The Night Attack The Night Attack of Târgovişte ( ) was a battle fought between forces of Vlad III the Impaler of Wallachia and Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire on Thursday , June 17 , 1462 . The conflict initially started with Vlad ' s refusal to pay the jizya ( tax on non - Muslims ) to the Sultan and intensified when Vlad Ţepeş invaded Bulgaria and impaled over 23 , 000 Turks . Mehmed then raised a great army with the objective to conquer Wallachia and annex it to his empire . The two leaders fought a series of skirmishes , the most notable one being the Night Attack where Vlad Ţepeş attacked the Turkish camp in the night in an attempt to kill Mehmed . The assassination attempt failed and Mehmed marched to the Wallachian capital of Târgovişte , where he discovered another 20 , 000 impaled Turks . Horrified , the Sultan and his troops retreated . Background . After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 , Mehmed set his target on other campaigns . In Anatolia , the Greek Trebizond was still resisting the Ottomans , and to the East the White Sheep Turkomans of Uzun Hasan , together with other smaller states , threatened the Ottomans . In the West , Skanderbeg in Albania continued to trouble the Sultan , while Bosnia was sometimes reluctant in paying the Jizya ( tax on non - Muslims ) . Wallachia controlled her side of the Danube and Mehmed wanted to have control over the river , as naval attacks could be launched against his empire all the way from the Holy Roman Empire . On September 26 , 1459 , Pope Pius II called for a new crusade against the Ottomans and on January 14 , 1460 , at the Congress of Mantua , the Pope proclaimed the official crusade that was to last for three years . His plan , however , failed and the only European leader that showed enthusiasm for the crusade was Vlad Ţepeş , whom the Pope held in high regard . Because of a lack of enthusiasm shown by Europeans for the crusade , Mehmed took the opportunity to take an offensive stand . Later that same year ( 1460 ) , he captured the last independent Serbian city , Smederevo , and in 1461 , he convinced the Greek despot of Morea to give up his stronghold ; soon thereafter , its capital , Mistra , and Corinth followed suit and surrendered themselves without struggle . Vlad Ţepeş ' s only ally , Mihály Szilágyi , was captured in 1460 by the Turks while traversing Bulgaria . Szilágyi ' s men were tortured to death , while Szilágyi was killed by being sawed in half . Later that year , Mehmed sent envoys to Vlad to urge him to pay the delayed Jizya ( tax on non - Muslims ) . Vlad Ţepeş provoked Mehmed by having the envoys killed and in a letter dated September 10 , 1460 , addressed to the Transylvanian Saxons of Kronstadt ( today : Braşov ) , he warned them of Mehmed ' s invasion plans and asked for their support . Vlad Ţepeş had not paid the annual Jizya ( tax on non - Muslims ) of 10 , 000 ducats since 1459 . In addition to this , Mehmed asked him for 500 boys that were to be trained as janissaries . Vlad Ţepeş refused the demand , and the Turks crossed the Danube and started to do their own recruiting , to which Vlad reacted by capturing the Turks and impaling them . The conflict continued until 1461 , when Mehmed asked the Prince to come to Constantinople and negotiate with him . At the end of November 1461 , Vlad Ţepeş wrote to Mehmed that he could not afford to pay the Jizya ( tax on non - Muslims ) , as his war against the Saxons of Transylvania had emptied his resources , and that he could not leave Wallachia and risk having the Hungarian king take over his domains . He further promised to send the Sultan plenty of gold when he could afford to and that he would go to Constantinople if the Sultan would send him a pasha to rule over Wallachia in his absence . Meanwhile , the Sultan received intelligence reports that revealed Vlad ' s alliance with Hungarian king , Matthias Corvinus . He sent the bey of Nicopolis , Hamza Pasha , to stage a diplomatic meeting with Vlad at Giurgiu , but with orders to ambush him there ; and thereafter , take him to Constantinople . Vlad was forewarned about the ambush and planned to set an ambush of his own . Hamza brought with him 1 , 000 cavalry and when passing through a narrow pass north of Giurgiu , Vlad launched a surprise - attack . The Wallachians had the Turks surrounded and fired with their handgunners until the entire expedition - force was killed . Historians credit Vlad Ţepeş as one of the first European crusaders to use gunpowder in a " deadly artistic way . " In a letter to Corvinus , dated February 2 , 1462 , he wrote that Hamza Pasha was captured close to the former Wallachian fortress of Giurgiu . He then disguised himself as a Turk and advanced with his cavalry towards the fortress where he ordered the guards in Turkish to have the gates open . This they did and Vlad Ţepeş attacked and destroyed the fortress . In his next move , he went on a campaign and slaughtered enemy soldiers and population that might have sympathized with the Turks ; first in southern Wallachia , then , in Bulgaria by crossing the frozen