan Mehmed the Second, one of history's greatest conquerors, looks at this nightmare and says, I cannot take the land of a man who does such things. The man who created this horrifying scene was real, and his name was Vlad iii. And his story is far more terrifying than any vampire legend. This is the true story of how a boy's childhood trauma transformed him into one of history's most brutal rulers, and how his methods were so extreme, they made empires turn around and go home. So sit back, relax, and welcome to History Camp. What's up, people? And welcome back to History Camp. My name is Mark Agnon, and thank you so much for joining me in my tent, where every single week, without failing, we explore the most interesting, fascinating, controversial stories throughout all history, throughout all time, forever. Yes. All the people and all the events that have happened on this giant, beautiful blue planet. Just pretend I said giant, beautiful blue planet. Just imagine we go through everything that's ever happened on this place that we call Earth. Yes. This is my attempt to understand everything that's ever happened. Ever. I am a massive history fan, and moreover, I'm just fascinated by the individuals that created the world that we live in, whose names we read in history books. But I like to just do deep dives on all the crazy stuff, the dark stuff, the weird stuff that's gone on. Now, of course, the show's not possible without you, the viewers at home, making this thing possible, keeping the fire burning. And more importantly, equally as importantly, it's not possible without my dear friend Christos. Rocking is rocking. His typical beanie, his great look, his beard looking full as ever. How are you, Christos? Doing great. All right. All right, Christos. Guys, we can't jump into your personal life and going through all your. All your tales of, oh, I'm linking up with these women, and, oh, I started this company, I'm making this much money. Look, the people don't care about your escapades and. And the wealth you've accrued, okay? They want to talk about Vlad the Impaler, which was your nickname in college. Is that true or not? I cannot confirm or. All right, Croesus. This is why people tell you to just. Just. Just shut it, all right? Because it's really starting to grade on everyone, not just me. We're talking about Vlad the Impaler, all right? If you never heard of this guy, maybe you've heard of Dracula, okay? And when you think of Dracula, you're probably thinking of, like, I don't know, the weird little vampire guy that, like, comes across the. The hallway, which scared me so much as a kid. That guy freaked me out. And this was, like, a creature that would, you know, burn in the sunlight and drink blood through his fangs. And it was afraid of garlic and crosses. He was afraid of Italians. I think that's really what he was afraid of. He's like, jesus and garlic. No, but the guy that Bram Stoker made this movie about based the character on a real person who was more horrifying than the fictional monster in. In my opinion. And this is a guy known as Vlad iii, AKA Vlad the Impaler. Now, Vlad III ruled a small region that's now known as Romania. At the time, it was called Valachia. Also in English, we'd say just like Wallachia or Wallachia. I'm going to try to stay true and pronounce it the right way. Valachia. And this was basically a small region that he ruled in the 1400s. And history remembers him by a nickname that describes exactly what he did. Vlad the Impaler. And, you know, vampire stories talk about the undead coming up from graves and stuff like that. The legend speaks of drinking blood, and historical records document something way worse. And this was a ruler who literally perfected torture. So in order to understand this guy Vlad, and why he was so obsessed with impaling his enemies onto stakes and parading them around the city, you need to understand the world that he was born into. All right? And that year was 1431. And Europe, as always, was being torn apart. So the Ottoman Empire was expanding westward, and it was just unstoppable. One by one, these Christian kingdoms were falling. And Constantinople, the legendary Byzantine capital that stood for over a thousand years, was on the verge of collapse. The balance of power between Christianity and Islam was shifting dramatically. And caught directly in the middle of this strug was a little region that we call Wallachia, and the small principality that basically served as a buffer zone between the Ottoman Empire and the Christians in Hungary. Now, Wallachia's position made it valuable to both sides, but it was also incredibly dangerous to rule. So every prince who sat on the throne had to perform a Constant balancing act, trying to keep both of these powerful neighboring countries with these different ideologies and political forces satisfied with, while maintaining some independence. I think there's probably an analog with Poland here, right? You have Western hemogeny of, or hamat hegemony. Oh, my goodness. Thank you, Christos. This is why I keep it around. Western hegemony of, you know, like NATO forces in, in Western Europe. And then you have obviously the USSR/Russia on the east side. And Poland is just