Badass Women Warriors of the World
In ancient times, #women were generally restricted to more household roles but some female warriors broke with tradition and fought on the battlefield and made a permanent mark on history. As civilization progressed and as wars became a bitter reality that could not be avoided, women stepped up and came to the fore. As it happened, and quite deservingly, they became legends that will be revered by generations to follow.
Here is the list of #warrior queens who not only stood up to the powerful male warrior of their day because history is written by the victors.
Grace O’Malley
Grace O’Malley the Pirate Queen of Connaught, is a candidate for the most badass woman ever. Grace O’Malley is a well-known historical figure in 16th-century Irish history.
She was born in Ireland in around 1530, as a daughter of the Eoghan Dubhdara Ó Mháille (father) and Margaret/Maeve Ní Mháille (mother).
She made her name by assaulting the west coasts of Scotland and Ireland. She was so tough that the day after birthing a child upon her ship and then she took up arms to defend the vessel against pirates.
Grace O’Malley greatest confrontation was against Queen Elizabeth I. Finally in 1593, Grace O’Malley family was captured by governor Sir Richard Bingham and Grace O’Malley sailed to England to petition Queen Elizabeth I for their release.
Rani Lakshmibai
Rani Lakshmibai was born in Kashi on 19 November 1828 as a daughter of Moropant Tambe (Father) and Bhagirathi Sapre (Mother). Her real name was Manikarnika. She went to Bithoor at the age of 4 with her father because her mother died. She was married to King Gangadhar Rao at the age of 14 in the year 1842.
British opposed her and she gave the slogan “ Mai apni jhaansi nahi dungi ”. In 1857 she prepared an army of 14000 including women and taught them warfare. On 23 March 1858 Sir Hugh rose laid siege on Jhansi. On 17 June 1858, she was martyred in the battle with the British.
Boudicca
Boudicca was the queen of a small tribe(British Celtic Iceni ) before England was unified under one ruler. The Romans were invading and her husband made an agreement with them. Her husband Prasutagus would remain King but would be under Roman rule.
When Prasutagus died, the Romans thought they were facing weak women and broke the agreement. When Boudicca complained, her daughters were assaulted and she was beaten.
Boudicca encouraged many British tribes to revolt against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire. Boudicca succeeded in defeating the Romans in three great battles but her vast army was easily crushed by the Romans, who began to advance. Boudicca then died either of poison or sickness, not in the battle.
Zenobia
Zenobia was a queen of the Palmyrene Empire, a rich trading city in the Syrian desert. She was a remarkable woman, famous for her beauty, her culture, and her ruthlessness.
She was married to Septimius Odaenathus at the age of 18. Zenobia claimed to act as regent for her young son after the death of Odaenathus(her husband) and his Odaenathus oldest child.
She’s a famous warrior queen who briefly challenged Roman power in the Near East and became a popular figure of romantic legend.
The fate of Zenobia remains a mystery.
Tomyris
The woman who killed and crucified Cyrus the Great. Tomyris was a 6th-century warrior queen ruling over Massagetae.
Cyrus the Great of Persia decided to get married Tomyris–mostly because he wanted to get his hands on Massagetae but Tomyris declined.
As the leader of the Massagetae tribes, she defended her people against the invasion of Persians and defeated them on an open battlefield.
She defeated his army and had him beheaded and then drank some wine from the skull.
The Trung Sisters
The Trung Sisters made every single Vietnamese proud. They were the daughters of a powerful Vietnamese lord. The Trung Sisters grew up in a military family where they studied warfare and martial arts.
They grew up seeing terrible things done to the Vietnamese by the Chinese. Trung sisters took 65 citadels from the Chinese and they took the kingdom of Nanyue.
The Chinese return with a huge force reclaimed and stole the Hue territory again. Instead of submitting themselves to the Chinese again, Trung sisters both agreed that they would rather die or be free.
They committed suicide by drowning themselves in a river.
NAKANO TAKEKO
Nakano Takeko was a female Japanese warrior. She was good-looking, well-educated, and came from a very powerful samurai family.
During the Battle of Aizu, she distinguished herself by fighting against a white weapon, brandishing a naginata, a Japanese bladed weapon. She led a corps of female combatants who fought in the battle independently. They were later referred to as the Women’s Army.
The Boshin War was a civil war in Japan who fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling and Nakano Takeko died during the Boshin War.
With the reforms of the Meiji era, the samurai class was abolished and a western-style national army was established, making Nakako Takeko one of the last samurai in history.