Badass Women of History- Marina Yurlova

Marina Yurlova

The Soldier

 

Though she never gained the fame or notoriety of some of history's other 'warrior women', Yurlova has a unique story. Her memoir 'Cossack Girl' provides an interesting account of her time serving as a solider in the Russian army during WWI.

Joining the war at just fourteen she would spend her formative years living the life of a soldier and enduring the hardships of life at the front.

Born in a village in the Caucasus Mountains in 1901, Yurlova was a member of the Kuban Cossacks, one of the many Cossack groups that inhabited southern Russia.

Historically, Cossacks were primarily known for two things- A strong sense of independence and their military prowess.

The word Cossack literally means free-man and adventurer.

Descended from Mongol Tatars, Russian peasants, and immigrants from Poland and other Eastern European countries, the Cossacks coalesced into small self-governing military communities.

These communities stayed independent for over a century before being recruited by the Russian monarchy in the sixteen and seventeen hundreds. In exchange for certain privileges the Cossacks were the vanguard for many of Imperial Russia's campaigns of expansion. Serving as scouts, shock troops and bodyguards, the Cossacks earned a reputation for being fierce fighters and steadfast servants of the Czars.

Cossack soldiers in WWI

It was no surprise that when Europe descended into the hellish chaos of the First World War, the Cossacks were called into action. Marina's father, a colonel, set off for the front in 1914. Marina, swept up as so many young people in Europe were by nationalism and patriotic fervor, decided to follow in his footsteps. 

At fourteen years old, she slipped away from her village and climbed aboard a military train in the hopes of uniting with her father. Attached to a group of a Cossack women following their men to the front, Marina eventually found herself in a Russian military camp on the Russian-Turkish front.

Despite her age and gender, Marina was accepted quickly by the men of the camp. Taken under the wing of a soldier named Kosloff, she was given a uniform and was assigned to the stables where she looked after the horses. Though she still looked for her father, her life became consumed by her new regiment.

Marina Yurlova as portrayed by Natalia Witmer in the series '14- Diaries of the Great War'

In time, Marina was also trained as an automechanic and was taught how to shoot by her mentor. Still only fourteen when she tasted combat for the first time, Marina joined her company for an assault to blow up bridges controlled by the Turks.

The attack ended in disaster. Shot in the leg early in the battle, Marina was helpless as her entire company was mowed down by Turkish gunfire. Among the dead was her friend Kosloff. Crawling her way back to her lines, Marina was taken to a hospital where her leg was nearly amputated.

Fortunately, she recovered. The only survivor of the attack, she was awarded a medal and was assigned to a new company. She received a much cooler welcome from her new comrades who regarded her as a child and a camp-follower. She was frequently left behind on missions. One night, while her company was on a dangerous night attack, Marina took a horse from the stables and rode to the front lines.

She found her unit and her courage in the battle cemented her status with the other soldiers.

Marina would continue to serve at the front for three more years, working as a stable-hand, automechanic, truck driver, scout and soldier.

She would survive many battles and close calls, including a night attack where she was knocked unconscious during an artillery barrage in no man's land. She awoke to find herself buried almost up to her face with dirt dispersed by the shells and had to be dug out by other Russian soldiers.

Marina remained at the front until 1917 when the Czar was overthrown. With supply shortages and a lack of morale in the Russian army, desertions and talks of mutiny grew. When Bolshevik soldiers in her unit slew the commanding officers and took control of the regiment, Marina's Cossack heritage made her a target. 

 

Bolshevik Recruiting Poster During the Russian Civil War

Because of her people's staunch loyalty to the Czar (and because many Cossacks were joining anti-Communist armies) she was detained and sent to a Bolshevik prison. She spent several months in a cell by herself. Then, as Russia descended into civil war between pro and anti Communist forces, Marina heard gunshots in her wing of the prison.

