His real name was Vlad Dracula III, the Impaler. His father, Vlad Dracul II, joined the Order of the Dragon, which is Societas Draconistarum in Latin.

Dragon Devil

So, Dracul meant dragon. Now, it may mean the Devil. Dracula means Son of Dracul. The story of Vlad Dracula inspired Bram Stoker to create the fictional vampire, Count Dracula, in 1897. It is said that the real Vlad Dracula killed a bunch of Muslims.

Family Tree

Dracula's father - Vlad Tepes II - joined the Order of the Dragons and was renamed Vlad Dracul. I saw this picture on Gab about how Draclua killed Muslims. Dracula's father was a Romanian warlord, born before 1395, according to Wikipedia, as a bastard son like Jon Snow in Game of Thrones who ended up being related to the dragon kings. Dracula's father, Dracul II, was the bastard son of The Elder - Mircea I of Wallachia - who some considered to be the most important Wallachian ruler during the middle ages and one of the great rulers of his time (Mircea The Great). Mircea was the son of Radu I who was the son of Nick who was the son of Basarab I (Voivode) who helped in a battle in 1330 A.D. which ended the Hungarian suzerainty which then turned Wallachia (not Appalachia) into a independent principality. That reminds me that Hà Tiên was a principality in Vietnam in the 1800's. Basarab was the son of Thocomerius or Tihomir. Interesting book on Dracula's bloodline. Descendants of Dracula may be all dead now thanks to fratricide. Family tree on Wikipedia.

History Context

The Crusades had failed. The holy lands were firmly in control of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. Defeated, European knights vowed to one day return and free Jerusalem from the Islamic Turks and the Order of the Dragon was born. To be a knight of this Order, you had to proclaim a solemn vow to continue to fight against the enemies of Christianity, in particular the Ottoman Empire. But betrayal awaited this determined group of knights. Dracula's father, Vlad II, a Romanian war lord joined the Order of the Dragon and was re-named Vlad Dracul, or Vlad the Dragon. The Holy Roman Emperor in turn recognized Vlad as the rightful leader of the Romanian region of Wallachia which by 1436 was firmly under his control.

Betrayal

But with the Ottoman Empire at his doorstep, Vlad chose to betray his Order and the Holy Roman Empire by assisting the Islamic forces in their invasion of neighboring Transylvania. In response, Vlad was stripped of his right to Wallachia. But the ensuing melee provided the Ottoman sultan with an opportunity. The Ottomans conquered Wallachia, Vlad Dracul was reinstated as ruler and Wallachia became a vassal to the Turks. In essence Vlad controlled a buffer zone between the Ottomans and the Holy Roman Empire and he was beholden to the Ottoman sultan to remain in power. To ensure Vlad’s shaky loyalty, the sultan took as a hostage his teenage son and heir, Vlad Dracula. Later on, they killed his family. He came back for revenge, years later. He learned a lot about Islam and many things. That helped him seek revenge. After that, Dracula plundered villages. He impaled people on stakes. That is why he was known as Vlad the Impaler. He was accused of drinking human blood. By 1462, Dracula vanished all of his opponents.

Not Muslim Tax

But the Ottoman Empire had this non-Muslim tax. If you are not a Muslim, give me money kind of thing. The Ottoman Empire was around for about 600 years. Later on, they wanted Dracula to pay homage to the sultan. Cue the Star Wars alien, "It's a trap." So, Dracula and his army ended up attacking an Ottoman territory, Bulgaria, and they impaled tens of thousands of people.

Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back

Then the Empire strikes back, like the Emperor did in Star Wars. They marched on Wallachia. Dracula embraced guerrilla warfare, burnt down his own villages so that the invading armies had nothing to eat; he also unleashed germs, diseases, leprosy, the bubonic plague, etc.

Not Christopher Columbus

In 1492, that same year that Chris guy sailed the ocean blue, Dracula disguised himself as a Turk and was able to circulate through the tent city of the invading army that was coming towards his capital. Dracula found out where the Sultan's tent was. Dracula left and came back with thousands of his men at night.

Game of Thrones

It was a scene like that seen in Game of Thrones season 8, episode 3, where it was mostly dark and black, full of chaos and carnage. But they accidentally couldn't remember exactly where the Sultan's tent was and the Sultan, Mehmed, got away. Dracula must have went to the wrong tent.

Darkness

So, Dracula had to disappear into the darkness. Dracula went to the king of Hungary for help but he ended up throwing him in jail for 13 years. After that, Dracula became the ruler of Walachia again. Well, his brother, Radu, converted to Islam and was going to be the new leader. I guess that didn't happen. Not long after Dracula was back as the ruler of his land, the Ottoman Empire returned and Dracula was either killed by them or possibly by his own people.