25 Most Cruel Rulers In History

Vlad the Impaler

Vlad the Impaler is also known by another name: Count Dracula. You don’t get a name like that without earning it. He was notorious for impaling his enemies with large stakes on the battlefield. But his armies poisoned wells, burned crops, and had diseased men pass on their pestilence unto the enemy. It was outside the city of Targoviste that he earned his name Vlad the Impaler. He ordered 20,000 Ottoman men to be impaled and left to be picked away by the crows.