Vlad the Impaler: Facts about the Cruel Dictator we Know as Dracula

Not too many people realize that the story of Dracula was based on a really sadistic ruler in Romania. Vlad the Impaler, or Vlad the Third, was a merciless despot who tried to make an example out of his opponents by impaling them and displaying them in public. He also enjoyed bathing in dead people's blood and did some other gross, inhumane things. He was the terror of Eastern Europe for many years.

What made this tyrant so effective at warfare, so vicious in his raids, and so brutal when he...