A White Russian army just a few days away, the Bolsheviks in charge of the prison had decided to execute their remaining prisoners before fleeing. With her cell all the way at the end of the hall, Marina listened as the Reds shot down the captives inside each room. Expecting her time to come, she stood in the center of her cell waiting for the door to open. However, the Bolsheviks forgot she was there and left after killing the man in the room next to her.

Marina spent several days without food or water in her cell before the White Army arrived and freed her. She joined the anti-Communists for a while before suffering severe shell shock and being hospitalized in Moscow.

Marina was still recovering when she decided that she had endured enough hardship. Seeing no future for herself, she left the hospital with the help of a sympathetic doctor and began an arduous journey across the vast expanse of Russia to Vladivostok. There, she hoped to reach someone at an American run mission and find passage on a ship to the US.

 

Route of the Trans-Siberian Railway which Marina Yurlova used on her journey

Taking a train across the vast expanse of Siberia in 1919, Marina joined a group of Royalists and Cossacks who jumped off in the Siberian wilderness and continued their journey on foot.

A month later, after hiking through wilderness and dodging Bolshevik patrols, the now nineteen year old Marina reached the American mission in Valdivostok, where she secured passage to Japan and then America.

Marina spent the rest of her life living quietly in the US, performing as a dancer before marrying an American filmmaker and becoming a US citizen in 1926. 

Marina Yurlova in 1919.

Badass Women of History- Asmahan

Asmahan

The Spy

  

 

Syrian princess, Egyptian singer, British spy and Nazi double-agent - Asmahan was an alluring figure in the Middle East during the 1930s and 40s.

 

Born Amal al-Atrash into a prominent Syrian family, Asmahan's father was an Ottoman official in Turkey during WWI.

Her parents, both members of the Druze religion, fled Turkey in 1918 after the French and British invaded and occupied the Ottoman Empire's territories.

Supposedly, Asmahan was born on the ship that carried the family to Beirut from Turkey.

When they returned to Syria, Asmahan's father moved the family to his ancestral homeland in the south of the country.

Tensions between the Al-Atrash clan and the French government turned violent in 1921 after a man who tried to assassinate the French governor of Syria was aided in his escape attempt by the Al-Atrash patriarch.

Asmahan's mother, Alia, who felt her marriage was also on the rocks, decided to separate from her husband and move with her children to the relative safety of Egypt.

Despite her husband's objections, Alia left as the French stepped up their violent campaign against the Al-Atrash.

 

Asmahan (far right) with her mother and two brothers shortly 
after arriving in Egypt.

When they arrived in Egypt, Asmahan's mother was forced to moveher children into a humble Cairo apartment.

Well to do relatives in Egypt avoided contact with Alia because they felt she had disgraced the family by leaving her husband.

Though she was of upper class origins, Asmahan's mother supported her children by working as a seamstress and by singing at parties.

However, her aristocratic background allowed Alia to send her children to a prestigious French Catholic school. Eventually, the family made enough money to live comfortably again. Their fortunes improved dramatically after Asmahan's older brother, Farid, began to succeed as a musician. 

Asmahan as a teenager. 

Inspired by their mother's singing, Asmahan's older brother helped to pave the way for his own sister's rapid rise to fame.

At fourteen Asmahan began performing in concerts. By sixteen she had recorded her first album. Gaining notoriety on Egyptian radio, many of her songs were written by Farid who she would remain close to throughout her life.

Asmahan also transitioned well into the Egyptian film scene. She became one of the country's most prominent movie stars, gaining fame and notoriety across the Middle East for her beauty, charm and singing talent. 

 

Despite or perhaps because of her great success, Asmahan received resentment and criticism from her extended family in Syria who pressured her into marrying her cousin, an powerful amir, in 1933.

Returning with her new husband to Syria for the first time since her childhood, the Egyptian star's liberal, more Western lifestyle clashed with her husband's conservative worldview.

She refused to change and fit the role of a traditional Druze wife and began to spend more and more time away from her husband's mountain palace.

Her rocky marriage to her cousin ended in divorce in 1938 (they would marry and divorce one more time) and Asmahan decided to move on.

