Vlad had the right idea...to bad he did not have nuke's.
He ummm....Staked his claim to his kingdom. It was brutal, it was nasty, it was meant to be. It worked. His relatively small numbers held the multitude at bay with miles of warnings. And the skewered would not see paradise either.
Like the 6000 along the road from Rome to Capua (crucified slaves who had followed Spartacus), the message was sent, clearly and decisively. The problem was solved.
Such displays of absolute ruthlessness are considered terrible by today's standards, but were as effective as pushing back the German army at the Battle of the Bulge and killing it off instead of allowing the Third Army under Patton to cut them off and encircle them forcing surrender, or the use of atomic bombs to force the Japanese to capitulate. The message that such will be met with relentless and unmitigated and unapologetic force and destruction is effective at causing a cessation of hostile acts.