poor Poland just stuck in the middle. And as a result, Poland today has a very robust military. So this is kind of what Vlad was dealing with, just the ancient version of that. So this was the inheritance that was waiting for Vlad. Not just the throne, but also a deadly political situation where one wrong move means invasion, assassination, losing your entire nation to, you know, ambitious Christians in Hungary or, you know, the, the strong and courageous Muslims that are coming from the other side. So winter came to a small town known as Sigisoara in Transylvania in 1431. And in a stone house marked with a dragon symbol, a woman gave birth to a baby boy named Vlad. His father, also Vlad. Vlad II of Dracul belonged to an elite order of Christian knights called the Order of the Dragon. Ugh, that's awesome. Right? And the word Dracul literally means dragon in Romanian, so people naturally called his son Dracula, the son of the dragon. It's kind of like a cute little nickname, you know, it's like Chicharito. You know, that's all it is, Josito. That's all. But it's Dracula, Ito. Now young Vlad is growing up learning the harsh realities of medieval politics and how to govern a tenuous nation state stuck between Iraq and a hard place. Get it? That's pretty good. Now, as you can imagine, power in this situation comes from one source, and that's fear. And you need people to fear you. And fear came from the ability to inflict pain. But the real lesson that would shape him into the monster that we know and love today hadn't started yet. Everything changes in 1442, when Vlad is 11 years old. Sultan Murad II invited Vlad's father to what was supposed to be a diplomatic meeting. But as most of these diplomatic meetings tend to be, whether it's Montezuma or others, it was a trap. And the moment that Vlad Dracul crossed into Ottoman territory with his two youngest sons, 11 year old Vlad and 7 year old Radu, the guards arrested them. The Sultan gave Dracul an impossible choice. Leave your sons here as prisoners to guarantee your loyalty or watch us execute them immediately. Now, Dracul chose to save himself. He rode away, and he left his own flesh and blood behind in the Ottoman Empire. Literally. He did the meme, leave your kids two, three years, Ottoman Empire. Forget. He left them, bro. And he forgot him. Isn't that crazy? And these guys just started learning the UFC Jiu Jitsu. This is old school Dagestan is what I'm saying. Now, Vlad watched his, you know, father kind of just disappear into the distance, and that moment ended his childhood. He literally was. Was stuck there. Now, the Ottoman court claimed that they treated noble prisoners very well. They offered education in multiple languages and philosophy and military tactics. And this proved true for Radu, who adapted really quickly. He learned Turkish, converted to Islam, and became a favorite in the court. But Vlad, oh, Vlad, he refused to cooperate. He was not playing ball. He insulted his tutors, and he wouldn't study the Quran, and he attacked other prisoners who mocked Christianity, and he just stuck to his guns. The Ottomans had methods for, you know, breaking stubborn children. And typically it would be things like timeout and spanking and starvation, beating and isolation and other stuff that wasn't great, okay? But Vlad wouldn't bend. Now, during his captivity, Vlad witnessed something that would define his future. All right, The Ottomans used impalement as an execution. In this time period, this was a method for special enemies, people who deserve not just death, but days of public suffering. So young Vlad, around 12 years old, watched as executioners made this process last as long as possible. He observed how keeping the stake dull prevented a quick death. And he learned that the proper angling could keep victims alive for days at a time. And, you know, as a child, he stood there memorizing every detail of this traumatic and horrific sight. Meanwhile, back in Wallachia, disaster struck. Like. Like I said, this region is stuck between two empires that are very angry. So the Ottomans were cool because they had these, you know, the. These. These children in prison. And, you know, Dracul was loyal to the Ottomans, but that didn't stop the Hungarians, specifically a Hungarian regent called John Hunyadi. Now, Vlad's older brother, Mercia ii, was captured in the capital city. And Mercia II was seized by local nobles and members of the Saxon elite. And. And they basically turned against the house of Dracul in favor of Hunyadi's candidate for the throne. So Mercia, literally, Vlad's older brother, is captured and tortured, and he's blinded with red hot iron pokers that are going into his eyes. And they subsequently Bury him alive. Pretty brutal stuff. Now, Vlad ii, AKA Dracul, the father was then assassinated shortly thereafter in the marshes of nearby. And so 16 year old Vlad receives the news from, you know, basically inside of his Ottoman captivity that he's been fighting. And his reaction disturbed the guards. He didn't cry, he didn't rage. The cruelty that Vlad endured and witnessed turned him into a monster. He was formed in the darkness and as a result had no reaction and just disassociated, buried it deep