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Vlad Dracula

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  • Member since
    April 2006
  • From: Romania
Posted by Panzer_Grenadire on Thursday, January 31, 2008 3:28 PM
I've just done it...Laugh [(-D]
  • Member since
    January 2007
Posted by the doog on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 2:06 PM

An "enduro Dracula tour"?!?!

SIGN ME UP, Cristian! Tongue [:P] LOL! Laugh [(-D]

  • Member since
    April 2006
  • From: Romania
Posted by Panzer_Grenadire on Monday, January 28, 2008 5:53 PM

ajlafleche,

Thanks a lot , I am more than happy both because you provided me the framework for posting something related to my country and because also thanks to you, I could see a major character in our history excellent made by an American, it was a real delight for me...Smile [:)] I think he is one of the best Romainians, even after 500 hundred years after his death, he still continues to serve his country ...Wink [;)]

You did Vald Tepes very good, he really looks like the original painting, so once again, congratulations.

I think that it is a pitty for not learning history in schools, in my country we learn something more I think.

I also know many cases when the foreigners says that Budapest is the capital of Romania, even a high level American official said that while visiting Bucharest... It is quite an insult for  us, in the past Hungary was our main enemy (something like Germany with France and Greece with Turkey) and they still have territories belonging to Romania. Nevermind, at present we are in the same country, EU....Big Smile [:D] In addition, Hungary has never conquered Bucharest, but the Romanian army entered in Budapest for three times....but as always, we retreat...

Thank you again and I will be happy if the short overview helps somebody to find out the other side of "Dracula" and several things about Romania..

 Doog,

Thank you very much for your message, and I previously told you, if you decide to visit Romania, I will be more than happy to meet you and who knows, maybe we will ride in a Dracula tour. Almost all the interesting parts are in the mountains or close to Bucharest (Snagov monastery where it is the rumorur that he was burried).

Mountains you know what mean, a lot of paths perfect for enduro, another reason for coming to visit it....A Dracula tour by motorcycle...

Regarding your question about the name "Mohammed"/"Mahmet", yes you were right, it is the same person. Romanians called him "Mohammed" and I used by refelex the Romanian version of the name of the conquerer of Constantinopole.

In fact, I think that the Turks calls him "Mehmet", a lot of verions for the name of a person....It is a normal and facinating thing the variations of the same name in different languages...

  • Member since
    January 2007
Posted by the doog on Monday, January 28, 2008 10:50 AM

Cristiam (panzer grenadier) thatis a fascinating story and history about Vlad tepes that you have posted there!

I've read two different books about him, and I would love to visit Romania one day and to take the "Dracula" tour, to see the places of this great man.

I know he was mythologized for his cruelty, but I know that those times were hard, and a ruler had to rule somewhat with fear and intimidation to survive and set an example.

One thing though--wasn't Mahmet II the Conquerer of Istanbul? Or is your use of "Mohammed" a version of "Mahmet"? 

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Massachusetts
Posted by ajlafleche on Monday, January 28, 2008 10:29 AM
 DURR wrote:

great as always AL

  but i noticed one thing

the face kinda looks a bit like YOU in your younger long hair daysLaugh [(-D]   Laugh [(-D]   Laugh [(-D]

Laugh [(-D]

On the internet, everybody's a jokester! Laugh [(-D]

Thanks, Joe.

Remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

  • Member since
    July 2013
Posted by DURR on Monday, January 28, 2008 8:20 AM

great as always AL

  but i noticed one thing

the face kinda looks a bit like YOU in your younger long hair daysLaugh [(-D]   Laugh [(-D]   Laugh [(-D]

Laugh [(-D]

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Massachusetts
Posted by ajlafleche on Monday, January 28, 2008 7:28 AM

Panzer-Grenadire, don't apologize. You've given an excellent, if brief, overview of this character and your country's history. I'm sure most people who read this have learned more than a little. We in the United States are taught a little about our own history, less about Western Europe, and almost nothing about the rest of the world. There's a clip floating around the internet of a woman on an American game show asked of what country is Budapest capital. She blubbers on asking if Europe is a country, they speak Frenche there, don't they? Is France a country? WHen told Hungary is the answer, she is dumfounded and says she's never even heard of Hungary, wheich she pronounces Hong-gree, but she'd heard of Turkey.

Oh, and you have very excellent command of the English language.

Remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

  • Member since
    April 2006
  • From: Romania
Posted by Panzer_Grenadire on Monday, January 28, 2008 3:44 AM

Doog, you are absolutely right, Vlad Tepes (The Empiler) is a national hero in my country (Romania). He was king (voievod) in Vallachia (in that period the actual Romania was split in three: Vallachia, Moldova and Transylvania).
He spent his childhood at Constantinopole (Istambul) as a guarantee that his father will not fight against Turks.

There he learnt a lot of things regarding how the turks fight, their tactics etc. He also "borrow" from the turks the empile (turks were punishing peole with this).

After he became king hes started to fight agains turks (Vallachia was paying tribute to Turks). He beated them several times and his most famous victory is against an army led by Mohamed II (conquerer of Constantinopole, the most important Sultan).

