At beginning of 1462, Vlad launched a campaign against Turks along Danube River which was very successful, managing several victories. In retaliation for these losses, Sultan decided to launch a full-scale invasion of Wallachia with an army three times larger than Dracula's. Vlad was forced to withdraw towards Tirgoviste, burning villages and poisoning wells along way.

These acts were designed to hinder Turkish army in their search for food and water. When Sultan’s armies finally reached capital city, exhausted and hungry, they were confronted by a horrific sight: thousands of stakes held bodies of some 20,000 Turkish captives, which came to be known as "Forest of Impaled." The scene which was laid out before them had an immediate effect; Sultan hungry and worn out retreated. The Sultan Mehmed left next phase of battle to Vlad's younger brother Radu who pursued his brother and wife to Poenari castle on Arges River.

Dracula's wife, in order to escape Turkish capture, committed suicide by hurling herself from upper walls, her body falling down cliff face into river below. Vlad managed to escape siege and made his way to hungry with help of local peasants. Upon his arrival Hungarian king Matthias arrested Dracula and imprisoned him at Hungarian capital of Visegrad.

In 1475, Vlad Tepes again became prince of Wallachia where he enjoyed a very short third reign. He was assassinated towards end of 1476.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about Vlad Tepes or as he was better known-Dracula.

In my next article will learn about life of(Mad)King George III.

Unitl then,

Best wishes and have a great day

Stuart Bazga

Guide to Castles of Europe

Psychologists applied a standard statistical test (5% significance level) to ‘prove’ theory, even though they had a minimal knowledge of statistics.

However, it was found that aggressive/ passive behaviour is much more influenced by sexual stereotyping.

In an experiment conducted with a small boy aged about 3 years old, a female carer was told to look after him. When he was dressed as a boy, carer played more active/ rougher games, such as kicking a ball, with him. When same boy was dressed as a girl, a carer sat ‘girl’ on her lap and used a doll to play with ‘her’.

This illustrates that a boy is ‘conditioned’ to be aggressive, and a girl is ‘conditioned’ to be passive.

So is there any ‘truth’ in left/ right brain theory and ‘gender theory’?

In my experience as a mathematics teacher, I’ve found that boys tend to solve mathematical problems in a more aggressive manner, and will try different approaches if one method fails. Girls tend to be more passive in their problem solving. Quite often a girl will start to use correct method, but abandon her solution through a lack of confidence when going gets slightly more difficult.

I tend to use intuition quite a lot to solve mathematical problems, especially more difficult ones. That’s on right side of brain I think?