down. And that rage was burning inside of him that the Ottomans didn't realize what six years of, you know, imprisonment, slash noble torture, if you can call it that, had created. It didn't create a broken child, it made something far more dangerous. So in 1448, the Ottomans decided that Vlad could be useful. They released him with a small military force to claim his father's throne. Yes, they literally were like, yeah, we're going to send you out to go cause problems and you're going to go upend the throne there and you're going to, you know, basically do our bidding. Now, his first reign only lasted two months before enemies actually drove him out. But even in that brief time, 17 year old Vlad displayed an unusual cruelty. And for the next eight years, Vlad served in various armies and learned everything there was to know about warfare. He even fought alongside that same guy, John Hunyadi, the man who had killed his father, because, you know, revenge could wait, but understanding warfare couldn't. So as a result, he studied fortress construction and calvary and psychological warfare. And most importantly, he built a network of supporters who shared his hatred of both the Ottomans and Valachia's, you know, treacherous nobility that assassinated his father and, you know, tortured and killed his brother. Now, in 1456, with Hungarian backing, Vlad invaded Wallachia again. And this time he succeeded. The current ruler, Vladislav ii, challenged him to a single kind of hand to hand combat. And according to Chronicles, Vlad didn't just defeat him, he slowly sawed through his neck while he was still conscious. Yeah. And now comes one of history's most calculated massacres. 1457. And what better day to do it than Easter Sunday. Vlad invited hundreds of what they call boyar families, basically the nobles of Wallachia that, you know, the same people that basically betrayed his entire family lineage. And he invited them to a feast at the palace, and these were the same people that literally killed his father, killed his brother. And they arrived in their finest clothes, believing that the new prince wanted peace and that they could maybe, you know, work with him and. And sway him and bribe him and that they could all be really nice. Now, during the feast, Vlad stands up and he asks a simple question. He says, how many princes have you seen rule Valachia in your lifetime? And he went around the table. And the answers varied, right? Some people were like, oh, five, 20. Some of the real old nobles said, oh, 30. Each answer was a confession. These people had survived by constantly switching sides, going with the person who was in power and just appeasing them, just sycophants to whoever was in power. And as a result, they betrayed every ruler and every new ruler. And so Vlad gave a signal, and when he gave the signal, soldiers burst through the doors and chained everyone up. He ordered the elderly to be impaled immediately in the courtyard. And what happened next varies depending on which chronicle you read. Some sources say that he ordered the elderly impaled immediately in the courtyard. Others claim that he fired artillery directly at the gathered nobles. Still other accounts say the that he handed them over to angry mobs who then just tore them apart. What's consistent across all the versions is that many of them were killed on the spot, while the younger and stronger ones were forced to march to a ruined castle and rebuild it stone by stone, working until their fancy, ostentatious clothes rotted off their bodies. And when they collapsed from exhaustion, they were too impaled. Then, in 1459, the Saxon city of Brasov made a fatal error. They harbored all of Vlad's enemies. He sent a warning and they ignored it. So what does Vlad do? He's gotta get it back in blood. Yeah, this guy holds a grudge. So Vlad basically arrived with an army and transformed the city into a display of horror, just literally. Men, women, children were all impaled in organized rows. And according to German chronicles, he set up a dining table amongst the dying and ate while surrounded by thousands of victims in various stages of death. And the numbers are staggering. Historians estimate that Vlad killed between 40 and 80,000 people during his reign in a principality of only 500,000. That's literally one in five people. And unlike distant dictators, who would give orders and kind of leave the mess of, you know, death and horror kind of to the soldiers and just stay away from it. Vlad personally supervised executions and developed variations of impalement based on the victim's supposed crimes. So in 1462, Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, demanded tribute from Wallachia, including 500 boys for the Janissary Corps. Now, Vlad's response was very defiant. When Ottoman envoys refused to remove their turbans in his presence, citing a religious custom like, hey, we're not going to take off our religious garb. Vlad had the turbans nailed to their skulls with iron spikes. They were then sent back to Constantinople alive and used as a warning. Now, take this incident as a persistent legend, likely rooted in 15th century propaganda. Again, no one's really sure if this actually happened literally, but