Vlad III's night assault on Mehmed II's camp, though failing to kill the sultan, forced the Ottomans to withdraw from Wallachia without conquest.
Key Facts
- Date of battle
- 17 June 1462
- Impaled Turks found
- 23,844 persons
- Objective
- Assassination of Sultan Mehmed II
- Ottoman retreat destination
- Adrianople
- Town burned by Ottomans
- Brăila
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Mehmed II discovered Vlad III's alliance with Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus, straining already tense relations. The sultan ordered forces to ambush Vlad, who repelled the attack and raided Bulgaria, prompting Mehmed to assemble a large army and march on Wallachia with the goal of conquering the principality.
Vlad III launched a nocturnal assault on the Ottoman camp in an attempt to assassinate Mehmed II. The attempt failed, and Mehmed continued to Târgoviște, finding it largely abandoned. Outside the capital he discovered 23,844 impaled Turkish prisoners, a number Vlad himself reported in a letter to Matthias Corvinus.
Unable to draw Vlad into a decisive engagement and unnerved by the forest of impaled men, Mehmed's forces withdrew. The Ottomans sailed to Brăila, burned it, and retreated to Adrianople with captured slaves, horses, and cattle. Wallachia was not conquered, though Vlad's position remained precarious.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Vlad III (Vlad the Impaler).
Side B
1 belligerent
Mehmed II.