Free from her marriage, Asmahan made a new home for herself at the luxurious King David Hotel in Jerusalem. 

 

The King David Hotel in Jerusalem.

It was here, at what was regarded as the headquarters of British rule in the Middle East, that Asmahan developed a reputation as a fem-fatale.

Using her singing, charm and extraordinary good looks, 'The Lady of the Lobbies' was able to beguile prominent British and Arab officials alike who stayed at or worked out of the hotel. 

The life of many parties, she was regarded  as an 'agent of influence' who could win and trade favors from a variety of power players. Many important men were smitten with her .

General Edward Spears, a British official, once described Asmahan as: '...one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. Her eyes were immense, green as the sea you cross to paradise. She bowled over British officers with the speed and accuracy of a machine gun.'

There was also a popular joke at the hotel that it was impossible to be alone in her room as you were likely to find one general in her bed, another under her bed and one more dangling from the chandelier.

Asmahan was also bisexual and had numerous affairs with prominent Jerusalem women. Her female lovers were mainly the wives of her male lovers.

It was this ability to charm and influence important men which would change her life once again in 1939 when war broke out in Europe between Britain and Nazi Germany. 

 

Hitler in Paris after the Fall of France

The German conquest of France in 1940 brought numerous French colonies and possessions under de'facto Nazi control. Syria, a French Mandate, came under the domain of Vichy French forces who were loyal to the Nazi government.

Since A Vichy/Nazi controlled Syria threatened British possessions in Palestine and Iraq, British military officials knew they needed support from the peoples of Syria to bring the territory under their control.

In 1941, MI6 recruited Asmahan as an agent and sent her back to Syria. She agreed to work as their operative under the promise that Syria would be granted full and immediate independence once the British invaded it.

Going to Damascus and then to Southern Syria, her mission was to charm and bribe various local leaders into supporting the British invasion and turn their backs on the pro-German French authorities.

She also traveled through the Druze majority areas on the borders of Palestine and Syria convincing her father's people to fight for the British.

With her assistance, the British army in Palestine easily captured Syri. The Free French leader Charles De Gaulle thanked Asmahan personally for her assistance.

Asmahan's honeymoon with the Allies, however, was short lived. 

The British failed to deliver on their promise of Syrian independence. The territory was given to Free French forces opposed to Nazi Germany instead.

This betrayal prompted Asmahan to turn into a double agent.

Operating in Damascus, Asmahan used her seductive charms to steal British military secrets from her high ranking lovers for German intelligence.

Eventually, though Asmahan was captured with British military secrets while trying to reach a German contact in Turkey. She bit the border official who arrested her and she was booted out of Syria by the Free French.

Despite being caught red handed as a double-agent, Asmahan charmed her way out of a firing squad and returned to Jerusalem in 1942.

There, at the age of 24, she resumed her life as the  'Lady of the Lobbies' at the King David Hotel.

She lived there for the next two years, entertaining local notables, restarting her film career, and enjoying her favorite drink a champagne-whiskey cocktail on a daily basis.

She continued to have many affairs and lovers.

In 1944, Asmahan returned to Egypt to star in the film: 'Love and Vengeance' a move which she hoped would make her a prominent star once more.

While filming, she took a car-ride with a friend and a chauffeur in the Nile Delta.

According to the driver, who was the only witness of the event, he lost control of the vehicle which went off the road and dove straight into the Nile River.

Asmahan and her friend drowned before the chauffeur could pull them out.

The odd circumstances around Asmahan's death have prompted many to speculate that the accident was arranged by one of many different parties that would have wished the star harm.

Did MI6 kill her for her betrayal during the war? Did the Germans silence her out of fear that she would reveal secrets? Was a jaded ex-lover or a rebuffed suitor looking for vengeance?

It's unlikely any evidence of a plot will ever emerge. Yet Asmahan's death, like her life, was anything but typical.

Though she wasn't a warrior or a political leader, her skill at charming others made her an invaluable intelligence asset and she showed time and again how great her powers of persuasion were.

