Throughout history, women have faced oppression, strictly limited roles, and the pervasive notion that war and fighting are exclusively male domains. Yet time and again, courageous women have shattered those gender barriers by disguising themselves as men and taking up arms, often rising to become skilled warriors and even military leaders.
These women risked their lives doubly – first in the inherent perils of combat and again in the danger of being discovered and punished as deceivers and gender renegades. What drove these extraordinary women to reject the roles and restrictions imposed on their sex and instead claim the traditionally masculine pursuit of soldiering? While their individual motivations varied, they shared an indomitable spirit, a craving for agency in their own lives, and a compulsion to defy all odds and limitations.
Epipole of Carystus (Ancient Greece, circa 1200 BCE)
The story of Epipole, the daughter of Trachion, is recounted in the fragmentary works of the ancient Greek historian Ptolemy Chennus and represents one of the earliest recorded examples of a female warrior passing as male. According to Ptolemy, Epipole disguised herself as a man to fight alongside the Greeks in the Trojan War, the legendary conflict immortalized in Homer‘s epic poem the Iliad.
However, Epipole‘s deception was uncovered by a Greek soldier named Palamedes, and she was subsequently stoned to death by her outraged comrades. While the veracity of this account is uncertain, given the mythologized nature of the Trojan War, it suggests that even in the heavily patriarchal society of Ancient Greece, some women daringly flouted gender norms and expectations.
Mu Guiying (Song Dynasty China, circa 960-1279 CE)
Mu Guiying is a legendary figure in Chinese history, celebrated as a brilliant military leader who commanded armies during the Song Dynasty. According to legend and folktales, Mu Guiying began her life as a peasant girl and worked as a weaver before catching the eye of a Song military officer with her impressive martial arts skills.
Mu Guiying served as a commander in the Song army, utilizing clever strategies to defeat rival kingdoms in battle. She was honored with the title "Lady of Qingping" by the Song Emperor, an extremely rare accolade for a woman in feudal China.
While concrete historical records on Mu Guiying‘s life are scarce, her story has been celebrated and mythologized in Chinese opera, literature, and film. She remains an enduring symbol of a woman succeeding in the masculine sphere of military leadership through her intelligence and fighting prowess.
Joan of Arc (15th Century France, 1412-1431)
Joan of Arc, the teenage peasant girl who became a military leader and Catholic saint, is undoubtedly the most famous female warrior in history. Joan‘s story and legacy have transcended the centuries to remain compelling and inspirational to the modern day.
At the age of 13, Joan reported experiencing visions and hearing divine voices that told her to aid the French Dauphin Charles VII in expelling the English and Burgundian forces during the Hundred Years‘ War. Cross-dressing in male military attire and armor, the young Joan led French troops to several pivotal victories against the English, including the Siege of Orléans in 1429.
An analysis of records from Joan‘s trial in 1431 reveals that her practice of wearing men‘s clothing was one of the primary charges of heresy leveled against her, although she insisted it was necessary for modesty and practicality on the battlefield. In the end, Joan‘s persecution and execution for witchcraft and heresy only cemented her status as a martyr. She was exonerated and declared a saint in 1456.
Recent scholarship has delved into Joan‘s personal motivations and the factors that steeled her resolve to take on the unthinkable role of female military leader in medieval France. Historian Helen Castor, in her 2015 book Joan of Arc: A History, argues that Joan‘s spirituality, confidence in her divine purpose, and sheer force of personality enabled her to navigate the rigid gender hierarchies of her time and convince men to follow her into battle. As Castor writes, "Joan‘s transgressions were not the isolated acts of an eccentric individual, but a sustained assault on the conventions of her age."
Maria Quitéria (19th Century Brazil, 1792-1853)
Maria Quitéria de Jesus is a Brazilian icon of bravery and defiance of gender roles. Born into a family of farmers in the northeastern state of Bahia, Maria was forced into an arranged marriage at the age of 16. She escaped by dressing in men‘s clothing and enlisting in the Brazilian army under the name Medeiros.
From 1822 to 1823, Maria fought in the War of Independence against Portugal. She rose to the rank of cadet and was later promoted to lieutenant. Records indicate that Maria fought in several key battles, including the siege of Bahia‘s capital Salvador, where she took a bullet in the shoulder.
After the war, Emperor Pedro I awarded Maria a medal of honor and she became the first woman to serve in the Brazilian military. Maria continued living as a man for several years after her military service ended, working as a farmer. However, she eventually married and had a daughter. Later in life, Maria advocated for the rights of women to serve in combat roles in the armed forces.
