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“How could we fight with such a man?!”

[Sultan Mehmet II Fatih and Radu cel Frumos near Târgovişte, summer of 1462.]

“Oh! See what you brother is doing and tell me – what he is thinking of?
Were they my people? No! It were his people he threw into war that would have no victory! You know the mighty of Ottoman Empire, my Radu. You know there is no means to overcome it. Say, by what reason sent he his people on sure death?
Was it my land? No! It was his land that he burnt off and devastated and ravaged and he left it now! What should inhabitants of this poor country do when winter come? Where will they live? What will they eat?
Then tell me, Radu, what is your brother?
Take this land, Radu-bey. It’s yours by the right of your birth. Oh, my Radu, everything you touched is flowering and everyone is glad you look at. Take this land and turn it into blossoming garden.”

( the text entire is almost a fantasy of the author)

In 1461 Vlad refused to pay the due tribute to the Ottomans. In autumn of 1461 Turkish Sultan Mehmet II Fatih (the Conqueror) sent Yunus Bey, ambassador on his service, and Hamza Pasha, the war governor of Nicopolis, to invite Tepes for a diplomatic meeting at Giurgiu. They had the secret order to arrest him there and take to the Ottoman court. Vlad realized that this will be a trap, so he captivated Turkish messengers and their soldiers (about 2- 4 thousands men).
In summer of 1462 Sultan Mehmet himself led his troops into Walachia. Radu, the younger brother of Vlad Tepes (he had been a hostage at Turkish court, later converted into Islam and became a close friend of the Sultan), followed him.
To defend his land against the Ottomans, Vlad used scorched-earth policy and guerilla warfare. The Sultan’s army suffered from food shortage and from lightning strokes of Tepes’ detachments, small and mobile. When Mehmet had reached the capital Târgovişte he saw around the city thousands of turks had been impaled; among them was Yunus Bey, Hamza Pasha and all their troops. It is told by the chronicles that exactly in this moment the Sultan said: “How could we fight with such a man?!”
And he went back.

Vlad’s bloodbath near Târgovişte is nearly well-known. But there were another victims. To protect his land, in winter 1461/1462 he killed more than 23.000 people – the garrisons of the Turkish fortresses and muslim colonists – in the lower reaches of Danube. Such a deed wasn’t common, but it was clearly understandable. No one European condemned him for this. On the contrary, they pompously celebrated Vlad’s victories in 1462.
To me, it’s awful and this time I’m not on Vlad’s side.

The Sultan left in Walachia Vlad’s brother Radu. Turkish troops headed by him forced Tepes to escape from Walachia. Vlad went to Hungary to ask for help Matthias Corvinus, but he suddenly arrested him on charges of high treason.
After that, Radu took the throne. He was known as Radu cel Frumos (Rady the Handsome) and ruled Walachia eleven years (from 1462 to 1473).

Description
“How could we fight with such a man?!”

[Sultan Mehmet II Fatih and Radu cel Frumos near Târgovişte, summer of 1462.]

“Oh! See what you brother is doing and tell me – what he is thinking of?
Were they my people? No! It were his people he threw into war that would have no victory! You know the mighty of Ottoman Empire, my Radu. You know there is no means to overcome it. Say, by what reason sent he his people on sure death?
Was it my land? No! It was his land that he burnt off and devastated and ravaged and he left it now! What should inhabitants of this poor country do when winter come? Where will they live? What will they eat?
Then tell me, Radu, what is your brother?
Take this land, Radu-bey. It’s yours by the right of your birth. Oh, my Radu, everything you touched is flowering and everyone is glad you look at. Take this land and turn it into blossoming garden.”

( the text entire is almost a fantasy of the author)

In 1461 Vlad refused to pay the due tribute to the Ottomans. In autumn of 1461 Turkish Sultan Mehmet II Fatih (the Conqueror) sent Yunus Bey, ambassador on his service, and Hamza Pasha, the war governor of Nicopolis, to invite Tepes for a diplomatic meeting at Giurgiu. They had the secret order to arrest him there and take to the Ottoman court. Vlad realized that this will be a trap, so he captivated Turkish messengers and their soldiers (about 2- 4 thousands men).
In summer of 1462 Sultan Mehmet himself led his troops into Walachia. Radu, the younger brother of Vlad Tepes (he had been a hostage at Turkish court, later converted into Islam and became a close friend of the Sultan), followed him.
To defend his land against the Ottomans, Vlad used scorched-earth policy and guerilla warfare. The Sultan’s army suffered from food shortage and from lightning strokes of Tepes’ detachments, small and mobile. When Mehmet had reached the capital Târgovişte he saw around the city thousands of turks had been impaled; among them was Yunus Bey, Hamza Pasha and all their troops. It is told by the chronicles that exactly in this moment the Sultan said: “How could we fight with such a man?!”
And he went back.

Vlad’s bloodbath near Târgovişte is nearly well-known. But there were another victims. To protect his land, in winter 1461/1462 he killed more than 23.000 people – the garrisons of the Turkish fortresses and muslim colonists – in the lower reaches of Danube. Such a deed wasn’t common, but it was clearly understandable. No one European condemned him for this. On the contrary, they pompously celebrated Vlad’s victories in 1462.
To me, it’s awful and this time I’m not on Vlad’s side.

The Sultan left in Walachia Vlad’s brother Radu. Turkish troops headed by him forced Tepes to escape from Walachia. Vlad went to Hungary to ask for help Matthias Corvinus, but he suddenly arrested him on charges of high treason.
After that, Radu took the throne. He was known as Radu cel Frumos (Rady the Handsome) and ruled Walachia eleven years (from 1462 to 1473).