Danube . While in Bulgaria , he divided his army into several smaller groups and covered " some 800 kilometers in two weeks , " as they killed over 23 , 000 Turks . In a letter to Corvinus , dated February 11 , 1462 , he stated : " I have killed peasants men and women , old and young , who lived at Oblucitza and Novoselo , where the Danube flows into the sea , up to Rahova , which is located near Chilia , from the lower Danube up to such places as Samovit and Ghighen . We killed 23 , 884 Turks without counting those whom we burned in homes or the Turks whose heads were cut by our soldiers . . . Thus , your highness , you must know that I have broken the peace with him ( Sultan Mehmet II ) . " The Christian Bulgarians were spared and many of them were settled in Wallachia . His precise numbers were counted as such : At Giugiu there were 6 , 414 victims ; at Eni Sala , 1 , 350 ; at Durostor 6 , 840 ; at Orsova , 343 ; at Hârsova , 840 ; at Marotin , 210 ; at Turtucaia , 630 ; at Turnu , Batin , and Novograd , 384 ; at Sistov , 410 ; at Nicopolis and Ghighen , 1 , 138 ; at Rahova , 1 , 460 . When hearing about the devastation , Mehmed — who was busy besieging a fortress in Corinth — sent his grand vizier , Mahmud , with an army of 18 , 000 to destroy the Wallachian port of Brăila . Vlad Ţepeş turned back and defeated the army , and according to the Italian chronicle de Lezze , only 8 , 000 Turks survived . Vlad Ţepeş ' s campaign was celebrated among the Saxon cities of Transylvania , the Italian states and the Pope . A Venetian envoy , upon hearing about the news at the court of Corvinus on March 4 , expressed great joy and said that the whole of Christianity should celebrate Vlad Ţepeş ' s successful campaign . An English pilgrim to the Holy Land , William of Wey , passing through the island of Rhodes while on his way home , wrote that " the military men of Rhodes , upon hearing of Vlad Ţepeş ' s campaign , had Te Deum sung in praise and honour of God who had granted such victories . . . The lord mayor of Rhodes convened his brother soldiers and the whole citizenry feasted on fruit and wine . " The Genoese from Caffa thanked Vlad Ţepeş , for his campaign had saved them from an attack of some 300 ships that the sultan planned to send against them . Many Turks were now frightened of Vlad and left the European side of their empire and moved into Anatolia . Mehmed , when hearing about the events , abandoned his siege at Corinth and decided to go against Vlad Ţepeş himself . Preparations for war . The Ottomans . Mehmed sent messengers in all directions to assemble an army , ' in which in numbers and armaments must have been equal to that which he had employed on the siege of Constantinople . ' On April 26 or May 17 , 1462 , the sultan moved with his army from Constantinople with the objective of conquering Wallachia and annexing the land to his empire . The Sultan himself wrote in a letter addressed to one of his grand viziers , that he took 150 , 000 men with him . The Greek historian Chalcondyles wrote of Mehmed ' s army as " the largest Turkish force that had been assembled since the conquest of Constantinople . " He estimated the force at 250 , 000 , while the Turkish historian Tursun Bey mentioned 300 , 000 . The same numbers were put by an anonymous Italian chronicle found in Verona , believed to have been written by a certain merchant named Cristoforo Schiappa . A letter of a Leonardo Tocco to Francesco I Sforza , duke of Milan , wrote that Mehmed had recruited 400 , 000 men from Rumelia and Anatolia , with 40 , 000 being constructers of bridges armed with axes . These numbers are deemed exaggerations . A more realistic number is the one given by Venetian envoy at Buda , Tommasi , who mentioned a regular force of 60 , 000 and some 30 , 000 irregulars . These consisted of the janissaries ( the elite troops ) ; pedestrian soldiers ; sipâhis ( the feudal cavalry ) ; saiales ( the sacrificial units composed of slaves who would win their freedom if they survived ) ; acings ( the archers ) ; silahdârs ( the custodians of the sultan ' s weapons who also protected the flanks ) ; azabs ( the pikemen ) ; beshlis ( who handled the firearms ) ; and the praetorian guard that served as the sultan ' s personal bodyguards . Vlad ' s half - brother , Radu the Handsome , who willingly served the sultan , commanded 4 , 000 horsemen . In addition to this , the Turks brought with them 120 cannon , engineers and workers that would build roads and bridges , priests of Islam ( ulema ) and muezzin , who called the troops to prayer , astrologers who consulted Mehmed and helped him make military decisions ; and women " reserved for the night pleasures of the men . " Chalcocondyles reported that the Danube shipowners were paid 300 , 000 gold pieces to transport the army . In addition to this , the Ottomans used their own fleet that consisted of 25 trireme s and 150 smaller vessels . The Wallachians . Vlad Ţepeş asked the Hungarian king for assistance — even offering to convert from Orthodoxy to Catholicism in order to gain support from Corvinus . He received no support despite promises made