In 1996, Maria was declared the patron of the Brazilian army‘s female corps. She remains a national heroine and pioneering symbol of a woman proving her mettle in battle.
Nadezhda Durova (19th Century Russia, 1783-1866)
Nadezhda Durova was a woman who flouted all conventions of gender and class in 19th century Russia. Born into a noble family, Durova had an unconventional upbringing for a young lady of her era, learning to ride horses and shoot from a young age.
In 1806, at the age of 23, Durova disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the Russian cavalry under the alias Alexander Sokolov. She served for nearly a decade in the Napoleonic Wars, fighting in major battles like Austerlitz and Borodino.
Durova‘s exploits became something of a sensation in Russia. Her true identity was eventually discovered by Tsar Alexander I himself, who was impressed by her bravery and allowed her to continue serving as a man. Durova was promoted to the rank of captain and became the first known female officer in the Russian military.
After her military career ended, Durova donned men‘s clothing for the rest of her life, insisting on being addressed as a male. She published a memoir titled The Cavalry Maiden about her experiences as a soldier. Durova‘s gender identity has become a topic of much historical debate and analysis. Some scholars argue that she was a lesbian or transgender, while others believe she was primarily motivated by a desire to escape the confines of her class and gender through the traditionally masculine pursuit of military glory.
Maria Bochkareva (20th Century Russia, 1889-1920)
During World War I, as Russia‘s badly battered and demoralized troops suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of the Germans, an extraordinary new fighting unit emerged to try to turn the tide. The First Women‘s Battalion of Death was established in 1917 by Maria Bochkareva, a 25-year-old peasant woman who had disguised herself as a man to join the army and fight on the front lines two years earlier.
After being wounded in combat multiple times and earning the prestigious Cross of St. George medal for bravery, Bochkareva obtained permission from the Provisional Government to create an all-female combat unit. Thousands of women volunteered, and Bochkareva trained 300 of them as soldiers.
In the summer of 1917, Bochkareva led the battalion in a futile offensive against the Germans known as the Kerensky Offensive. They fought bravely, but were slaughtered in the face of the German machine guns, suffering hundreds of casualties.
Despite their failure to turn the tide of the war, Bochkareva and her battalion became celebrated heroes, symbols of women‘s strength and sacrifice for the Motherland. However, after the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution, Bochkareva was branded a counterrevolutionary and eventually executed in 1920.
The stories of these six remarkable women warriors span cultures and time periods, but all demonstrate a defiant rejection of gender norms in pursuit of new roles and identities. There are common threads in their experiences – the need for secrecy, elaborate disguises, and constant fear of discovery, but also the thrill of agency, purpose, and glory.
Some of these women, like Joan of Arc, were motivated by spiritual visions and divine callings. Others, like Maria Quitéria and Nadezhda Durova, seem to have primarily sought adventure and an escape from the stifling social expectations for women in their times. And still others, like Maria Bochkareva, stepped into the fray out of a fervent love of country and desire to defend the Motherland.
While we may never know all the reasons why these women and so many others throughout history took the monumental risk of passing as men to become warriors, their heroic actions have left an indelible mark. They defied all odds and obstacles to shatter deeply entrenched notions about women‘s capabilities and proper places in society. Today, they are rightly celebrated as feminist icons and trailblazers.
Yet for every woman warrior whose story has survived in the historical record, there were doubtlessly countless more whose identities and experiences have been lost to time. Nonetheless, the enduring tales of Epipole, Mu Guiying, Joan of Arc, Maria Quitéria, Nadezhda Durova, Maria Bochkareva, and other audacious women warriors continue to awe and inspire us centuries later – timeless reminders of the heights of bravery and greatness women can achieve.
References
Castor, H. (2015). Joan of Arc: A History. HarperCollins.
Durova, N. (1988). The Cavalry Maiden: Journals of a Russian Officer in the Napoleonic Wars. Indiana University Press.
Pennington, R. (2003). Amazons to Fighter Pilots: A Biographical Dictionary of Military Women. Greenwood Publishing Group.
Salmonson, J. A. (1991). The Encyclopedia of Amazons: Women Warriors from Antiquity to the Modern Era. Paragon House.
Scarborough, R. (2017). Warrior Women: An Unexpected History. Beacon Press.
Wheelwright, J. (1989). Amazons and Military Maids: Women who Dressed as Men in Pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness. Pandora.