still, the myth persists. What's up, guys? We're gonna take a break real quick because we gotta have some real talk. All right? If you've ever brushed off white flakes from a black T shirt. Okay, that's not dry scalp or whatever you're telling yourself, right? That's dandruff. And dandruff is caused by a fungus. Now, most shampoos don't actually fix that. No, they just dry your scalp even more. So you just keep on buying the shampoo. And honestly, a lot of these formulas haven't even changed since, like, the 1960s. Every big shampoo brand was developed then, which is also when doctors were like, hey, take a cigarette for some stress. And that's why I like Flakes. See this right here? This is Flakes. It is an anti dandruff shampoo and conditioner that actually targets the problem. It's got two times the active ingredient, peritheone zinc, than the standard drugstore brands. 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Your black shirts are actually going to be black again. The itch on your scalp is gone. That's the flakes promise. Now let's get back to the show. Now, as the legend goes, the Sultan sees this and responded by personally leading a massive army to Valachia. And sources vary from 150,000 to 300,000. I mean, massive, massive numbers of troops. And Vlad had perhaps like 30,000 troops at most. He wasn't going to win a conventional battle, so he employed a scorched earth tactic. The Ottomans found every field burned, every well was poisoned, every village evacuated. They marched through a desolate wasteland unlike anything they had seen before. And on June 17, 1462, Vlad attempted this crazy undercover night raid to assassinate Mehmed in his tent. Vlad and his soldiers disguised themselves as Turkish soldiers to infiltrate the Ottoman camp undetected. With the small force disguised in enemy uniforms, Vlad snuck into the Ottoman camp in the middle of the night. However, they entered on the side of the camp filled with pack animals and supplies, which caused them to get lost in the confusion and in the darkness and the chaos. They finally reached what they believed was the Sultan's tent. But it turned out to be the wrong tent. Ah. So instead of finding Mehmed, they discovered the grand visor. Now, the assassination failed. Some accounts suggest that after realizing their mistake, that Vlad's men set fire to tents throughout the camp, creating just a mass panic. And as the soldiers woke up to flames and chaos. Vlad and his men basically escaped, you know, as the entire Ottoman army was mobilizing. Now, the next day, as Mehmed's army approached the the capital of Wallachia, they discovered something that would become legendary. For miles around the city stood an estimated 20,000 dull wooden posts sticking up out of the ground. 20,000 stakes, each holding a human corpse or a dying person. Turkish soldiers, Bulgarian Muslims, Volahian traders, all arranged neatly and the smell made these hardened warriors vomit. And the sight of this type of horror made some of them cry. Ottoman morale collapsed. Hardened Ottoman soldiers were horrified by the sight of their comrades, including high ranking commanders like Hamza Pasha, the Bey of Nicopolis, left to rot on these stakes. Mehmed II reportedly expressed amazement at Vlad's ruthlessness, stating he could not take the land of a man who practiced such unnatural governance. Now Sultan Mehmed ii, staring at this literal forest of death, shifted his strategy to ensure Vlad's downfall. The conqueror of Constantinople retreated. Now Sultan Mehmed II had retreated, but he had a strategy, he had a plan that I don't know if Vlad fully anticipated. So as the Ottomans left, they left Vlad's brother Radu behind with the troops. Now you'll remember Radu was one of the others who went and lived in the Ottoman Empire throughout his childhood and assimilated and eventually took Shahada, became Muslim and was a useful regent amongst Sultan's, amongst the Sultan's army. Now Radu basically offered the Wallahians a choice. He came and said, hey, support me, I am the rightful heir to the throne and you guys can all live peacefully, right? Like I have a noble bloodline. We're going to all be cool. No one's going to die anymore. Or you can follow my brother and eventually all you guys are going to be on, you know, wooden stakes, dying to scare off other armies. Your choice. So Vlad's own nobles completely abandoned him and his army effectively dissolved. So by August 1462, Vlad fled to Hungary seeking help from King Matthias Corvinus. But Matthias had been communicating with the Ottomans. Vlad was then arrested and imprisoned for 12 years. Even in prison, Vlad's obsession continued. It is alleged that Garz reported finding dead rats impaled on wood splinters within his cell. Small birds were captured and skewered on sharpened quills. He created like miniature impalement displays with insects, literally like a. You ever do those dioramas where you like make like a shoebox thing? He was doing that with torture and impalement. And then when they Asked him why, he said that he didn't want his skills to deteriorate. Now, this sounds a lot like 15th century political propaganda, so take the guard's allegations with a grain of Salt. Now, in 