A Brief History
On April 29, 1429, Joan of Arc, The Maid of Orleans, arrived at Orleans wearing the armor of a knight to lead the battle to lift the Siege of Orleans. With her council and inspirational leadership, the siege was lifted and a legend begun. Many times throughout history women have gone to war in many roles, from nursing to heavy labor, from flying fighter planes and bombers, to accurately sniping enemy soldiers. Here are 10 prime examples of women warriors. If 10 is not enough we can always make a sequel list!
Digging Deeper
10. Catherine of Aragon, England vs. Scotland.
Left in charge while her husband (Henry VIII) was away fighting in France, Catherine led her forces in 1513 wearing full armor although she was pregnant! Catherine sent a letter to Henry detailing the battle accompanied by the bloody coat of the Scottish King James IV who had been killed.
9. Aleksandra Samusenko, World War II.
This Ukrainian warrior is extraordinary in the rare fact that she commanded a tank brigade for the 1st Guards Tank Army, an elite Soviet armored unit. Highly decorated and holding a command usually held by a brigadier general, this Captain of the Guards was killed in 1945 at age 23.
8. Mary Read, 9 Years War, Piracy.
Disguised as a boy from a young age (her mother trying to hide her illegitimate daughter), Mary joined the British Army and fought in the infantry against the French in around 1708. Briefly married to a Dutch officer, when widowed she became a pirate, was pardoned, became a privateer, and then a pirate again raiding with Calico Jack and her friend, fellow female pirate Anne Bonny. The two of them are among the most famous female pirates, but Mary gets the spot on the list for also fighting in the Army. Read died at age 30, imprisoned for piracy.
7. Molly Pitcher, American Revolution.
Actually named Mary Ludwig Hays, Molly was running back and forth with pitchers of water for Americans fighting the British in 1778. When her husband went down from exhaustion, Molly picked up his rifle and fought the rest of the battle alongside the men.
6. Buffalo Calf Road Woman, War Against US Army.
Already renowned for rescuing her husband during combat at the Battle of the Rosebud in 1876, this Cheyenne warrior also fought alongside her husband and the other Native-Americans against George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Cheyenne history records that it was Buffalo Calf Road Woman that knocked Lt. Col. Custer off his horse immediately prior to him being killed. This revered warrior died 2 years later from malaria.
5. Lydia Litvyak, World War II.
The greatest female aerial ace of all time with 12 confirmed air to air kills (and another 4 co-kills with other pilots) this Soviet aviatrix died at age 21 in 1943 when she was shot down during the great battle of Kursk. Lydia, known as Lily, was of Russian-Jewish descent and flew the Yak-1 fighter, armed with 1 X 20mm cannon and 1 X 12.7mm machine gun.
4. Hannah Duston, King William’s War.
A Massachusetts Puritan housewife and mother (9 children) 40 years old, Hannah was captured by the Abenaki tribe of Native-Americans. Held prisoner after watching her captors smash her baby to death against a tree. Six weeks into captivity, Hannah got her hands on a tomahawk and killed 10 Native-American captors and led another woman and a teenaged boy to escape by canoe. Pausing to scalp her victims first (for proof of her travails and for the bounty paid) Hannah and her 2 companions successfully made it back to European hands. Hannah lived to age 80 and became the first woman with a statue erected in her honor in the United States ( 6 memorials in all). Prominent authors such as Cotton Mather, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry Thoreau wrote about her.
3. Lyudmila Pavlichenko, World War II.
In her senior year of college in 1941 when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, this Ukrainian girl of 24 rushed to enlist and volunteered for training as a sniper. With 309 confirmed kills, she is the deadliest female sniper known to history. After being wounded by shrapnel in 1942, Pavlichenko was sent on a publicity tour to the United States where she became the first ever Soviet citizen received by the president of the US. After the war she completed her degree and worked as an historical researcher, but died at only 58 years old in 1974.
2. Queen Boudica, Celts vs. Romans.
Boudica was Queen of the Iceni, a Celtic people of Great Britain in around 60 AD, leading the fight against Roman tyranny. Fighting like a woman possessed, this great warrior led as many as 100,000 men and probably killed close to that number of Romans and their allies. Coming close to abandoning the colony of Britannia, the Romans finally got the upper hand and defeated Boudica’s forces. Boudica probably killed herself to avoid capture, and goes down in history as one of if not the fiercest female warrior ever.
1. Joan of Arc, Hundred Years War.
After her battlefield successes politics caused the French to allow her to be tried for heresy, and subsequently burned at the stake. Not grateful, were they? At least she got vindication (almost 500 years later) when she was canonized a saint. The possibilities are that she really was directed by God, that she lied about it and made it up, or that she was delusional and really believed (erroneously) God was telling her what to do. It really has to be one of those 3 scenarios. Regardless of which one you believe, the fact is she was determined, brave, and successful, our top woman warrior.
Question for students (and subscribers): What other women come to your mind? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Behan, Mona. Warrior Women: An Archaeologist’s Search for History’s Hidden Heroines. Warner Books, 2003.
Jones, David E. Women Warriors: A History (Warriors (Potomac Books)). Potomac Books, 2005.
Julek, Heller and Marianna Mayer. Women Warriors: Myths and Legends of Heroic Women. HarperCollins, 1999.
