Vlad's impaling habits were picked up the “art” of impalement from this Ottoman sultan, who regularly employed it.

In reality, however, these three men—and the culture they lived in—were significantly influenced by Islam; all three were surrounded by and fought against Muslims their entire lives. 

The historic figure of Vlad III (1430-1476)—whom the fictional, bloodsucking character of Dracula is based on—is portrayed in the West as a sadistic monster who loved nothing better than to impale his own people and drink their blood—often while listening to monks sing hymns, no less.  CNN even claims that the Islamic State learned its sadistic methods of torture and execution from Vlad.

Reality tells a different story: the Romanian prince’s “beastly little habit” of impaling his enemies, as one historian characterizes it, was picked up from and almost exclusively used against the Turks and their agents.  During his youth, Vlad was hostage to one of history’s most depraved sultans—Muhammad (or “Mehmet”) II, who also kept Vlad’s younger brother as a catamite.  Vlad was first introduced to the “art” of impalement from this Ottoman sultan, who regularly employed it. 

Eventually, and as part of his strategy to break away from Muslim rule, Vlad resorted to impalement as a sort of tit for tat—to show the Ottomans that he and his people could give as good as they got.  Hence the irony: if Vlad is seen as a blood drinking monster in the West, he is a national hero in Romania, for fighting and resisting Islam for so long.