1476, political circumstances changed. Hungary needed allies against the Ottomans. Vlad was then released, given a Hungarian noblewoman as a wife, which, I mean, tough look for her. They're like, hey, you're gonna get married off with the Impaler guy. And she was like, ugh, all right, if I have to. And as a result, he was then provided troops to now reclaim Wallachia. And now his third reign began. Now in his 40s, the cruelty hadn't diminished. It had just gotten stronger. He'd been in prison for, like, a decade. So the impalements resumed immediately. He forced families to watch each other die in sequence. He developed techniques to keep victims alive for up to a week. And in December 1476, while marching with a small force, Vlad met his end. How exactly he died is still a historical debate. No one really knows. Some Romanian sources claim that his own nobles betrayed him and assassinated him, tired of serving such a brutal tyrant. Other accounts say that he died fighting Ottoman troops who overwhelmed his small force. The most dramatic version, probably my favorite, is the one supported by several chronicles, that he fell in battle, sword in hand, his head severed from his body by Turkish soldiers. Now, regardless of which version is true, Vlad the Impaler is no more. The Turks carried his head to Constantinople, where Sultan Mehmed II had it displayed on a stake above the city gates. The Impaler himself had finally been impaled, even if only in death. Now, Vlad's body was supposedly buried at Snagov Monastery, but when archaeologists opened the tomb in 1931, Vladimir it was empty. The mystery of his final resting place is still a mystery. It's unsolved to this day. And the real horror of Vlad's legacy isn't found in vampire fiction. It's how we remember him today in Romania. Vlad is like a folk hero. There's statues that are in his honor. His face is on tourist merchandise, and many Romanians praise him as a defender of Christianity who stood up against Ottoman invasion, conveniently overlooking the forest of dead and dying bodies that he created. Now, this reveals something that's pretty strange, right? Like, we're willing to excuse almost anything if the person was fighting on our side, right? Like, we focus on victories and we just ignore the victims, and we basically just say, like, hey, the ends justify the means. And if you had to kill a couple Thousand of our own people, plus some Ottoman invaders. Da, da, da, da. If you're fighting for us, that's all that matters. Now, what's interesting is that medieval records from multiple nations, from German, Russian, Turkish, Hungarian sources, they all paint the same picture. This wasn't a harsh but necessary ruler. This was someone who literally found pleasure in torture and in prolonging suffering. And other medieval rulers would use execution as a tool, sure, but Vlad was different. He was using it as, like, personal, sadistic entertainment. And as a result, modern psychologists that would study historical records literally classify Vlad as a sadistic personality who likely was shaped by years of abandonment and severe childhood trauma. I mean, six years of captivity, torture, forced observation of executions transformed this young boy into something completely monstrous. I mean, the Ottomans impaled their enemies, but Vlad. I mean, Vlad was built different, bro. He impaled everyone, often for trivial reasons. No reasons at all, right? I mean, the real Dracula didn't fear crosses or garlic or sunlight. He didn't need supernatural powers or the ability to live hundreds of years or to drink blood. He was way scarier. And you know that with basically enough childhood trauma and unchecked power and a grudge and a vendetta and just a man who had been broken so many times that a human being can become literally more monstrous than the Myth. Now, Vlad III, aka Vlad the Impaler, died in winter 1476, but his legacy lived far beyond him. I mean, every dictator who rules through terror, every person who finds pleasure in another person's pain, they are, in some ways reminiscent of this person of the Impaler, the man who created hell on Earth and called it justice, or, you know, ruling by any means necessary. And what's crazy is that the terror tactics worked for a short period of time. The Ottomans hesitated to invade Wallachia for years after his death. And his name literally became a curse that Turkish mothers used to use to, like, frighten children, like, oh, you better behave or Vlad will come in the night. He was so terrible that even conquering armies would just walk away rather than face what he might do. But maybe here's what we remember, right? That Vlad didn't win because his methods were right. He really didn't win at all. And that was because he was doing something so brutal that even the people that were sworn to support him eventually jumped ship. Now, the forest of corpses outside of his palace was a statement about, ultimately, what humans are capable of when trauma and power and cruelty all combine into one. