Why?
Oh, why?
Mehmed.
Mother Mara, what are you doing here at this hour?
Looking for you.
How long has it been since you've slept?
Two, three days?
I don't know.
What troubles you?
Mehmed.
I've seen Vlad Dracula.
Here? In the palace?
No.
In my dreams.
Terrible dreams.
This is madness.
Why are you doing this?
You destroyed my family.
No! I protected you like a brother.
Lies!
All you have done is take from me.
-No more!
Your hatred blinds you, Vlad.
Walk away now, and I will spare you.
Wallachia will be your grave.
You will die alone.
The Sufi said my dreams were visions of the future.
I pray this is no omen.
Eight years after Mehmed II's epic conquest of Constantinople,
he is no longer derided as the "Boy Sultan."
Mehmed is now the most powerful ruler in the East,
and the most feared in the West.
Europe had good cause to be worried about him.
He's fulfilled the prophecy of the Prophet Muhammad.
He's conquered this city that people thought was unconquerable,
and he has defeated the Roman Empire.
He starts to set his eyes gradually on moving towards
the first Rome, the original Rome.
There are accounts from Italians visiting Mehmed's court
who talk about him desiring to advance
as far west as Alexander the Great had advanced east.
And so, Italy was always on the agenda.
After the conquest of Constantinople, Mehmed took the title Kayser-i Rum,
Caesar of the Romans,
so no doubt about what his intentions were.
In preparation for his eventual advance westward,
Mehmed has assembled a vast web of spies throughout the courts of Europe.
Sultan, the word from Rome is
that the Pope is raising a crusade against you as we speak.
He calls you the "Red Dragon of the Apocalypse."
Florentine snake. Apologize at once.
Childish taunts from a man with a silly hat.
Their position is quite clear, Sultan.
If you invade Europe, all of Christendom will rise up against you.
Ha!
Like they did at Constantinople.
And who will lead this mighty Christian army against me?
There hasn't been a great warrior among them since Hunyadi's death.
There is one ruler who has the ear of the Pope these days.
He brags that he knows how to fight the Ottomans and win.
Surely this ruler has a name.
Vlad Dracula.
I taught Vlad how to fight when he was a little boy.
He is fearless,
but he is not suitable enough to start a war between us.
Have you confirmed this information?
Grand Vizier, they are just rumors… for now.
But Prince Vlad has recently visited the king in Buda.
The prince should choose his friends more carefully.
Raised in the Ottoman court with Mehmed,
Vlad Dracula is voivode, or ruler of Wallachia,
a vassal state and ally of the Ottomans located in present-day Romania,
but a kingdom that has notoriously shifted allegiance
between the Ottomans and Hungarians.
They are at the whim essentially of the Ottomans and the Hungarians
in terms of who's in charge.
Vlad Dracula is a very, very interesting character
because he's really caught between these two superpowers.
They've got the Ottoman Empire coming strongly through the Balkans,
and also you've got the Hungarians.
They're the champions of Catholic Europe,
and they want Dracula to remain their buffer against the Ottomans.
He's very difficult to control, but he's still really important to them.
He is a bogeyman.
He is a bête noire.
He is the guy that we can release
because his reputation for fierce warfare precedes him,
and he is one of the terrors of the age.
He fought the Ottomans, the Hungarians, and the Moldavians.
He fought everybody around him.
He's considered by Romanian population
as one of the greatest voivodes that ever existed.
For the rest of the world, he is known as Dracula, the bloodthirsty vampire,
due to a 19th century Irish guy, who had some time on his hands
and wrote a novel
because it seems that he loved impaling people.
The real Vlad Dracula, also known as Vlad Tepes, "The Impaler,"
takes the throne in Wallachia in 1456
by killing his predecessor in a duel
and beheading another rival after forcing him to dig his own grave.
Vlad is extremely bloodthirsty and cruel, even in medieval standards.
He grew up in a very war-like society.
So having grown up under these really, uh, it's…
really tenuous circumstances, he developed this very dark personality.