The battle close to Targoviste (capital of Vallachia in that period) is known as "The Night Attack" a very interesting and fascinating one. Vlad (who knew perfect Turkish) dressed himself and other 7,000 soldiers in Turks and attacked during the night the Turks camp. The Turks had 200,000 soldiers, but he knew that Turks do not fight during the night. He created a lot of panic there giving such orders to the Turks that he put them to fight each other. His target was Mohamed II, he reached his tent, but the Sultan had the great luck of not sleeping in his tent in that night. Lucky him and bad luck for Europe, the Turks developing a lot under the ruling of Mahomed, becoming the most important power and starting to attack and other European countries in the next years.

This "Night Attack" was a real huge commando mission, having all the features of such a mission, just that it was carried out in the fifteen century.   

Vlad Tepes retreated in Hungary for finding support. He was betrayed and he was imprisoned by Matei Crvin (Huniade, the most important king of Hungary, also of Romanian Origin-his father was Iancu of Huniade, king of Trasnylvania and realtive with Vlad Tepes father).

He was imprisoned for 15 years and after that he was released and became king of Vallahia again. Matei Corvin released him to go to fight against Turks, Hungary was in real danger, and because of Matei stupidity and vanity (Vlad Tpes victories agaisnt Turks were highly appreciated by the foreign powers) Hungary became in less than 100 years a Turkish province after they lost the battle at Mochacy.

The stories about Vlad cruelty were illustrated inside a book, Slavone Stories which appeared as a justification of his unfair inprisonment. most of them are exagerations and stupidities...fearturing Tepes eating in front of choped humans, etc. This book inspired the character "Dracula", as well as the Bran castle (Vlad Tepes spent just one night in this castle, it is not the one built by him). He built a castle on the top of a mountain, but the castle is just a ruin now. Its name is Poienari. It is a rumour that he built that castle only with treator lords, he put them to built it...

In fact, all other countries that fought with turks in that period lost the battles. The Western countries did not know to fight with Turks, they had knights with heavy armours and other strategies. Turks were very light and they could move and destroy quickly the knights, so they almost all the time won. Their only problem were the Romanian countries, our soldiers were also light and we knew very good how the Turks fought, that's why we succeded to beat them so many times and with so little soldiers. In additio, our kings were amaising strategs and if look on statistics, you will see that at each battle the percent was 1 Romanian soldier to 10 or more Turkish soldier. In spite of this, they succeded to beat them in the most important moments of development of the Turkish Empire.

For this reason, the Romanian countries were the only countries in the area that were never Turkish provinces. Grece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Albania were Turkish provinces.

So, we defend a lot the Western countries, but we have never been appreciated for this...we did not have time to build impressive palaces and other buildings, because we had a war each year...Except Turks, in that period we were also attacked by Poland and Hungary, other important powers that want our countries...latter came the Habsburg Empire and Russians...

Sorry about this short intro in the Romanian history, but this very nice Vlad Tepes (Dracula) figure gave me a good opportunity to show off a little with our history full of battles....

By the way, Tepes punished with the empile the thieves, enemies and treators. He was very hated by a large part of the lords (boieri), many of them rather making money under the Turks than fighting against them.  He was betrayed by them and during his second rule, he was killed by them.

And the last thing, my son's name is Vlad, inspired by this great king....

 

  • Member since
    November 2006
  • From: Massachusetts
Posted by jadgpanther302 on Sunday, January 27, 2008 7:23 PM
creepy... apart from his oddities in life it is a well done figure
  • Member since
    January 2007
Posted by the doog on Thursday, January 24, 2008 4:50 PM
Very cool! A fascinating subject; one of my interests! I've done a lot of reading and research on the real historical Vlad Tepes--it's a fascinating story! He's apparently still a national hero in Romania.
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: A Spartan in the Wolverine State
Posted by rjkplasticmod on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 6:35 PM

Excellent painting as usual.  I do find some faults with the sculpt, but those are not your fault.  Thanks for sharing.

Regards,  Rick

RICK At My Age, I've Seen It All, Done It All, But I Don't Remember It All...
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Massachusetts
Vlad Dracula
Posted by ajlafleche on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 1:39 PM

Born in 1431, Vlad Dracula (son of Dracul, the dragon) was prince of Wallachia from  1456 to 1462.  During his reign, he developed a reputation for extreme cruelty, impaling his enemies and opponents and allowing them to die slowly and painfully. This resulted in his post mortem moniker of Vlad Tepes (the Impaler). Naturally,. Such a reputation would ingrain itself in local folklore and in 1897, Bram Stoker based his famous vampire on Dracula.

The figure is Empire Miniature's 54mm Vlad Tepes. He comes in 5 pieces, right hand/sword, left hand/spike, feather, base and head/torso/arms/legs as one piece. I painted him in a palette of red and purple to reflect his bloody nature. The stains on the spike are a mixture of Vallejo scar red and black to suggest old blood stains and not overwhelm with Hollywood reds.

Remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

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