Was Vlad The Impaler Dracula or a Hero?

Raymond Ibrahim (0:00)

What can you tell us about Vlad the Impaler? What is the true story of this guy?

Patrick Bet-David (0:05)

Was he a good guy?

Raymond Ibrahim (0:06)

Was he a villain? Was he a bad guy? Vlad the Impaler is actually a perfect mention in the context of what we're talking about, fake history. And so he's in this book, actually, the chapter eight's all about him. And what's interesting about him is, okay, so we, Vlad the Impaler, we know he's Count Dracula, right? Count Dracula is a book written in, I think, 1890-something by Bram Stoker, some Irish guy. And he just, he needed a name and he got the name from this guy, Vlad the Impaler, whose real name is Vlad Dracula. Dracula means son of the devil or son of the dragon. It's really, his father was a member of the Order of the Dragon, which was actually a Christian knightly order. Vlad's father. Vlad's father. And his father, so he was the Dracul, the Order of the Dragon. Vlad is Dracula, meaning son of the dragon. Okay? So that's just his name. Now, what happened is he just wanted a name of some fierce guy, and some guy told him, oh, use that name, Dracula. So he put it on his book, and now, lo and behold, Dracula is a blood-sucking vampire who sleeps in the day and comes up at night. Okay. Now, if you go back to the actual Dracula and why this all happened is, so what he was was basically Romanian, Wallachia, and he was a prince. He should have been, they're known as Voivodes, which means warlord of Romania or Wallachia. He was taken, him and his brother were taken as captives because that's what the Ottoman Muslim Turks would do. They would take the most powerful men, the kings, they'd take their sons as captives or hostages to make sure they behave. And so the two sons were taken, and Muhammad the Conqueror, Muhammad the Second who conquered Constantinople in 1453 was a young man then.

And basically he turned his brother, Vlad's brother, Radu, into his boy toy.

Because Muhammad the Second was bisexual, and he forced the brother of Vlad to become basically a catamite. Like his... This guy was a bisexual? Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely. And a pedophile and everything.

And he's a hero in Turkey, by the way.

But Vlad would not relent to that kind of thing, and he was very rebellious, and he was always being whipped in the Ottoman prisons. Anyway, he somehow escapes. The brother? No, the brother stays there the whole time, and he's just basically the sex slave of Muhammad.

Intentionally, like he enjoys it? So, well, the original story is the first time Muhammad tried to make a sexual advance on him, he tried to kill him, Radu, the brother. He freaked out, but then it says he finally succumbed and gave in.

And Vlad would not, Vlad escaped, and eventually he becomes finally the voivode of Wallachia.

Now, the situation is a mess there, okay? You have Hungary, which is a powerful Christian force, and you have the Ottomans, and Wallachia is right in the middle. And the leaders, his predecessors, including his father, are being deposed every year, okay? And his father was actually murdered by his own people, and his brother was buried alive, okay?

And he, while he was in prison, saw all the torture, experienced the torture, saw all Ottomans impaling people. So when he finally comes back, he just, he becomes so ruthless. His logic is, the only way I'm going to have any semblance of order is extreme draconian, you know, just law. Anyone who makes one move, you're impaled, okay? And what he was doing, but then, of course, most of his war is against the Ottomans. And they, so they send and they ask him for tribute. They say, okay, this is what, this was the normal behavior. The Ottomans would go to a Christian power. If they couldn't conquer them, say, pay us. Basically, you pay us and we'll leave you alone. Become a vassal. And they would also take their children, their boys, and they would turn them into Janissaries, okay? Which is, so they would take the strongest young Christian boys and convert them to Islam, forcibly, and raise them into jihadists, essentially. And they would become the most feared force of the Ottoman army. Then they would unleash them back on the Christians, and it would be like a perpetual cycle. So, they went to Vlad and said, okay, you owe us some back money, you've been on this throne, and we also want 500 Romanian boys. And he said, no. And when the ambassadors came, it's kind of funny, they climbed all these steps to see him, and they're wearing turbans, and he gets really annoyed with them, and he basically says, and by the way, why don't you remove your turban when you're in front of me, as a sign of respect. And they said, well, our religion and our customs says we can't. So, he had his men nail the turbans on their heads, and sent them back to Muhammad. Stop it. No, no, it's true. And sent them back to Muhammad, saying, well, here, to make sure your turban never falls off your head, I'll help you. And then he sent them to Muhammad and said, and tell him, you're not taking our sons. Nailed the turban to their heads. Did they die or were they just bleeding? They were bleeding. Yeah, it says small nails, so I'm sure they were very damaged, and they're sent off. And at that point, Muhammad II, who is raping his brother, yeah, declares a massive jihad, and he goes and invades Wallachia. And as usual, this Ottoman war machine, it's something like... he outnumbered Vlad by something like 1 to 15 Okay? And all that Vlad had were just, like, you know, farmers with farm tools to fight. So they engage in guerrilla warfare. You know, they can't meet the Ottomans head on, but they engage in terror tactics. Okay? That's what guerrilla fighters do. So at one night, Vlad, at the head of a couple thousand men, actually go into the Ottoman tent, the Ottoman camp, which is, like, 100,000 men, looking for Muhammad the second to kill him. They wanted to assassinate the sultan. Vlad went with them? Vlad. Oh, he led the charge. Okay? And they killed a lot of people, but they couldn't reach the sultan. And Muhammad was really shook by this. And anyway, after that, they continue, and they finally come to Vlad's castle. And what they see is what's called the Forest of the Impaled. Literally thousands of Ottomans, Turks, impaled on stakes. Okay? And it's like a very horrific sight. And eventually Muhammad leaves at that point. And he leaves the gay brother, Radu, who eventually over time convinces the Wallachians to give up the war, and Vlad gets thrown in jail. But then he comes back out and et cetera. But now to the real story is...