Nicolaescu put all his Wallachian soldiers in shiny, heavy plate armour, letting them fight battles of epic proportions. The following considerations of Wallachia’s fighters are not exhaustive but take into account Vlad III Dracula’s military activities between 1448 and 1476. Dracula’s men displayed Western and Central European aesthetics adapted to mobile warfare tactics.
The principality of Wallachia, like Moldavia to the northeast, developed at the crossroads of different traditions: Latin Central and Western Europe, Byzantine Southeastern Europe and Western Anatolia, and the Mongol world that dominated the broad steppes between modern Republic of Moldova and China. Wallachia thus served as a war and buffer zone where powerful actors regulated their disputes. Wallachian elites also regularly clashed with each other for power and resources. In turn,, with devastating consequences for the economy.
