[ominous music playing]
[Dimitrie] It looks like two units of Janissaries. Maybe three.
Hamza Bey!
How many Ottoman soldiers at Giurgiu?
The sultan should have killed you years ago.
[chuckles]
Traitorous dog!
Our Ottoman friend isn't happy with me,
but at least his men were kind enough to give us their nice, warm uniforms.
[indistinct shout]
[brooding music playing]
[Dimitrie] My prince,
I will be with you until the end…
but once we cross the Danube, there is no turning back.
Are you sure you want to do this?
[Vlad] With our new uniforms, the Turks will welcome us with open arms!
[narrator] In the winter of 1462,
along a remote stretch of the Danube,
death comes calling.
[in Turkish] Who goes there?
[Vlad] Open the gates.
We are being pursued by a unit of Wallachian mercenaries!
Open the gates. That's an order.
Open the gates.
[epic choral music playing]
[in English] Kill them all!
- [swords unsheathing] - [screams battle cry]
[men screaming]
[theme music playing]
[narrator] As the long-simmering blood feud between Mehmed the Conqueror
and Vlad Dracula intensifies,
the tentacles of the coming war
reach all the way to the inner sanctum of the sultan's harem.
[woman singing]
- [Mara] We have an artist in our midst. - Princess Mara.
Mehmed has promised to bring artists from Florence to teach me.
Perhaps you will teach the Florentines something. [laughs]
I've come to say goodbye.
I leave for the court of Matthias Corvinus tomorrow.
[Gulabahar sighs]
I heard the Hungarian king is as slippery as his late father,
but lacks the old man's valor on the battlefield.
We'll soon see if he has the stomach for a war with Mehmed.
But there's another matter.
[door closes]
While I'm away, I want you to sleep with this under a pillow.
I don't understand.
Vlad Dracula lived in the imperial palace for years.
He may have friends here who are a threat to you.
- But I-- - One day, you will be queen mother,
the most powerful woman in the empire.
I'll wager our enemies have not seen the likes of you before.
Stand strong, dear Gulbahar,
and remain vigilant.
[narrator] Some 340 miles north,
Sultan Mehmed II's massive army continues its march to Wallachia,
where they find themselves surrounded by the carnage
of Vlad Dracula's earlier rampage across the Danube,
but see no sign of their missing general, Hamza Bey.
The Impaler Lord's message to his childhood friend
is written in the blood of thousands, "Come and get me."
[Safa Gürkan] Mind you, that kind of disrespect was something
that a ruler like Mehmed II could never forgive
because in this kind of world, reputation is everything.
So from that point onward, it became quite personal between Mehmed and Vlad.
What Vlad Dracula should have done with Mehmed was seek a limited peace.
Maybe a reduction in tribute.
But the problem with Vlad Dracula is that everything to him is about a duel.
Perhaps, again, this does come from his youth,
this very hard upbringing, this idea that he would never give way.
That it was down to me-versus-him,
black and white.
Vlad massacred these poor souls
to impress his masters in Buda and the Vatican,
and to draw me out.
I could never do this.
[Mehmed] Which is why you will be a better ruler than Vlad.
Yet, Mahmud Pasha doesn't trust me.
Trust is hard-earned with Mahmud Pasha.
One of the reasons I chose him as my grand vizier.
But have I not been a loyal friend and adviser?
Yes, but you have the misfortune of sharing the last name
of the man every soldier in this army is here to kill.
The Danube was supposed to be a bridge between our kingdoms, not a wall.
[young Vlad grunts]
There's no shame in second place, Vlad.
I win!
You cheated, Mehmed!
No, I won.
[young Mehmed] Do you miss Wallachia?
[young Vlad] More than anything.
But you have a life here now.
This isn't my life. It's yours.
[tense music playing]
One day, the world will be ours, brother Vlad.
Your battles, they will be my battles.
[laughs]
[young Vlad speaking in Romanian]
[in English] "Fire is the test of gold, adversity of friendship."
[Hasan, in Romanian] Vlad, growing up at this court,
met young Mehmed, the future Mehmed II,
because the princes present at the Ottoman court grew up
along the heirs to the Ottoman throne.