In the midst of a bitter power struggle
with Wallachia's ruling class and kingmakers, the boyars,
Dracula hosts an Easter banquet
to settle matters with his political rivals once and for all.
My esteemed countrymen,
my wife, Anastasia, and I are honored to celebrate Easter with you.
Just as Christ was resurrected,
so too have the fortunes of the House of Drăculeşti
been resurrected,
bringing with them a prosperous and independent Wallachia.
A new day is upon us.
We have the Hungarians' respect.
And we will no longer pay the sultan's tax.
Prince, we must be wise.
Much of our trade is with the Ottomans,
and we enjoy the protection of the sultan's army.
This is a celebration.
-There will be time for politics.
Later.
To my husband, Prince Vlad.
Long live Prince Vlad! Long live Prince Vlad!
-To God…
…destiny…
my lovely wife,
and, of course, you.
You scheming, backstabbing swine.
You are the real enemy of Wallachia.
Did you think I would forget how you betrayed my father and brother?
How you conspired with my foes, growing fat and rich!
Dimitrie, make sure this lesson sticks with our guests.
Yes.
Each of the boyars and their wives are taken outside.
They are impaled.
Unfortunately, we know a little too much about the mechanics of impalement.
It's not pleasant.
Someone help me. I'll give you my rings. Please!
It's a horrific method of execution.
You take a stake that's not very sharp and you push it up the anus of the victim.
No! No! No!
And then you use a mallet,
push it all the way up until it comes out of the shoulder.
And if you get a master executioner,
he will avoid most of the vital organs,
and then you're gonna fix it in the ground, and let the person die.
The master of this was…
…Vlad the Impaler.
To be fair to him, with the Easter Massacre,
there is evidence of a conspiracy that they're going to depose him.
He had seen all these rivalries and all these plots
that were meant to kill the rightful ruler and impose somebody else.
Vlad's father is killed by the boyars.
His older brother, Mircea, is tortured and then buried alive by the boyars.
I don't think he was a madman.
It's just politics.
This is the time really
when Vlad starts to get his reputation as "Vlad the Impaler,"
and it's one of those names that does what it says on the tin.
So this is part of his identity as a ruler,
as well as a technique for maintaining control.
If he can show that despite his size,
he's the meanest kid on the block,
even though there's bigger boys next door, they're not going to pick on him.
Let this be a warning to all of our enemies.
I'll bend my knee for no one.
The rotting bodies lining the road to Târgovişte
and growing rumors of Vlad's betrayal
sends a defiant and highly personal message to Mehmed II.
Dracula's loyalty to the man he grew up with is waning.
Adding further intrigue to the hostilities brewing between Mehmed and Vlad
is Dracula's younger brother, Radu.
He, too, was raised in the Ottoman court,
but still remains part of the sultan's inner circle.
I've received troubling news from my Italian spy.
The Florentine had much to say.
Your brother openly brags to the Pope that he knows how to defeat me in battle.
There's even talk of him joining a Hungarian-backed Crusade against us.
Like your father.
Vlad is not my father.
No, he's more dangerous.
Life would be much easier if you ruled Wallachia instead of Vlad.
He's unpredictable.
-And you, dear Radu, you are… -Predictable.
Vlad has always been a braggart,
but it's only words.
Perhaps.
Has he written you?
Not for a while.
There are some in Europe who might see my patience with him
as weakness and become emboldened.
That cannot happen.
Vlad has forgotten his place,
and I will not allow him to get in the way of my plans in the West.
Vlad swore an oath to you, Mehmed.
He is only seeking attention.
And now he has it.
He only sits on that throne today because of my protection.
Free to run his country as he chooses because of me.
Yet, refuses to come to Istanbul and pay his yearly homage and tribute?
-He's proud. -While he holds court
with our enemies in Hungary.
I've already sent the messengers…
to summon him to Istanbul to prove to me he is still an ally and friend.
I expect him to come at once.
And if he refuses?
That would be unwise.
You wouldn't want to be little brother to Vlad.
And you wouldn't want to be stuck between Mehmed II and Vlad Dracula.
Eh, so, he… he also found himself not in a very nice position.