Dying only at the age of twenty seven, she lived an exciting albeit tumultuous life and remains an intriguing figure even to this day.

Badass Women of History- Grace O'Malley

Grace O'Malley

The Pirate Queen

  

 

Ireland’s pirate queen, Grace O’Malley, is a folk hero of the Emerald Isle.

The story of her life is often more legend than hard history.

Contemporary accounts are scarce and there’s little doubt much of her exploits have been embellished.

Nevertheless, she had a grand and fearless life. One that definitely makes her a badass woman of history. 

Born in 1530 in what is now County Mayo on Ireland’s west coast, Grace (Gráinne in Irish) was a member the region’s powerful O’Malley clan. 

 

The Ireland of Grace’s time was a land of conflict. The island was not united and was broken up among many different clans who often fought each other over territory. 

 

For three hundred years the O’Malleys had dominated the cost of Mayo from their stronghold at Clew Bay. 

 

Clew Bay- Grace's ancestral homeland and her base of operations

 

Grace’s father, Eoghan ‘Black Oak’ O’Malley was the clan’s chieftain. A famous warrior, Black Oak had continued the O’Malleys’ long tradition of raiding ships that passed near their shores. 

 

As a child Grace begged her father to go out to sea and join his raids. Grace’s mother refused, using the excuse that her daughter’s long hair would get in her way when breezes came. 

 

Grace swiftly responded by shaving herself bald with a dagger. She then sneaked onboard an O'Malley ship disguised as a boy. She was discovered but Black Oak was impressed by her determination. 

 

He agreed to let her sail and at an early age Grace became a pirate, a fighter and a leader of warriors far more seasoned than herself. 

 

By the time she reached 16, she commanded several ships and dozens of men.

 

Despite her courage and ferocity, Grace was still bound by the customs of the time.

 

In 1546 her family married her off to Donal O’Flahtery. The marriage cemented an alliance between their two families and Donal later became chieftain of the O’Flahterys. 

 

Grace bore two sons and a daughter through the marriage and took an active role in managing some of the O’Flahterys’ affairs. Grace was able to maintain control over the men and ships she had commanded while a girl. She also continued to hone her skills as a leader and a raider. By some accounts she took over the majority of the O’Flahterys naval operations.

However, Grace’s husband was hotheaded and held grudges. For much of their marriage he was engaged in a blood feud with the Joyce clan. Eventually, he was wounded in a skirmish with his rivals and died of his injuries. 

 

Ever a dutiful wife, Grace avenged her husband by leading a retaliatory raid on the Joyce controlled, Cock’s Castle. She sacked the fortress which was subsequently renamed Hen’s Castle in her memory.

Hen's Castle

With her vengeance satiated, Grace abandoned rule of the O’Flahterys to her two sons and returned to her father’s clan. Taking her men and ships with her, she assumed leadership of the O’Malleys and embarked on a career of piracy. 

Controlling a fleet of around twenty ships and a force of several hundred men, Grace raided the ships of rival Irish clans, along with English merchant vessels. Her ships also taxed vessels that were willing to pay her protection fees for safe passage and attacked coastal settlements not under their control. Grace’s men maintained a network of small castles along the shore which they used as bases to launch their expeditions. 

 

Granuaile's Tower- One of many small castles Grace controlled along the shores of Mayo

 

They also abducted important members of other clans and held them for ransom. Grace is said to have kidnapped the heir of the Earl of Howth, who had snubbed her when she and her men came to visit him at his castle. In addition to a large sum of money, Grace demanded that the Earl set an extra meal at his table for her every night. The Earl paid the ransom and for the rest of his life put out a plate at dinner for the Pirate Queen.

Grace led her fighters into battle many times. In 1565 she rescued a shipwrecked sailor named Hugh De Lacey. The two became lovers but their romance was cut short when De Lacey was killed by one of Grace’s enemies, the Macmahons. Grace was so devastated by his death that she waged all-out war with the Macmahons for years.