[in English] And they grew like a band of brothers.
[Talbot] One wonders if during this invasion
that the two might not have reflected on their childhood and thought of this.
You know, maybe they'd joked or fought with each other in that palace in Edirne.
"One day when I'm the sultan, I'm going to come after you."
"One day when I'm the prince, I'm going to come after you."
[Dimitrie] Prince, the troops are ready.
We'll meet General Gales' company outside the city.
[Vlad] Good, and the sultan's army?
Have we eyes on them yet?
[Dimitrie] Still south of the Danube, marching north.
At least 100,000 men
and 100 cannons.
[dramatic sting]
He has brought the entire might of his empire.
[chuckles]
Now he takes me seriously.
Have our spies send hourly reports.
We must find their crossing point and strike while they are exposed.
Yes, Prince.
[narrator] After years of threats and provocations,
the allies-turned-enemies will finally face each other
in a battle on the banks of the Danube River.
Each man is hell-bent on the other's destruction.
Mehmed is finally coming for me.
- He underestimates you. - [chuckles] No.
He still sees me as his prisoner…
but once the Hungarians join us,
it is Mehmed who will be on his knees,
begging for mercy.
If I fall in battle-- Listen to me.
If I fall in battle, the Turks will come for you.
No.
I will throw myself in the Argeş and let the fish pick my bones clean
before I become the sultan's slave.
The only bodies in the river will be those of Mehmed and his army.
[ominous music playing]
[narrator] Vlad Dracula sets out for the Danube River,
110 miles to the south,
where he'll mount his defense of Wallachia.
His army is made up of his personal bodyguards,
loyal boyars, and mercenaries.
They number less than 30,000,
but Vlad has the advantage of fighting on his home terrain
against an enemy he knows almost as well as he knows himself.
[Pogăciaş] When he was a kid at the Ottoman court,
he learned a lot about the Ottomans. He knew everything about them.
He knew how they were thinking, he knew how their armies would gather,
how they were fighting, and maybe this drove him to wage war against them,
but he knew what was coming, and he knew that that army would be huge.
[narrator] As the invasion of Wallachia nears,
Mehmed II now faces the challenge of transporting 100,000 men, 100 cannons,
and thousands of horses across the perilous waters of the Danube,
where Vlad Dracula has destroyed most of the ports and his army is waiting.
Vlad knew when the main core of the army would cross the Danube
and be in his country because, as military commander,
he was very good.
He knew how to wage war.
[Safa Gürkan] It proves to be a logistical nightmare.
When you are crossing a river like the Danube,
it proves so hard to carry all these troops to the other side.
And also, most importantly, it reduces your maneuverability.
[Talbot] How do you get across the Danube?
I mean, the river is getting wider and more impassable,
particularly at this part.
We also have the issue that on the northern banks,
there are fortifications.
So what we have to do is, the Ottoman army is to plan a naval mission
to ensure that the soldiers can be ferried across the river by boats.
And so it's now down to Mehmed and his commanders
to find the right place along the river,
all the while plotting their route towards the Wallachian capital.
[suspenseful music playing]
So, Bogdan Bey,
Mahmud Pasha tells me you can help us in that
you can guarantee me 70 boats and safe passage to the other side. Hmm?
Yes, Sultan, I will gladly help.
Provided you pay me…
One thousand ducats.
Upfront.
[Mahmud sighs]
Are you a fisherman or a robber?
[Bogdan] Mahmud Pasha, my family has lived on these waters for 200 years.
Nobody knows them better than me.
[tense music rising]
Five-hundred now, 500 when we cross.
[nervous patting]
We have a deal.
If you betray me, Bogdan Bey, I will have your head.
Sultan… [laughs nervously]
…if I don't come home with 1,000 ducats,
my wife will have my head.
[both laugh]
[narrator] As Mehmed prepares to cross into Wallachia,
he sends his stepmother to Buda to ferret out the true intentions
of Hungarian king, Matthias Corvinus,
who has allegedly allied himself with Vlad Dracula in the coming war.
[Matthias] It's not often I meet with a princess on a diplomatic mission,
let alone the stepmother of the great Turk.