The featured image in this article, French troops of Joan of Arc besieging Paris, is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or less.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1973 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=1973">43 Comments
Wow! Some of these women were incredibly brave!
This was interesting because we don’t hear about women in war as much as men!
Always good to hear about women fighting because back then women were not allowed. So always nice to hear about women kicking butt!
If I had the nerve and less anxiety, I would be following my brother in the military. It is amazing to hear women fighting for our country, just like men!
Its amazing that women were such big influence in war, what strong individuals.
Very nice to hear about the women who made an impact in the war!
I love hearing about women who were influential and are receiving recognition!
Its nice to see and learn about women going to War along with having an influence on the war.
Knowing the women made an impact in the war is awesome, I found this article very interesting.
I find it interesting that we haven’t learned about these women in our history classes. There is always an emphasis on men fighting and not women but that “changed” after WW2. This article shows that was not always the case.
These women were incredible! It’s humbling to see how these women were willing to give up their lives for their countries and fight for what they believed in.
This is so cool, because most of the time when we learn about war we learn about the important men, but not the important women, and as a girl it is good to see strong women once in a while.
haha the miley cyrus video made me laugh with Joan of Arc… I think all these women are amazing. It’s cool to hear about women who are snipers, air pilots, and used swords or guns in battle. Awesome stuff
This was interesting to hear about the many women that played a role in fighting for their country. I had only heard of Joan of Arc before and maybe Molly Pitcher.
It was really cool to read about women and how important and versatile they were during war. It is great to see women be just as equal as men.
Mary Hays was my favorite. I think it cool that she just picked up a rifle and began to fight. I respect all women who server in the army. I believe they are just as equal as men.
I had no idea women were involved in war in these ways so early in time. I thought it was a relatively recent thing. I am glad that these women were able to help serve.
Incredible to see the amount of influence woman had on the war. Props to them.
It seems these brave women have been kept a secret for a long time.
I have never known any of this information before. Its crazy to see how these women have really been overlooked by other men.
I think that it is great that they acknoweldge the bravery of the women as well.
The only one on this list I have heard of is Joan of arc. It is crazy how history disregards them because they are women and only focuses on the men.
I think it is great that women are able to play such a significant role in history.
I feel like woman should fight and serve if they willingly want to. There are some women with more “balls” and toughness than men and could do a better job. At my work, my boss is a lesbian. Her partner is a 6’1″ broad shouldered heavy weight coal miner. She could do a ton of damage in a war more so than three men less her size. I am all for woman fighters. It’s like a Mulan story where women secretly fight in a man’s war. Girl power!
I have only heard of a few of these women, even though they played such a significant role in history. This is sad that these strong women are disregarded in history books.
It’s sad these women have not been more recognized throughout history.
I wish there were more publicity for these women
I wish these women had more publicity. I didn’t know about these women, and neither does my sister, who’s actually in the military.
This article was really interesting. These women should be more recognized in history.
Very interesting read, I learned a lot from this article, and it was enjoyable.
I learned a lot that I didn’t know. I liked this article.
I wish I could have learned about these women more throughout my education. I have never heard of them before but its nice to hear about them now.
I’d be legitimately scared of someone who was deluded into thinking they could talk to God… I feel like if someone acted the way Joan of Arc did today they’d be put in an institution…
It is interesting to me that even in older times, there were some women who fought in wars. It is usually thought that only men used to fight.
My personal favorite was Lyudmila Pavlichenko. 309 confirmed kills is pretty amazing. I don’t know what all time rankings are but either way that seems pretty high
Regardless of whether or not one believes Joan of Arc was truly led by God to do what she did, it is amazing that she, at such a young age and in so brief a time, could leave such a large mark on history, especially in era where the contributions of women were not appreciated.
Joan of Arc is the most influential on this list in my opinion. She faced the odds in medieval times and she was succesful. At that time women were not even allowed to hold weapons let alone fight or lead an army. She was a true hero and she was martyred for her cause.
It’s interesting to see the perceptions of certain groups of people throughout human history. Today, a lot more accomplishments by women are (rightfully) recognized. It kind of annoys me when certain women such as Joan of Arc and Rosalin Franklin are not mentioned more in history even though they contributed a lot to history and science. Hopefully with this digital age of information, people who accomplish something as lofty as Joan of Arc will be recognized much more into the future.
Hannah Duston is my favorite from this list because I think it is crazy that they killed her baby like that in front of her and those people deserved to die for killing an innocent like that
For once the Catholic woman is number one!!! That is pretty awesome.
I think like Molly Pitcher during the American Revolution who initially started as only an aid and got water for the soldiers, women who go to battle sites as doctors, nurses or offer any type of assistance should also be somewhat commemorated. For example Barbara Pathe, who was a member of the Red Cross during World War II, helped get soldiers coffee and donuts while they weren’t fighting. Sure, she did not actually fight or was not a doctor, but people like her help make a better environment all around and boost morale.
It is very interesting that Joan of Arc was canonized. The video she is featured in here is quite hilarious!
It is no surprise that Joan of Arc is number one on the list, especially since she was extremely influential for her time, and is still remembered today as a fierce warrior. Lyudmila was also extremely impressive especially since she was trained as a sniper which is very difficult to begin with.