Early in 2014, the UK defence secretary suggested that women be permitted to fight on the front lines. Such proposals have always sparked needless debate. Yet people often overlook the fact that, across the ages, women have excelled as soldiers and spies for their nations.
10Roza Shanina
World War II
Born to a logger family in Russia’s Arkhangelsk Oblast, Roza Shanina showed ambition early. In 1938 she fled home, trekking 200 km (125 mi) to the nearest town to enroll in the best school she could find.
By 1941 she worked in a nursery to fund university studies, but that same year her brother fell in battle, prompting Roza to take his place. Her training revealed exceptional marksmanship; even when offered an instructor post at the Women’s Sniper Academy, she demanded front‑line duty, earning the nickname “Unseen Terror of East Prussia” and becoming the first female sniper awarded the Order of Glory.
During the 1945 East Prussian Offensive her platoon dwindled to six men, and Roza fell protecting the artillery commander. By then her confirmed kills stood at 59. Her diary, still largely classified, was published in 1965 to great acclaim.
9Edith Cavell
World War I
Edith Cavell served as a Red Cross nurse in wartime Brussels. Shocked by the devastation around her, she resolved to help as many soldiers as possible escape the German‑occupied city. Working with colleagues, she smuggled over 200 Allied troops to the neutral Netherlands, sheltering them in her hospital and labeling them as injured patients. Her partner, Prince Reginald De Croy, supplied forged documents and money to guide the men to the Dutch border.
Cavell’s outspoken nature attracted German suspicion. Eventually a French spy named Gaston Quien, acting for the Germans, betrayed her. She was arrested, tried for aiding the enemy, and sentenced to death. The Germans executed her by firing squad.
8Ginnie and Lottie Moon
American Civil War
Ginnie and Lottie Moon were Confederate spies hailing from Ohio. Their striking looks made them popular, and they dreamed of acting careers. Lottie famously jilted Indiana native Ambrose Burnside—later a Union general—at the altar and later married Judge James Clark. Ginnie, after being expelled from school, lived with her older sister and the Clark family, who were deeply involved with the secretive Knights of the Golden Circle.
One night a messenger arrived with a letter destined for General Edmund Kirby Smith. Lottie volunteered, slipping into an old‑woman disguise using her theatrical skills, and successfully delivered the missive. The mission earned her counterfeit British papers and a health‑pass that let her travel to Virginia.
Ginnie relocated to Tennessee to tend to her ailing mother and cared for soldiers before undertaking a courier run for the Knights of the Golden Circle. She was captured, placed under house arrest alongside Lottie, and remained confined for the rest of the war.
7Emily Geiger
American War Of Independence
Emily Geiger, born in 1765 in South Carolina to Swiss‑descended parents, saw her father John fall ill as the Revolution erupted, leaving him unable to fight. Determined to contribute, she volunteered to carry a secret dispatch from General Nathaniel Greene to Thomas Sumter behind enemy lines. Greene not only handed her the letter but also memorized its contents so she could recount it verbally if needed.
The next day Emily set out on horseback, telling anyone she met that she was merely visiting her Uncle Jacob. When British scouts under Lord Rawdon intercepted her, her nervousness betrayed her, and she blushed uncontrollably.
Before being taken prisoner, Emily swallowed the sealed message. After a brief incarceration she was escorted to her uncle’s house, where she recited the contents aloud, successfully delivering Greene’s intelligence.
6Marie Marvingt
World War I
Marie Marvingt grew up in Aurillac, France, and by her thirties had become a world‑class athlete, winning accolades in skiing, skating, swimming, fencing and cycling. In 1910 she turned to mountaineering, becoming the first woman to summit several French and Swiss Alpine peaks, notably racing across the Aiguille des Grands Charmoz and the Grepon Pass in a single day.
Even before the Great War, she claimed victory in an international military shooting contest. Her passion for flight later led her to enlist disguised as a man, first serving as an infantryman and then piloting bomber missions—she was the first woman to do so.
During the conflict she also served as a Red Cross nurse and later pioneered air‑ambulance technology, adding metal skis for operations in Morocco and Algeria. Her innovations earned her medals from both France and Morocco.