I prefer "mother."
Mehmed has many different weapons in his arsenal.
Well,
I pray we're not on war footing just yet.
While my father was victorious over the sultan at Belgrade,
no one is eager for another conflict.
There are whispers that the Pope has paid you
to lead a crusade against the sultan,
and that Vlad Dracula will lead that fight.
If true,
that would be very distressing to Mehmed.
That would be an act of war.
Any rumors that we are encouraging Vlad Dracula's adventures are just that.
Rumors.
Mehmed considers this a family affair to be settled between the two of them.
I have no desire to intrude in a brotherly spat.
[chuckles]
Still, that must hurt the sultan.
They were so close as boys, and now they are…
rivals.
"Rivals"?
Vlad is a desperate prince,
struggling to rule a vassal state.
Mehmed will one day rule the world.
Mehmed respected his stepmother very much
and used her, uh, as a diplomat, because we should always remember,
Mara Branković was coming from a true imperial royal background.
She never turned, uh, into, uh, a secondary woman in the court.
On the contrary, she was a political power broker.
Do you want to hear something curious about the conquest?
After all the fighting, when the city had fallen,
they never found Emperor Constantine's body.
Just his purple slippers.
A 2,000-year-old empire gone.
[clicks fingers]
Just like that.
[suspenseful music playing]
God be with you.
[music intensifies, fades]
[narrator] With the clock ticking on his invasion of Wallachia,
Mehmed and his army reached the legendary port of Nicopolis in early June of 1462.
Prince Radu, what are you doing?
There's a clearing that might be perfect for our landing.
Just over there.
Prince. Prince, please. Let me come with you.
No. Stay out of sight until I return tonight.
[narrator] Meanwhile, in the Ottoman capital,
the name Vlad Dracula echoes throughout the palace corridors,
as rumors of his spies and assassins reach the imperial harem.
[women whispering, giggling]
[ominous music playing]
[clatter from inside chamber]
Who are you?
I'm Elena.
[hesitates] Forgive me, Sultana. I brought fresh linens.
Where's Fatima?
Fatima fell ill,
so I'm taking over her duties just for today.
I won't be needing any linens.
That will be all, Elena.
Yes, lady.
[nervous breathing]
[Pogăciaş] It is possible Vlad had spies in the Ottoman palace
from his time as a hostage.
Let's not forget that at the Ottoman court,
there were not only Ottomans or Turks,
there were people from all over the empire,
or even from beyond the empire.
When there is power, there are people trying to take advantage of it.
There were women who were punished
by death for being spies in the harem.
[narrator] 370 miles north on the Wallachian side of the Danube,
Vlad Dracula prepares his army for the coming Ottoman invasion.
[Dimitrie] Prince, the scout is here.
[scout] My prince, I bring you the heads of Ottoman scouts we ambushed.
Put these on pikes and mount them along the riverbank.
I want Mehmed to see some familiar faces.
Any news?
The sultan's army is on the move again towards Nicopolis.
The entire army?
This could be a diversion.
Keep the main force at Nicopolis
and spread the other units along the north bank of the river.
Okay.
I am looking forward to seeing the sultan beg for his life!
I would love to kill him for you!
Have you fought against Mehmed?
No, Prince.
Mehmed is relentless.
When he comes for you, you will beg for your own death,
just to end the suffering!
Defeating him will take everything we have…
and the will of God!
I will never be Mehmed's prisoner again.
[dramatic music playing]
[boy's voice echoes] Unhand me! I'm a prince!
[young Mehmed] Şemsi Pasha! Where are you taking them?
[Şemsi] This is no concern of yours, Prince Mehmed.
- Go back to sleep! - [young Radu] Mehmed! Stop them, please!
[young Vlad] Let me go!
Get your hands off!
Let me go!
You are in the sultan's court. You will control yourself.
[young Vlad] Let me go!
Enough!
[young Radu sobs]
Your father
has betrayed the oath
he swore on your lives here in this court.
He has joined the Hungarians and taken up arms against me at Varna.
Prince Vlad!
Prince Radu.
You are to be executed.
