The Night Attack
The Battle of Targoviste was fought on the night of June 17, 1462 between the armies of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II and Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia. Mehmed demanded ajizya, or tax on non-Muslims, from the state of Wallachia, but Vlad refused to pay. The Sultan Mehmeds army crossed the Danube, they began to enforce young boys to join their Military service. By this action, Vlad captured Turkish soldiers and impaled them. Mehmed then attempted to fool Vlad and ambush, but the Wallachians surrounded and massacred his force of 1,000 cavalry.
Vlad tepes was, to his belief, cleansing Turkey by slaughtering over 23,000 Muslim civilians and sympathizers. In response, Mehmed invaded Wallachia with at least 150,000 men. According to critics, "Vlad began a scorched-earth campaign, retreating while burning crops, poisoning water supplies, and diverting small rivers to create marshlands. He even sent civilians infected with syphilis, leprosy, and bubonic plague into the Turkish ranks." On June 17, the Battle of Targoviste, also referred to The Night Attack. The Turks were camped south of the Wallachian capital, Targoviste, when Vlad devised a surprise night attack with approximately 7,000 cavalry. The attack caused chaos in the Ottoman ranks, historians are unknown how many turks were slayed.According to Dr.Miller, "Vlads planned to murder the Sultan failed, however, and thus fled after a certain amount of time. By dawn the Sultan army had regrouped and pursued Vlad’s forces toward Targoviste. When Mehmed reached the Wallachian city he found it abandoned, with a forest of impaled turks stretching for miles around it." The Sultan retreated, Vlad had won that battle, but not the war yet. |
The Night Attack 2:
The second suprise attack was victorious as they pushed the turkish out of the south and west of Wallachia. Economically the Wallachian state was plundering in war debt, Vlad asked for help from the Hungarian king Matthias Corvin. Although the King arrested him using a false pretext, "a letter that appears to have been forged by the rulers of Brasov, in which Vlad the Impaler promised to strike an agreement with the Turks. He was imprisoned at Oratia, a fortress located at Podu Dambovitei Bridge for ten years.
The Third and Final Reign
On November 26th, a meeting of the High council decided to enthrone Vlad III Dracula. For the reason being that Ottomas power was on the rise upon Christianity. Vlad latered resumed war with the Turks but died during battle. It is unknown how exactly he was killed, but his head was slayed and given to the King of Romania. His body was taken back by the Wallachian soldiers, however, until this day his tomb has no remainings of his body.
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