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of Vlad the Impaler. I mean, yeah, brutal guy. I mean, that goes without saying, right? I mean, it's like, yeah, all right. Like, I don't like. I think it's a good lesson because, like, I think people kind of, like, romanticize him as, like, a folk hero, which I get. You know what I mean? Like Alexander the Great. Whoa. He was great. Like, Genghis Khan, the greatest ruler ever. He killed everybody. But also, like, these guys do terrible things. And Vlad, I think, is uniquely terrible or, like, even dictators and tyrants after him would, like, read about Vlad the Impaler and be like, yeah, I know I'm Hitler, but I'm not Vlad. You know? I mean, like, I'm Napoleon, but I'm not Vlad. Like, I'm. I'm not that guy. And I think that's. I think the important lesson is that it didn't work, that he led by fear, but he was too feared. He didn't do enough for his people. He didn't embolden them enough that they said, like, oh, we can trust him. We'll fight for him. He was like, too. He's almost like Nero or like Caligula. You know what I mean? Like, he's almost like, just so egotistical and sadistic and evil that even the people that are supporting him say, yeah, we're not going to support you anymore. It was Caligula that was killed by his own guards in, like, the alleyway under, like, that big festival, right? So literally, he's like, kind of the same. Same mold. Like, okay, you want people to fear you. You want everyone to be like, oh, that's the baddest man ever. So it's kind of like the Machiavellian thing of, like, would you rather be feared or loved? And as Michael Scott would say, you want people to fear how much they love you. Exactly. That low key might be the right answer. Like, it's funny because it's from the office, but, like, you, I don't think you can rule by fear alone. Because if you're so terrifying, your own people are going to be like, yeah, we're out. We're just going to roll with Radu, who's not trying to kill all of us. Who, yeah, we might lose a war, but I'd rather lose a war than win a war and then get impaled anyway. You know what I mean? So, I don't know. It's. It's a pretty. Pretty dark story. It's also interesting that, like, you know, you have Christians that would be like, nah, Vladimir, like, he supported. Like, he. He rocked with us. It's like, yeah, but he was also killing Hungarians like he was killing Christians. He was killing Valakians, AKA Romanians. He was killing everybody. I don't think he was an ideologue that was a defender of the Christian faith. I think he was a sadistic tyrant that wanted to kill and see bloodshed in any way possible in order to maintain his power, which I don't know. I think if Jesus came back and walked up to Wallachia, I don't think he'd be like, this guy figured it out. He did it. You know what I mean? I mean, Jesus, of all people, who literally died from being impaled. I think it's pretty ironic that this guy was like, the way I'm going to control my empire and preserve Christianity is kill people the way that the savior of all humanity also died. I think he should have read his Bible more. Yep. What do you think, Crusos? First of all, shout out to Patrick, our editor from Romania, for suggesting this topic. That's a good point. Shout out to young Pat, the Romanian himself. He probably was excited. He was like, dude, we're gonna have Mark and Christos talk about Vlad, do some research on the Impaler himself, and they're gonna be like, dude, Romanians are sick. Psych. Fun fact. I have a lot of Romanian ancestry. Wow. Did you know that you might be related to Patrick? I might be related to Vlad. True. I might be an Impaler, dude. I might be a spiritual descendant of those bloodthirsty tyrants of the medieval times. This giving him a Hungarian wife, though, what did she do to deserve that? Yeah. Good thing he died shortly thereafter, though. I mean, could you imagine her story? She must have did it like a tell all book. After he died, she must have done a book tour, like, being Mrs. Impaler. And like, she was just like, oh, he was crazy. Like, she probably did a crazy book. She probably had a podcast. If this was the modern day, she would have 100. Had a podcast, did a book tour, Netflix deal. Netflix. Tight leather pants. Yep. She probably would have been out here, dude. I don't know, dude. Being married Vlad the Impaler is a tough look, but I. It's also interesting, like, how these medieval, like, alliances work, that they're like, hey, you have your kingdom. We're going to take your sons. That way you're going to be loyal to us. And at the end of the day, it worked. Sultan Mehmed had that shit dialed because he was like, we're going to take your son. We're going to take both your sons. Even though one of your sons became, like, one of the most ruthless tyrants of the time, your other son ultimately is what upended his rule. And our strategy worked. We trained this kid from 6 years old. He became Muslim, he became a Ottoman ideologue. He supported the Sultan, and we used him to get rid of your other son, who was also under a tutelage that became a psycho. You know, the good with the bad. Yep. All in one family. All in one family, Right? But it's just also brutal, like, what happens, right, because, like, Valakia gets conquered by the Hungarians in the first place, and his brother and his dad get crushed. With that said, Dracula is a sick name. Yep. I