[young Radu breathing heavily]
Kill me if you must, Sultan,
but please spare my brother.
So there is still some honor left in the House Drăculeşti, huh?
Şemsi Pasha tells me you are arrogant,
and willful…
but that you already show great skill with a sword.
So what am I to do with you?
The price of my mercy is loyalty.
You will be vassals of the Ottoman court for life.
When called upon,
you will take up your sword against our enemies.
Now swear this,
and I will spare you.
I swear it, Sultan.
[Murad II] And you, Vlad?
[young Radu] Do it, Vlad! Please!
Choose your next words carefully, boy.
You have my loyalty, Sultan.
What's happened?
[young Vlad] My father
has abandoned us.
We are a family now.
We are brothers.
No, I'm your prisoner.
The two sons are essentially abandoned and forgotten about completely by Vlad II.
The problem that Vlad Dracula gets from this
is that he essentially begins to trust no one.
The Ottomans did not kill Vlad the son and his brother, Radu,
because they believed that they would be more useful when they're alive.
If the Ottomans wanted to put somebody else on the throne,
and they have two candidates right under their nose, why kill them?
They're cold-blooded people.
They've been playing this game for quite some time now.
[panting]
[Mehmed] Vlad's army is encamped somewhere in the woods near here. 3,000, 4,000 men,
with several thousand more all along the river.
They do not have great numbers, but they are dangerous.
We have signaled that we will be crossing here,
where it's shallower and the river narrows.
They will be expecting us there, laying in wait,
but this is where we'll land 5,000 Janissaries and artillery
as the first wave of our attack led by Mahmud Pasha.
[tense music playing]
[Talbot] Mahmud Pasha comes from the ranks of the Janissaries,
and he is someone that Mehmed trusts an awful lot.
He's a very successful general.
Mahmud Pasha was also a very capable, uh, commander
and a military man.
And how do you know that this location is secure?
[Radu] I went ashore there yesterday.
The riverbank is flat, and there's tall grass,
which will give us cover to set up our artillery.
I saw no sign of Vlad's men.
[Mehmed] We have 70 barges to get our troops across.
First, Mahmud Pasha and the Janissaries, with half of our cannons,
then the barges will return for the rest of our soldiers and guns.
Stealth and speed is of the essence.
Shouldn't we deploy all of our cannons and mortars
across the river as quickly as possible?
Mahmud Pasha, I can assure you
all of our firepower will be ready when needed.
Sultan, this will leave us open to attack while we wait there for the others.
You and the Janissaries will hold the landing spot.
I hope to kill that traitorous bastard before you set foot in Wallachia.
Sultan.
[tense music intensifies]
[narrator] On the evening of June 4, 1462, Mehmed launches the invasion of Wallachia.
[battle clamor]
Let's go.
[indistinct shout in Turkish]
[narrator, in English] The first Ottoman boats set out
for the Wallachian side of the Danube,
uncertain of what awaits them in the vast darkness ahead.
[suspenseful music playing]
If the currents are favorable, they should be across in one hour.
Good.
[Waterson] The crossing of the Danube
almost feels like something out of Omaha Beach in D-Day.
Seventy barges of infantry that cross,
like landing craft landing on the beach.
They bring light artillery across with them as well.
Now, it takes every man to know what he's supposed to do.
This is not some blood or glory charge.
This is well-organized maneuvers
to take out an enemy who has the advantage of the terrain,
has the advantage of being dug in,
and has also got very heavy firepower.
They really are modern in the application of the science of warfare.
The engineering genius of Mehmed does show at every level.
[wolf howls]
[narrator] As Mehmed's shock troops stealthily approach,
the Wallachian shore comes into view.
[wolf howls]
You better get ready, boys.
[horses squeal]
[water lapping]
[soldier grunts]
- [Mahmud yells] Release! - [cannon fire]
[Mahmud] Shields!
They were waiting for us.
Brother Vlad has shown his hand too early.
Now he will lose it.
Keep going! Keep going!
Keep going! Faster!
- [Mehmed] Ready the cannons. - [man] Yes, Sultan.
Ready the cannons!
[suspenseful music intensifies]
Fire!
[theme music playing]