Radu is known by this nickname as "Radu the Fair" or "Radu the Handsome,"
but he's also someone clearly who has a canny political mind.
He's a bit of a culture vulture,
and he likes the Ottoman way of doing things,
but Radu maintains his Wallachian-ness.
It must have been difficult to be trapped between these two big personalities.
My dearest brother, as you have ignored my last three letters,
I'm writing to you once again
in the hope that you will honor the promise you made to me years ago
and return to your true home
in Wallachia.
The hour is rapidly approaching when we must take up arms
against those that have had their boot on our throat for far too long.
Family is the dearest gift we possess.
Loyalty is everything.
Stand ready.
-With great affection…
…your brother, Vlad.
The seeds of Vlad Dracula's betrayal
were sown 20 years earlier
when his own father, Vlad II, was called before Mehmed's father,
Sultan Murad II, amidst rumors that he'd joined the Hungarians
and taken up arms against the Ottomans.
Sultan, I'm sorry to interrupt your hunt,
but when I received your summons, I made all haste to reach you.
You have been a most loyal friend and ally to me all these years.
I wish I could say the same of you,
Vlad Dracul.
There are some rumors of my alliance with the Hungarians
in the coming crusade against you,
but I can assure you they're only that, rumors.
The Hungarians are snakes and not to be trusted.
If I go to war against you,
take solace that I will kill you honorably.
Face-to-face.
Not with a knife in the back.
Sultan, you must believe me.
What guarantee do I have that you won't return home
with your tail between your legs,
only to join the infidels and take up arms against me?
As proof of my undying loyalty,
I give you my most valued possessions,
my sons, Vlad, and my youngest, Radu.
Father, how can you do this?
Silence, boy!
Prince Vlad, Prince Radu.
As sultan,
I accept your care-taking as my prisoners.
From this moment forward, your loyalty will forever be to me,
and one day, to my son, Mehmed.
Should your father betray his oath,
you will be executed.
Thank you, Sultan.
This is royal hostage taking.
These are two young boys taken from their family homes,
cut of all familial ties and correspondence,
and now having to potentially worry about this foreign court strangling you
if your father does anything wrong.
They were pawns within a wider game.
One day, I will return for you.
It is a terrible game, you know.
It's full of traumatizing events. It's full of betrayals,
and I think Vlad is a prime example
what kind of a toll that life could take on a human psychology.
Two decades later, Mehmed, like his father, Murad II,
finds himself facing a potential rebellion from the House of Drăculeşti.
He sends emissaries to the Wallachian capital
to demand that Vlad pay his debt to the sultan.
As a vassal state, Vlad had to be loyal to the Ottomans.
He had to take his army to fight alongside the Ottoman army,
wherever this was needed.
And of course, the most important part, to pay his tribute every year.
This was the thing that kept you in the house of peace.
This is what a gold coin would look like
at the end of the 15th century.
Very small, but pure gold pretty much,
and Vlad's expected to pay 2,000 of these every year,
but he clearly hasn't
because Mehmed, um, sends some ambassadors to demand
10,000 gold coins of payment,
which would be five years' worth of back payment,
so that shows us that pretty much since he's established himself as a ruler
in Wallachia,
Vlad's not been doing his homage to the Ottoman sultan.
The fact that he refuses to do that is what causes his problems with Mehmed.
Welcome to Târgovişte.
I trust your journey was not too long, Pashas.
-Thank you, Prince Vlad.
Mehmed II, Conqueror, Ruler of Two Lands, Ruler of Two Seas,
Caesar of Rome, and Sultan of Sultans, sends his greetings.
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
I'm sure the Sultan of Sultans
didn't send you all this way just to bring me Turkish delight.
-Prince Vlad, the sultan requests--
I will save you the trouble.
Mehmed wants me to come to the capital,
pay what he thinks I owe him, and bend the knee.
A show of loyalty.
But loyalty works both ways.
Does it not?
Lately, there have been rumors about your allegiance.
You dare question the prince's loyalty.
Easy.
My kingdom's fortune has been spent
defending the sultan's borders against the Hungarians and others
who are wary of his adventures.