mean, one of the baddest names in the game, dude. The House of the Dragon. Sick. Sick, right? I mean, if he wasn't such a terrible guy, I'd be like, oh, dude, that's awesome. I mean, even I'm starting to get the Romanians, dude. I'm like, dude, this guy was sick as hell. He was kind of a bad. He was a bad man. Bad monting, bad man. Things, you know, yard shout out to my Jamaicans. But, yeah, dude, Vlad the Impaler. I'm just. I don't know. Democracy is not perfect, but it's better than having a bad king. I mean, nothing worse. It's like, why are you in charge? You're like, well, my dad was in charge, and his dad was in charge, and I'm a psycho. Like, really? That's what we. Like, you could have had a good king and things would have worked out. But, yeah, it's a. It was a dastardly time. I wonder if there's ever people in just, like, a medieval village, like, somewhere near Wallachia, that never heard about any of this. Like, they just lived in their little town, and then, like, they popped in, like, the main town to, like, trade for milk one day, and they were like, he did what? No, really, that was him, but he did that. Do you think Romanian education teaches about Vlad the Impaler? That's a great question. If you're Romanian, you're watching this. Or if you're named Patrick and you happen to edit for our channel, let me know. You can either shoot me a text or just comment on this video. You're probably going to edit it, so let me know what you think. Also, if you're just Romanian in general, did you hear about Vlad the Impaler? Was this something that was taught to you guys. What is the relationship with Vlad? I'm trying to think if there's an American like Proxy, you know what I mean? Like, I mean, I mean, none of the American Founding Fathers were as bad. Sure, some of them had slaves, so they weren't Vlad the Impaler, you know what I mean? But, like, he's almost remembered for how bad he was. And people kind of like that. So, like, who was our version? It's basically like Bane or like the Joker. Vlad is the Joker. Like, Americans will be like, oh, dude, Vlad's crazy. Why do Romanians like him? You like the Joker, bro. He's exploding hospitals. He's just causing so much chaos all over the place. And people like the Joker the most. So I'm like, if you can like the Joker, you can understand why Romanians like Vlad. Right? I think that's fair. Sure. Anyway, this has been another episode of History Camp. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. If you like this channel, I got great news for you because we also got Religion Camp. That's where we deep dive in every religious topic ever and try to figure out the truth of everything. That way, when you get to heaven, you're not gonna be there empty handed. You'll be like, oh, I've heard about this. I know. I. I was actually on board with y' all the whole time. I just didn't realize it. All right. It's a hedge for eternal life. You're welcome. We also have the main channel, Camp Gagnon. Camp Gagnon. And that's where I do interviews with all sorts of people. Long form combos with people way smarter than people, people that teach at Yale, Harvard, people that have been in the military, CIA agents, all sorts of crazy people that have real interesting life stories that are telling me stuff that actually are informed on topics. Not just me, you know, doing research, trying to figure it out. And of course, if you like this channel, that's great also, you can check it out. YouTube, Spotify. Please leave a comment. I read all of them. And yeah, man, I appreciate you guys for tuning in, supporting History Camp and keeping the fire burning. And I will see you all in the future to talk about the past. Peace. What's up, people? We're going to take a break real quick because this episode is sponsored by me. Yes, Camp R and D. That is the merch, that is the threads that we'd be wearing around here at the campsite. And we got all sorts of cool stuff. My buddy Zach just cooked up a sick UFO collection. You can go check it out there at Camp R and D. I really appreciate you guys. We had so many people that came through for the holidays and picked up their threads. It's awesome. We got hats, hoodies, T shirts, all that. And if you're still listening to this and you didn't skip through, congrats. You got a promo code. All right, what do we do, Chris? Is 5% more. How much five more? 10%. 10%? Final offer. You won't go higher? You tell me. What? What do we give them? 12%. All right, we're doing 12% off. Should we go more? Hey, it's your world. I'm just living in it. Let's round up 10%. No, 15%. If you use the promo code, Camp 15, you're gonna be getting 15% off. Yes. I think we should also do Camp 10. Just if someone doesn't want to take too much. Camp 10 or Camp 15, those are the only two that are available. And then maybe we send a little something extra to the ones that do 10. If you do Camp 10, maybe there's something extra. No promises, but it's an interesting experiment. I just am curious to see what you guys do. Camp 10 or Camp 15 at Camp R and D. When you check out, you're going to be getting those discounts. Thank you so much for rocking with us and wearing the threads. It keeps the lights on. It keeps the fire burning.