Islamophobia and a message.

[Yonadav]

Same here.  Vlad wasn't ANY kind of a disaster. He was just impulsive and rather hard-headed.

Snappy dresser, though.

Boru

I was saying this in response to Atlas´ claim that all those names/people he mentioned were *disasters to humanity*, but not caused/related to Islam.

Vlad Tepes was a direct and immediate result of Islam. I didnt know this had to be pointed out, even to Atlas.

Vlad, like many other rulers of the balcan/eastern europe tried to keep their independence from the Ottoman empire, which was increasingly pressing towards central Europe.
He (and his brother) were hostages to the Ottomans, with the goal to culturally assimilate them, as was common since at least the roman empire. Holding other countries´ rulers kids as hostage is not very *nice*, frankly. Wallachia also had to pay hefty tribute and the Ottomans regularly forced them to hand over young boys to be also culturally assimilated and taken to the Janissary guard. Vlads methods to fight the ottomans can be disputed, but they equal guerilla warfare, like it was conducted by the VC in Vetnam. He didnt have much choices, given the fact that the hungarian King between him and the german emperor fucked him out of self interest.

Regarding tactics and military prowess in general i would like to introduce Stefan Cel Mare a contemporary (and supporter) of Vlad, and the Battle of Vaslui, .

I'm a little curious. Why do you think that keeping the other ruler's kids as hostages wasn't nice? It's a practice that has been pretty successful at keeping peace. Allied nations routinely exchanged royal hostages to guarantee that the alliance would be honored. The US stations US soldiers in allied nations as hostages.  It prevents the US from dragging its feet when coming to the defense of her allies. We still use the hostage system today because it works.

[Deesse23]

I'm a little curious. Why do you think that keeping the other ruler's kids as hostages wasn't nice?

Maybe you should ask anyone who ever has been held as (such a ) hostage, or who had someone he held dear being held as hostage.
I am puzzled i am asked to explain why "hostage" ist bad, almost as if someone aske me why "owning another human being" is bad. Its not about the circumstance, its about the very core of what you are doing: Holding.someone.hostage., aka taking someones freedom. I thougt that was self evident.

So, in case i missed something: Under what circumstances do you think holding someone hostage is justified?