Wallachia's coffers are empty.
But you have sworn an oath to pay tribute.
This was made very clear when our sultan allowed you to take your throne.
"Allowed me"?
"Allowed me."
The sultan has been very lenient because of your longstanding friendship.
We have friendships in Europe as well.
Leaders who say it is high time that I have a seat at the table.
They treat me with respect.
You speak of homage,
yet I noticed that none of you had the courtesy to remove your hats
when you're entering my court.
Prince, you spent years in our court.
You know that Ottoman culture forbids us from removing our hats in public.
Mm-hmm.
But you're in my court now.
It seems we're at an impasse…
but I have a solution.
Mehmed can find a new ally…
and you'll never have to remove your hats again.
You don't shoot the messenger in the Mongolian and Turkish tradition.
These ambassadors are the symbol of Mehmed.
To mistreat an Ottoman ambassador is to mistreat Mehmed himself.
So, this is sending as big a message to Mehmed as Vlad possibly could.
The message was clear. He was no longer in the house of peace.
He was crossing to the house of war.
Does he think I will ignore this?
You did ignore him for years,
allowing his tribute to go unpaid.
And now that he has the backing of the Hungarians and the Pope,
he doesn't fear you.
I treated him as a brother when his own father abandoned him.
Mehmed, forget that boy who showed up on our doorstep all those years ago.
He no longer exists.
Will staring holes in that map ease whatever troubles you?
Gulbahar Hatun is Mehmed's consort
and the mother of his son, Prince Bayezid II.
A new campaign?
I'm sending your father on a mission to Wallachia.
To see Prince Vlad?
It's true then.
Vlad has sided with the Hungarians.
Hamza Bey will bring Vlad back so that he can be punished.
Can't you send someone else?
Your father is the fiercest warrior I've ever known.
He also knows Vlad better than anyone in my court, even Radu.
I know what happened to the emissaries.
Gulbahar, Hamza Bey will be back in time for Bayezid's birthday.
I promise.
The Ottomans decide that the best way to deal with this situation
is to snatch Vlad and bring him back forcibly to Istanbul to answer to Mehmed.
So, a plot is hatched that would involve two key figures from the Ottoman court.
The first is Greek guy, originally called "Thomas,"
who's baby face of the routine.
He's a bureaucrat. He's non-threatening.
So, he's gonna be the one who's gonna go into Vlad's court
and persuade him of the benefits of coming to speak to Mehmed, and to lure him out
into the Wallachian countryside.
Meanwhile, the second part of the plan is going to be taken care of by Hamza.
He's been a comrade-in-arms of Mehmed's,
all the way back to the time of the conquest of Constantinople.
Hello, Hamza Bey,
my old friend.
An unexpected surprise.
In some of the sources,
it's certainly stated that capture of Vlad Dracula was the intent.
Whilst maybe capture would have been an enjoyment,
I think dead or alive would have been
perfectly acceptable to the sultan at this point.
Hamza Bey, Prince, we are all old friends here.
I'm certain this misunderstanding with the sultan
can be easily resolved, ha?
-"Misunderstanding"? -Yeah.
There is no misunderstanding.
Now we understand each other.
Teacher.
The fact that in 1461, Mehmet had proposed
the meeting in Giurgiu through Thomas Katabolinos,
a writer at the Court,
and through Hamza, the falcon bearer,
shows that both the Ottoman side and the Wallachian side
were no longer willing, in fact, to reach peace, but to play.
Vlad has his own network of spies,
so Vlad has set up his counter-trap to the original trap,
leaving him now with some valuable captives,
particularly in the form of Mehmed's comrade, Hamza.
What was that you told me when I was a boy?
Know your enemy as you know yourself.
You are a fool.
Mehmed will come after you.
And I'll be waiting for him.
But what shall we do about you?
Traitor.
Add this to our collection.
Bring these two with us.
Kill the rest!
Vlad, at this point, is one step ahead of the game.
After ambushing Hamza Bey and Thomas Katabolinos,
Vlad launches a 500-mile raid into Ottoman-held Bulgaria,
killing thousands of men, women, and children.