The Pirate Queen of Ireland

Following De Lacey’s death, Grace arranged her second marriage in 1566. Her new husband was Richard ‘Iron Dick’ Bourke, a powerful clan leader who had crossed swords with Grace on prior occasions. Though they remained together until Bourke’s death, Grace ran both their clans’ affairs becoming the power behind Bourke’s throne. 

 

They did have one son, Tibbot, who was born on the open sea. According to one story, a day after giving birth to her youngest son Grace’s ship was attacked by a group of Corsairs.

 

Her crew tried to fend off the attack without their leader who was recovering from childbirth. However, they were outmatched and were soon close to being overwhelmed. 

 

Hearing the battle outside her cabin, Grace rose and took command of her crew. She rallied them and turned the tide. She drove the Corsairs off and captured their ship. 

 

Along with her Irish rivals, Grace also became an enemy of the English. 

 

Under the rule of Elizabeth I the English had been expanding their influence in Ireland. Each year brought more and more clans under the Virgin Queen’s domain.

Queen Elizabeth I of England

Though she submitted publicly to English rule in 1577 Grace’s problems with London became worse. This was mainly because she continued her pirating ways and attacked Irish rivals who had also submitted to the English. Eventually she was captured by an English ally and handed over to them. Her husband rallied to her side and the English, fearing a rebellion, released her. 

 

There was no respite however. From that point on, Grace and Bourke resisted English encroachment, often violently.

 

In 1579 Grace successfully defeated an English army that laid siege to her castle at Rockfleet. 

 

Bourke died in 1582 leaving Grace to resist the English and their Irish allies alone. 

 

The tide turned against her and the O’Malleys in 1584, when Sir Richard Bingham became the English governor of Mayo. 

 

Grace's most challenging enemy Sir Richard Bingham

Bingham, a ruthless agent of the English Crown, had a vocal hatred of Irish traditions. He had been handpicked by Queen Elizabeth to bring Grace and other troublesome Irish chieftains to heel. 

 

Bingham launched a relentless campaign against Grace and her clan, capturing large numbers of their livestock, seizing her castles and imprisoning her eldest son Owen. 

 

Grace refused to yield and her defiance prompted Bingham to execute Owen.

To make matters worse, Bingham succeeded in convincing one of Grace’s other sons, Murrough, to join him in hunting his mother. Despite Bingham’s ruthlessness, Grace evaded capture and harassed the English armies from the bush and the sea. 

 

Still, by 1593 she was backed into a corner. She had lost most of her ships and was running out of safe havens. That same year her only loyal son, Tibbot, was captured by Bingham. Her brother was taken as well. 

 

Desperate for a way out, Grace turned to Queen Elizabeth herself. In a passionate letter, Grace told the Queen her side of the story and pleaded for an audience to negotiate her son and brother’s release. 

 

Despite Bingham’s strong objections, Elizabeth agreed to see Grace at her court in London. 

 

The two women met face to face within a year. Nothing is known of what they said to each other behind closed doors. What is known is that Grace, perhaps playing on the fact that they were both strong women thriving in a male dominated world, was able to convince Elizabeth that she would be a helpful agent of the English in their struggle to control Ireland. 

 

Grace (L) and Elizabeth (R) meet face to face

When the meeting was done Elizabeth had agreed to grant Grace and her people amnesty. Her captured son and brother would be released and Grace would have the English crown’s prerogative to fight its enemies wherever they emerged. Essentially, this gave Grace permission to continue pirating as long as she fought only rivals of the English. 

 

In a complete reversal of his fortunes, Bingham was recalled to England in 1594 after being forced to release Tibbot and Grace's brother. Accounts are that he never overcame the bitterness he felt at having been outmaneuvered by the O'Malley chieftain. 

 

Grace continued her career of piracy uninhibited until her death in 1603 at the age of sixty seven. She remains a folk-hero and a legendary figure with songs and statues dedicated to her memory. 

 

Grace O'Malley statue in Westport, Ireland