Voivode Vlad II Dracul of Wallachia had four sons. With his first wife, he had Mircea II who ruled briefly, and Vlad Ţepeş (Dracula), who held the line on Ottoman hegemony and has a legendary reputation of ruthless brutality. With his second wife, he had Radu cel Frumos (the Handsome) who allied with the Turks to wrest control from Vlad Ţepeş, and Vlad Călugărul (Vlad the Monk), who ruled after Radu for a short time.
Radu and Vlad fought on different sides during The Night Attack in 1462, a battle which effectively ended Mehmed II's ambitions to annex Wallachia for the Ottoman Empire. On the run from Mehmed, Vlad unleashed guerilla raids, sent infected people into Ottoman camps to spread disease, and attacked and annihilated towns along the way, butchering and impaling Bulgars and Turks. Vlad fled to Transylvania. Mehmed retreated in horror.
As prince of Wallachia, Radu upped the tribute Wallachia paid to Mehmed II and things went along for a while. Vlad Ţepeş was imprisoned in Hungary. He returned to Wallachia when Radu died and the throne was passed on to Basarab, an Ottoman governor. Ţepeş chased off Basarab, but the Ottoman army came and straightened everything out, and sent the head of the man they called "Kazıklı Bey" back to Istanbul.
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