5Constance Markievicz
Irish War Of Independence
Countess Constance Markievicz, a trailblazing Irish politician, was among the first women worldwide to hold a cabinet post. Yet it was her role in the Irish War of Independence that cemented her fame. As a Sinn Féin activist she played a pivotal part in the 1916 Easter Rising, even writing an anthem inspired by a Polish folk tune.
On the battlefield she served as second‑in‑command at St. Stephen’s Green, overseeing the construction of the barricades. Her unit proved highly effective, holding out for six days before surrendering. In 1922, during the Irish Civil War, she fought for the Republicans, defending Moran’s Hotel in Dublin.
Markievicz died shortly after taking her seat in the inaugural Dáil Éireann, with thousands lining the streets to honor her legacy.
4Maria Gertrudis Bocanegra
Mexican War Of Independence
Born in 1765 to a prosperous Spanish family in Michoacán, Maria Gertrudis Bocanegra married Lieutenant Pedro Advicula de la Vega. Despite limited educational opportunities for women, she was well‑read in Enlightenment literature. When Mexico’s fight for independence ignited, Maria threw herself behind the cause, supporting her husband’s military efforts.
She began by acting as a messenger for insurgents, a crucial role for guerrilla communications, and also supplied resources and lodging for fighters. Tragically, both her husband and son perished serving under Miguel Costilla. Later, after being dispatched to the fiercely contested town of Pátzcuaro, she was betrayed by informants and captured.
Maria spent most of 1817 imprisoned, enduring torture aimed at extracting information about fellow rebels, yet she never cooperated. In October she was convicted of treason and executed by firing squad, delivering an inspiring speech just before her death.
3Jeanie ‘Jenny’ Cameron
Jacobite Wars
Many women aided the Jacobite risings, but Jeanie ‘Jenny’ Cameron stands out. Hailing from Edinburgh, she fought alongside Bonnie Prince Charlie and became so celebrated that a biography was published in 1746—though it may blend stories of up to three different women sharing her name.
After a turbulent schooling and inheriting a sizable estate from her father, Jenny raised 250 men from her lands and rode them to join the Prince. She remained with him until their defeat at Stirling Castle, after which she was imprisoned with the captured troops in Edinburgh Castle. She secured bail after nine months.
What happened next remains debated: some claim she became Prince Charles Stuart’s mistress and intelligence source; others suggest she married an Irishman and settled in Ireland, while another theory posits she spent her remaining years as a destitute outcast.
2Agostina Domenech
Peninsular War
Agostina Domenech, also known as Agustina de Aragon, captured the imagination of the era so much that Lord Byron penned a poem about her. Born in 1786, she defended Spain during the Peninsular War against Napoleon’s forces, residing in Zaragoza, a city swamped with refugees and among the last to fall.
In June 1808, as French troops clashed with Spanish defenders outside the city gates, the Spaniards suffered heavy losses. While initially serving only to hand out apples to soldiers, Agostina seized a cannon, fired it herself, and slew a line of French soldiers. Her daring act inspired hundreds of civilians and fleeing soldiers to re‑engage, forcing the French to retreat, though Zaragoza eventually surrendered.
1Flora Sandes
World War I
Flora Sandes holds the unique distinction of being the only woman to serve officially as a soldier in World War I. Born in Yorkshire, England, she grew up riding horses and shooting, later lamenting the “misfortune to be born a woman.” Undeterred, she earned one of the first women’s driver’s licences in 1908. When the war erupted, she trained as a nurse but was rejected by the Red Cross due to her age.
Undaunted, Sandes traveled to Serbia with a group of women, where she performed surgery and managed a military hospital. Her Serbian comrades soon recognized her talents and enlisted her as a private in the Serbian army. She fought on the front lines, quickly rising to captain and commanding the Serbian “Iron Regiment.”
She displayed conspicuous bravery during a surprise attack in Macedonia, earning Serbia’s highest military honour. Though wounded in that battle, the injury lingered throughout her life. Remarkably, at age 65 she volunteered again to fight for Serbia in World II.