Well..This show is major BS. There are biased points of view. For example, Vlad Tepes' descendant's ideas were usually interrupted, and the other historians' points of view were mostly cited from Hungarian and Polish chronicles. No need to say that those peoples were enemies of Wallachia at the time. Of course Vlad treated badly the local nobility, but they changed Wallachian princes like socks! That brought a lot of instability in the country, hence towns inhabited by robbers, that disrupted trade and such leaving Vlad no choice but trying to bring law, order and stability (through impaling). Of course, when the chronicles are written by your enemies, you look a lot worse ;). The impaling of foreigners: Vlad impaled the embassy of the sultan that commanded him to give up his throne. He became a prisoner of the Hungarian king after the later promised him aid in the battle against the turks. All in all, this show in biased and made "just for show", but that's the major trend of Discovery channel lately...