by Corvinus and instead called for a mobilization that included " not only men of military age , but also of women and of children from the age of twelve up ; and included Gypsy slave contingents . " Various sources mention the strength of his army to be between 22 , 000 and 30 , 900 , with the most popular accepted number set at 30 , 000 . The letter of Leonardo Tocco which put the numbers of the Turkish army at an exaggerated strength of 400 , 000 , exaggerated also the Wallachian strength which was estimated at 200 , 000 . The majority of the army consisted of peasants and shepherds , while the boyars on horseback — who were few in numbers — were armed with lances , swords , and daggers and wore chainmail as armour . Vlad ' s personal guard consisted of mercenaries from many countries and some Gypsies . Before battle , it is believed that Vlad told his men that " it would be better that those who think of death should not follow me " . Battle . The Turks first tried to disembark at Vidin , but were pushed back by arrows . On June 4 , a contingent of janissaries landed in the night , at Turnu Severin , where 300 of them died from Wallachian attacks . The Serbian - born janissary , Constantin of Ostrovitza , remarked about their encounter with Vlad Ţepeş : " When night began to fall , we climbed into our boats and floated down the Danube and crossed over to the other side several miles below the place where Vlad ' s army was stationed . There we dug ourselves trenches , so that cavalry could not harm us . After that we crossed back over to the other side and transported other janissaries over the Danube , and when the entire infantry had crossed over , then we prepared and set out gradually against Vlad ' s army , together with the artillery and other equipment that we had brought with us . Having halted , we set up the cannon , but not in time to stop three hundred janissaries from being killed . . . Seeing that our side was greatly weakening , we defended ourselves with the 120 guns which we had brought over and fired so often that we repelled the prince ' s army and greatly strengthened our position . . . Vlad , seeing that he could not prevent the crossing , withdrew . After that the emperor crossed the Danube with his entire army and gave us 30 , 000 coins to be distributed among us . " The Ottoman army managed to advance as Vlad Ţepeş instituted a policy of scorched earth , poisoned the waters , and also created marshes by diverting the waters of small rivers . Traps were created by the digging of pits , and then covered with timber and leaves . The population and animals were evacuated to the mountains and as Mehmed advanced for seven days , his army suffered from fatigue as " he found no man , nor any significant animal , and nothing to eat or drink . " Vlad adopted guerrilla tactics as his cavalry made several hit - and - run attacks . He would also send ill people suffering from lethal diseases , such as leprosy , tuberculosis , syphilis — and in more significant numbers — those who suffered from the bubonic plague , to intermix with the Turks and infect them . The bubonic plague managed to spread in the Ottoman army . The Ottoman fleet launched a few minor attacks on Brăila and Chilia , but without being able to do much damage , as Vlad Ţepeş had destroyed most of the ports in Bulgaria . Chalcondyles writes that the Sultan managed to capture a Wallachian soldier and at first tried to bribe him for information ; when that didn ' t work , he threatened him with torture , to no avail . Mehmed was said to have commended the soldier by saying , " if your master had many soldiers like yourself , in a short time he could conquer the world ! " The Turks continued with their advance towards Târgovişte , after failing to capture the fortress of Bucharest and the fortified island of Snagov . On June 17 , when the Turks camped south of the capital , Vlad Ţepeş launched his night attack with 24 , 000 , or possibly with only 7 , 000 to 10 , 000 horsemen . According to Chalcondyles , before making his attack , Vlad went freely into the Turkish camp disguised as a Turk , and wandered around to find the location of the Sultan ' s tent and learn about his organization . The anonymous Italian chronicle of Verona mentions that Mehmed had disallowed his soldiers to exit their tents during the night , as to not cause panic in case of an attack . The chronicle goes on explaining that Vlad Ţepeş , being aware of Mehmed ' s strategy , had decided for an attack in the night , knowing how to proceed in his offensive when the enemy soldiers would have to remain in their tents . The skirmish would last from " three hours after sunset until four the next morning " and would cause great confusion in the Ottoman camp . The Wallachians made noise from their buglers and illuminated the battle with their torches ; and in that night , they launched not one , but several attacks . Documents differ on the exact result of the skirmish : some sources say that the Wallachians slaughtered a great number of Turks , while others say the Ottoman losses were minimal . Many horses and camels were , however , killed . Some chronicles blame a Wallachian boyar named Galeş , who supposedly led a simultaneous attack on the Turks with a second army , for not being brave enough to cause the expected devastation on the enemy . Vlad Ţepeş himself aimed for the tent of the sultan , as he routed the Asian cavalry , but mistakenly went for the tent of the two grand viziers Ishak Pasha and Mahmud Pasha . A pro - Wallachian account of the events was recorded by the papal legate , Niccolò Modrussa , years later at the court of Buda when Vlad was being imprisoned by Corvinus . It is said to have been told by a Wallachian veteran : " The sultan besieged him and discovered him in a certain mountain where the Wallachian was supported by the natural strength of the place . There Vlad had hidden himself along with 24 , 000 of his men who had willingly followed him . When Vlad realized that he would either perish from hunger or fall into the hands of the very cruel enemy , and considering both eventualities unworthy of brave men , he dared commit an act worthy of being remembered : calling his men together and explaining the situation to them , he easily persuaded them to enter the enemy camp . He divided the men so that either they should die bravely in battle with glory and honor or else , should destiny prove favorable to them , they should avenge themselves against the enemy in an exceptional matter . So , making use of some Turkish prisoners , who had been caught at twilight when they were wandering about imprudently , at nightfall Vlad penetrated into the Turkish camp with part of his troops , all the way up the fortifications . And during the entire night he sped like lightning in every direction and caused great slaughter , so much so that , had the other commander to whom he had entrusted his remaining forces been equally brave , or had the Turks not fully obeyed the repeated orders from the sultan not to abandon their garrisons , the Wallachian undoubtedly would have gained the greatest and most brilliant victory . But the other commander ( a boyar named Galeş ) did not dare attack the camp from the other side as had been agreed upon . . . Vlad carried out an incredible massacre without losing many men in such a major encounter , though many were wounded . He abandoned the enemy camp before daybreak and returned to the same mountain from which he had come . No one dared pursue him , since he had caused such terror and turmoil . I learned by questioning those who had participated in this battle that the sultan lost all confidence in the situation . During that night the sultan abandoned the camp and fled in a shameful manner . And he would have continued to this way , had he not been reprimanded by his friends and brought back , almost against his will . " The janissaries , under the command of Mihaloğlu Ali Bey , pursued the Wallachians and killed 1 , 000 - 2 , 000 of them . According to the chronicle of Domenico Balbi , the total casualties for the conflict are numbered as 5 , 000 for the Wallachian side and 15 , 000 for the Ottomans . Even though the morale of the sultan and his army was low , Mehmed decided to besiege the capital , but instead found it deserted with its gates wide open . The Turkish army entered the capital and for half an hour , the army marched on the road that was bordered by some 20 , 000 impaled Turks . There , they found the rotten corpse of Hamza Pasha impaled on the highest stake , to symbolize his ' high ranking ' . Other sources say that the city was defended by the soldiers , while the impaled corpses lay outside the city - walls for a distance of 60 miles . Chalcondyles , when remarking the reaction of the sultan , wrote : " So overwhelmed by disbelief in what he saw , the emperor said that he could not take the land away from a man who does such marvelous things and can exploit his rule and his subjects in this way and that surely a man who had accomplished this is worthy of greater things . " Mehmed ordered for a deep trench to be dug out around the Turkish encampment in order to prevent enemy penetration and the following day ( June 22 ) , the Turks retreated . A few days later , Vlad ' s cousin , Stephen III of Moldavia , who wanted to retake Akkerman and Chilia , decided to launch an attack on the latter . The Wallachians rushed to the scene with 7 , 000 men and managed to defend the town , while wounding Stephen in his foot by artillery fire . On June 29 , the Sultan reached Brăila , which he burned down , and then sailed to Adrianople , where they arrived on July 11 . On July 12 , the Turks called for a celebration for their " Great victory " over Vlad Ţepeş . The Turks had enslaved many of the local inhabitants , which they marched on their way south together with 200 , 000 cattle and horses . Popular culture . French writer , Victor Hugo , wrote about the conflict in his poem " La Légende des siècles " ( " The Legends of the centuries " ) . The film " Bram Stoker ' s Dracula " begins in 1462 with the Ottoman invasion of Wallachia ; a night battle takes place ( ostensibly the Night Attack ) , ending with Vlad Ţepeş ' victory .