A Century of Women Combatants in Russia

I took a class on warfare throughout the 20th Century this semester just gone, and my professor let me choose my own question for the assigned research essay. I chose to look at women combatants, because I and Bene have both been on a bit of a spree getting excited about various excellent ladies involved in wars a lot lately. I ended up becoming most interested by the roles of women in Russia's military, and decided to focus on that in my research. My topic, when I eventually realised what it was, was on the promises of equality made to Russian women by the Bolsheviks early in the 20th Century and how well that promise was kept. As it was a class on warfare, I was examining it through the lens of women's involvement in Russia's military action. 

Anyway, before I start rehashing the whole thing, here's the real thing!

Female soviet pilots relax between missions during World War II

The Second World War of 1939-1945 saw a dramatic increase in female combatants on the Soviet Union’s frontline from Russia’s involvement in World War I, 1914-17. This increase in the number of women and variety of roles was largely caused by a progression in the attitudes toward women, brought about not only through feminist activism but the adoption of Communist ideology shortly after the end of WWI. Focusing on the women combatants of Imperial and Soviet Russia in the First and Second World Wars, I will examine the changes that occurred in the attitudes to and roles of women in Russia throughout the 20th Century. I will use this to make a comparison to women’s roles in the armed forces of contemporary Russia and show that, though Russia’s women gained “unprecedented rights to equal jobs, pay, [and] education,” the promises made by Socialism of gender equality failed to be fully realised (Schwartz, 1979, p. 67). 

Bene Watches: Historical Series

The wonderful thing about being on a university holiday break is that I can watch a bunch of tv series and then talk about them to you guys! The following is in no particular order and contains series which have been renewed, completed or cancelled, with varying degrees of success. I'm trying my best to be non-biased but that tends to be a bit hard sometimes. Please note that I often do not know where to live-stream these series but if I give it a good recommendation, buying the DVD is probably not going to be a waste of money. Light spoilers ahead.

Historical Profile: Baroness Emma Orczy

When you think of heroes with secret identities, you probably think of the superhero genre and comics, but where did they begin? As far as we know, they begin with The Scarlet Pimpernel in the early 20th Century, which was the inspiration for later characters like Zorro and Batman. The Scarlet Pimpernel was set during the French Revolution, boasting a titular character who masquerades as a shallow dandy while leading a secret society of English aristocrats who rescue their French counterparts from the guillotine.

the cover of the 1908 edition

And, yes, that says Baroness. Because the creator of the original dual identity hero was a woman. Last week, Sarah was talking about the concept of the “fake geek girl” who is supposedly taking a thing that is just for boys and pretending to enjoy it for the attention. I didn’t mean for my post to tie in so nicely—I chose my topic before I actually knew what Sarah’s was—but this is a happy coincidence that lets me add this argument to the mix: How can it be just for boys when a woman wrote the play and subsequent adventure novels that inspired such a large part of the genre? Yeah, no, it can’t.

I’m not going to keep going with that though, because Sarah did a great job with it and this post is actually the first of a new series we will be updating intermittently on women of significance throughout history.

The famous quote goes that history is written by the victors, but there’s another facet of that is often left ignored: History is written by men. Women have contributed so much to the world as we know it, but they are frequently forgotten or their work is stolen by a man who presents it as his own. F. Scott Fitzgerald is certainly not the only example, but he’s the first I can think of off the top of my head.

NYAD’s series on historical women, then, serves to highlight women we wish we’d learnt about in school, women who impress or astound us, women we adore, women whose contributions deserve recognition. And this week, I’m starting with:

Snow Gum River

Snow Gum River is a literary short fiction piece that unfolds around a bushranging gang in New South Wales, Australia during the late 1800s. I recently entered into the daunting world of publishing and this is my début short story which is available for free download through Smashwords here. After the break, I'll be discussing a little bit about how I came to write Snow Gum River and the process behind it. Spoilers below in case you haven't read it.

Joan of Arc and Queen Isabella of France: Impact on Women in Society

Joan of Arc and Queen Isabella had a significant impact on women in the Later Medieval English society. Whilst both Joan and Isabella came from French backgrounds and were indeed French, they both influenced and had a part in changing England. In this essay I will be looking at the events that they participated in and how it affected England and the later consequences for the women and any social changes that occurred for women of their period. The essay will also be looking at how they broke the gender stereotypes and limitations placed on them.