The battles of the Vlachs (Romanians, if you prefer this term) were often surrounded by legends and myths, some of which were often considered by our compatriots to be turning points in the history of Europe. Instead, other aspects, at least as important, were omitted. To shed light on some significant episodes in the history of Romanian countries, we invited military historian Dr. Andrey Pogačas to the HotNews studio.

A researcher who, if you don’t know him from the research he’s written or the articles he’s written, you probably know him from the reenactments he’s been involved in or, more recently, his presence in an already popular Netflix series. “Ottomans: Mohamed vs. Vlad”, in which he appeared as an expert on the military history of Romanian countries.

Actually, it is through the prism of his experience in this field that we tried to make a passage through the military history of the Vlachs, starting from the period after Aurelian’s departure from Dacia to the end of the Middle Ages. What were the Vlachs of that period in the annals of that time, what type of military organization did they have, what distinguished the great figures of national history (Mirce the Elder, Janku de Hunedoara, Vlad Dracul, Vlad Tepes, Mihai). Bytasulus and especially Stephen the Great), what tactics were used in some of the major battles they fought, these are just some of the questions we have tried to answer. We invite you to watch what our guest said about all this in the video.

Main ideas

• Leaving all nationalisms aside, Moldova and Wallachia also began their state life as defensive symbols of the Kingdom of Hungary, that is, some territories that were on the other side of the mountains, in the east and south, in the zone of passers-by, which were loyal to the Kingdom of Hungary and which could protect against possible invasions from the population that was outside its borders, especially the nomadic population that came in to rob.

• The act of birth of Wallachia appears at the end of the 14th century, when Wallachia officially and permanently converts to Orthodoxy. In the Middle Ages, to be recognized as a somewhat independent seigneur, you had to get a crown from somewhere or have a bishop to organize your religious life. And then you cared about either Rome or Constantinople.

• There were mountain knights who took part in the great tournaments in Buda in 1412, where you can see that people went equipped as western knights came.

• Vlad Tepes was not installed by Sigismund in Sighisoara. It was installed in Făgăraş. And Vlad Tepes was also born in Fegarash, not in Sighisoara, as they say.

• In Moldova and Wallachia we have a combination of West and East, visible not only in clothing and customs, but also in military tactics. In the case of the famous Battle of Vaslui, the tactics adopted by Stephen the Great were clearly Mongol inspired.

• Milan, for example, which had a fantastic economic power, had 5,000 men under arms. When they heard that a Turkish invasion was taking place in the east with 100,000 men, the Italian powers trembled, for it would be an enormous effort for them to raise such an army. On the other hand, in Eastern Europe, as I have already said, wars go differently. They are absolutely terrifying because generally we see that these are battles of annihilation, and not just Christians against Muslims, but Christians against Christians.

• for all his glory on the battlefield, for all the legends and mythology woven around him, Stephen the Great was not a good strategist. A great tactician, but not a good strategist. If we draw a line following Stefan’s reign, we see that Moldova is almost at zero. First, Moldova loses almost its entire population on the battlefields, especially against the Ottomans. And the biggest loss is southern Bessarabia with its two commercial cities of Kilia and Cetateia Alba. It hit Moldova’s economy hard.

• Modern generations are probably much smarter than older generations, such as ours. They were born in a different time with access to much more information. They are like from another planet compared to us. Instead, the problem lies precisely in this technology. I think that young people can no longer deepen what they saw.

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