»from now on thou shalt bear the name drakul«. with these words vlad II became count of the wallachia and was made a knight of the order of the dragon, »societas draconis«, in 1431. from now on it was his primary task to fight the turks in order to defend the christian world. the same year his son vlad III was born, who inherited his father’s mission and name in 1448. drakula means the son of drakul. vlad III got his surname tepes, the impaler, from his cruel habit of impaling his opponents in great numbers. there were more than 50.000 victims in the course of his military conflicts in defence of his principality on in the territory of what is now known as romania. his war methods were so successful they turned wallachia into a strong and well-organised state. he is still worshipped today by the romanian people as a national hero. the character of count vlad tepes inspired the irish writer bram stoker to write his story of the blood-sucking count of transsylvania. his novel »dracula« became the source of all drakula adaptations rendering the name drakula immortal.

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