"Fatih Sultan Mehmed, I was made aware
that you've been seeking an audience with me."
"Unfortunately, I must decline."
"From this day forward, know me as your enemy."
"You are a coward, hiding behind your army
and your walls, like Constantine before you."
"If you want to take Europe, you must defeat me."
"And we both know that will be the end of you."
Vlad said very clearly,
"By such a political gesture,
declare that all bridges between us are broken,
and I am waiting for you on my ground."
He sent Hamza Bey's prayer beads.
Vlad will die for this.
-He is baiting you. -No, he is threatening me.
Sultan,
let me lead your army into Wallachia
and rid this arrogant fool of his head.
I should lead the sultan's army…
-…to restore my family's honor.
Prince Radu, you have never led an army,
and I worry that when it comes down to it,
blood may be thicker than water.
-Meaning? -Meaning there's a streak of betrayal
through your family's dealings with the sultan.
Enough!
I will lead my army.
This is between me and Vlad.
I will go to Wallachia,
and before I kill him, he will see me take the one thing he values above all else,
his beloved capital, Târgovişte.
My Sultan, your campaign in Corinth is just underway.
Send Mahmud Pasha to Wallachia in your stead.
-Mahmud Pasha. -Sultan.
-Prince Radu. -Sultan.
Both of you will ride by my side.
And when I take Vlad's head, Radu, you will take the throne in Wallachia.
Mother Mara, I need you to depart for Buda at once.
The Hungarians respect you. I need to know their role in all of this.
Both men know the war was coming,
but I think at this point, Mehmed begins to see two things.
One, that Wallachia is going to be a very tough nut to crack.
It favors the defender, the terrain.
He knows that he's got, uh,
a worthy adversary on the battlefield in Vlad Dracula,
but there's also a huge element of insult
about what has occurred leading up to this war.
Mehmed assembles a massive army,
nearly the size of the one that conquered Constantinople.
His blood feud with Vlad Dracula has passed the point of no return.
Meanwhile, in Hungary,
the Impaler Lord seeks out the one army in Europe
that can rival the Ottomans on the battlefield.
-Are those…? -Yes, King Matthias.
The noses and ears of every Turk and Bulgarian I killed
when I crossed the Danube,
excluding those who were burned alive in their homes.
Yeah.
23,844.
News of your successful campaign
against the Ottomans is already known in Europe.
Though, not in such vivid detail.
Hmm.
The Pope himself has said,
"There is a great need for a man of your talents in the coming Crusade."
"Someone who knows how to fight Mehmed."
Have faith that I will kill the sultan.
But, King Matthias,
Mehmed's rage knows no bounds.
In the spring, he will come with evil intentions and all his power.
But once you and your mighty army
join forces with me…
the Great Turk's defeat is certain.
All in due time.
We shall send an envoy in the coming weeks with news of our plans.
Vlad says, very clearly,
"This is what we've done already to the Ottomans."
"I'm absolutely your man in the field."
And by the way,
here's two sacks of their noses and ears and heads for you to enjoy."
Matthias Corvinus is using Vlad Dracula for what he can get out of him.
The Hungarians treat Vlad like the Ottomans treat Vlad,
that he's part of a wider game of politics,
and they'll use him as long as he's useful,
and when he's no longer useful, then they'll leave him out to dry.
Father, take me with you.
You'll join me on campaign soon enough.
But I've been training with the Janissaries.
My sword is sharp.
Your sword might be sharp, Bayezid, but you are not ready.
You must study strategy and tactics. Alexander and Caesar.
Bayezid, I must speak to your father now.
Is my father dead?
We believe he's being held hostage by Vlad.
He's a monster.
How did you ever call him brother?
I promise to return with Hamza Bey.
When you find Vlad, make him suffer.
On April 26, 1462, Mehmed sets off for Wallachia,
where the fate of one Ottoman hostage has already been decided.
-Don't worry, Katabolinos Pasha.
Your sultan will be here soon enough to save you.
And Vlad Dracula awaits.