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QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> Speak Shenzhen -> 
Dracula attacks at night
    2018-12-20  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

James Baquet

Vampires are hot, a perennial attraction in books and films. But how many “Twilight” and “First Blood” fans know about the real prince behind the legend of Dracula, granddaddy of all literary vampires?

Vlad III Dracula, known as “Vlad the Impaler,” features in the struggles between the Christian kingdoms in what is now Romania and the Ottoman Empire of the Muslim Turks.

Vlad’s father, Vlad II Dracul, was so nicknamed because in 1431 he had joined the military Order of the Dragon (“Dracul” in Romanian), which had been founded in 1408. These knights had sworn to defend “the Cross” — Christian interests — against the Muslims.

Nevertheless, Vlad II subsequently acknowledged the leader of the Ottoman Turks, even assisting him in a 1438 campaign against Transylvania, where he was living at the time. But in 1441, he changed sides and joined a crusade against the Ottomans. Soon, however, he was ordered by the Ottoman Emperor to appear at Adrianople with his two sons, Vlad III and Radu (called “the Handsome”).

The father was released within a year, but the sons remained hostages in the Turkish court; Radu may have converted to Islam later. In 1462, Radu cooperated with the Turkish leader Mehmed II (called “the Conqueror”) to unseat and replace Vlad III, who, after his release (and the murder of his father and older half-brother), had become ruler of Wallachia.

As the Ottoman army marched on Wallachia, Vlad retreated to Transylvania. On the way, he destroyed any materials that the Ottomans might find useful. He also set up tree-sized stakes and impaled over 23,000 Turks. This “Forest of the Dead” earned him the nickname “Vlad the Impaler,” and his implacable brutality was part of Bram Stoker’s inspiration for the Count in his 1897 novel “Dracula.”

In one encounter of this war, Vlad III attacked his opponents at night, considered an especially dastardly way to do battle. His intention was to assassinate Mehmed II, but the “Night Attack at Targoviste” failed. This was a tactical victory for the Turks, who returned home with large amounts of booty, but they in turn failed to unseat Vlad, who continued to reign intermittently and died in battle in 1476.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. accepted, recognized

2. off and on

3. loot, spoils of war

4. unstoppable

5. forerunner, most notable

6. popular

7. in books and stories

8. remove from power

9. cruelty, savagery

10. constant, enduring

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