Vlad the Impaler: When Psychological Warfare Became an Art Form

Vlad III of Wallachia earned his nickname "the Impaler" through sheer dedication to one specific form of execution. Between 1456 and 1462, he impaled tens of thousands of people on wooden stakes - Ottomans, criminals, merchants, nobles, and entire villages. But his most infamous act came in 1462 when a massive Ottoman army marched on his capital and encountered a forest of 20,000 impaled corpses stretching for miles. The sight and smell were so horrifying that Sultan Mehmed II - the conqueror of Constantinople - turned his army around and retreated.

Impalement wasn't quick. Vlad's executioners were experts who could keep victims alive on stakes for hours or even days. The stake would be carefully inserted to avoid vital organs, then planted vertically so  ...