War was a constant in the lives of the Greeks and most other peoples in ancient times, where food, water, shelter and other necessities were subject to competition and rivalry. Under pressure from these exigencies of life, war became a grand and noble occupation: this was a piece of necessary propaganda in societies where fighting and winning was the only way to survive.
The Myths of War
This helped to create numerous myths, notably tales of the Amazons - strong, fearless female archers who could mow down an army with their arrows and are said to have taken part in the Trojan War some 12,000 years ago.
Women figured prominently in the ethos of war, as female as well as male pharoahs of Ancient Egypt found themselves ruling at prolonged times of unrest and foreign invasion.
One of these female pharaohs, Hatshepsut, wore a false beard on ceremonial and court occasions, presumably to underline her military role as ruler of Egypt in the 15th century BC.
War in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds
Ancient Greece and Rome cast goddesses as well as gods as the deities of war and victory - Athene and Nike for the Greeks, Minerva and Victoria for the Romans.
The warrior queen became a common figure in many places across the world - Semiramis in Assyria, Zenobia in Syria, the Tung sisters of China and Boudicca,Queen of the Iceni who defied the Roman invaders of Britain in the 1st century AD. Women warriors were also known in Japan and in early Islamic times.
Women like this were not afraid to challenge the mightiest of armies. Saxon women, for example, fought the forces of Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor and himself a warrior of tremendous renown. In medieval times, women fought when besieged in their castles.
From Joan of Arc to Catherine the Great
In the 15th century, the teenage peasant girl Joan of Arc led the French army in its fight against the English invaders during the Hundred Years’ War. She dressed for the part, too, in full armour, an unfeminine course of action that contributed to the accusations of witchcraft that led to Joan being burned at the stake by the English in 1431.
When the Spanish conquistadors went to America after 1492 and built a vast empire in the New World, women enlisted in their ranks as soldiers and fought in several battles for the sake of Spain and its king.
In the 17th century, Kit Cavanagh, better known as Mother Ross enlisted as a dragoon in the British Army. Later, in the 18th century Jacobite Risings against the Hanoverian kings of England, numerous Scots women joined the rebels and fought to retrieve the English throne for the exiled Stewart royal family.
In Russia, meanwhile, the Empress Catherine the Great took her country into a series of wars that ultimately made it the dominant power in southeastern Europe.
The Nineteenth Century
The 19th century also produced its share of women warriors. One was Agustina, known as the Maid of Saragossa who fought in the Peninsular War between Napoleonic France and England. Another was Maria de la Vega who took part in the Mexican War of Independence from Spain that took the more than ten ferociously fought years to accomplish.
The convention that war was men’s business was challenged yet again by Margaret Anne Bulkely who disguised herself as a man, called herself Dr. James Barry and became the first British woman to graduate as a medical doctor and make an active career for herself as a surgeon in the British Army.
Meanwhile, in the United States, women were involved in the civil war between the Unionists and Confederates that threatened to split the country in two. Women on both sides participated as nurses and spies and many took part in the actual fighting. One of them, Mary Edward Walker served as a military surgeon and was afterwards awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Women in the World Wars and After
By the time of the First and Second World Wars of the 20th century, women had earned their own place as important contributors to the war effort. In addition to their now traditional role as nurses, women worked in factories to make munitions, and in the Second War to help build ships and aircraft.
They went into uniform to serve in the the women’s sections of the army, navy and air force and joined the secret services to act, all too often to their cost, as spies and agents in enemy territory.
In subsequent wars - in Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq - women have undertaken similar work alongside men, facing the same dangers, taking the same risks and paying the same price in the most exacting role ever required of them.
Sources
Zeinert, Karen: Valiant Women of the Vietnam Warby Karen Zeinert (Abindon, Oxfordshire UK; Millbrooke Press, 2000) ISBN-10: 0761312684/ISBN-13: 978-0761312680
Fraioli, Deborah: Joan of Arc and the Hunded Years War (Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK: Greenwood Press, 2005) ISBN-10: 0313324581/ISBN-13: 978-0313324581
American Women in Uniform, Veterans Too!
Military Women "Firsts"
Women Medal Recipients
The Military Academies
Gender Integrated Training
The National Guard
21st Century Combat
Women Prisoners of War
They Gave Their Lives
Brenda Ralph Lewis - My interest in history dates from childhood. I am presently the author of 120 books and hundreds of articles, all on historical ...
