Women have contributed to military activities including as combatants. The following list describes women known to have participated in military actions in the 18th century. For women in warfare in the United States at this time, please see Timeline of women in war in the United States, pre-1945.
Timeline of women in warfare from 18th century warfare worldwide (except the present US)
18th century 1700–1721: An unnamed woman serves in the Swedish army in the Great Northern War; after the war, she is seen wearing men's clothing on the streets of Stockholm until the 1740s, where she was known as "The Rider". 1700s: Tomasa Tito Condemayta acts as a military strategist and leader of a woman's battalion during Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II.Marquez, Humberto. "Latin America: Women in history: more than just heroines." Interpress Service 9 Sept. 2009. Business Insights: Global. Web. 21 Oct. 2018.Andrusz, C. (2013). Micaela bastidas A silenced leader (Order No. 1539792). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1415446200).Brewster, C. (2005). Women and the spanish-american wars of independence: An overview. Feminist Review, (79), 2035. 1700s: Maria Ursula d'Abreu e Lencastro joined the Portuguese navy dressed as a man under the name Balthazar do Conto Cardoso, sailed for Portugal, joined the army, and took part in battles in India. 1700s: Ingela Gathenhielm serves as a privateer for King Charles XII of Sweden Great Northern War.Larsson, Lisbeth, Hundrade och en Göteborgskvinnor, Göteborg, 2018 1700s: Margareta von Ascheberg acting colonel of her dead husband's regiment during the Great Northern War.Margaretha Ascheberg, von, urn:sbl:18867, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Gunnar Carlquist.), hämtad 2014-12-28. 1700: During the Battle of Narva, Swedish forces manage to capture some of the Russian soldiers besieging Narva, and discover them to be women dressed as males.Norrhem, Svante, Christina och Carl Piper: en biografi [Christina and Carl Piper: a biography], Historiska media, Lund, 2010 (Swedish) 1700: Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Cassel organize the defense of Copenhagen against invasion.Dansk Biografisk Leksikon 1700–1709: Tarabai, an empress of the Maratha Empire in India, becomes the Empress regent of her son and successfully fights and defeats the Mughals.Eaton, Richard M. (2005). A Social History of the Deccan, 1300–1761: Eight Indian Lives, Volume 1. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 177–203. . 1700–1712: Maria Ursula d'Abreu e Lencastro fights in the Portuguese army in India.MACEDO, Joaquim Manuel de. Anno biographico brazileiro (v. 1). Rio de Janeiro, Typographia e Litographia do Imperial Instituto Artístico, 1876. 1702: Anna Isabella Gonzaga, Duchess of Mantua, defends Mantua during the War of the Spanish Succession as regent during the absence of her spouse.Enciclopedia Italiana (1929) 1702: Marij Jacobs Weijers serves in the Dutch army dressed as a male.Rudolf Dekker en Lotte van de Pol, Vrouwen in mannenkleren. De geschiedenis van een tegendraadse traditie. Europa 1500–1800 (Amsterdam 1989) 1705: Mai Bhago leads Sikh soldiers against the Mughals. 1705–1708: Catharina Margaretha Linck serves as a soldier in the armies of Hanover, Prussia, Hesse, and Poland.Angela Steidele, In Männerkleidern. Das verwegene Leben der Catharina Margaretha Linck, hingerichtet 1721, Cologne: Böhlau, 2004. . 1705: Grietje Harmense Knipsaar serves in the Dutch army dressed as a male under the name Dirk Jansen. 1706: Gertruid ter Brugge serves in the Dutch dragoons and is afterward a local celebrity known as "La Dragonne". 1709–10: The Hungarian noblewoman Géczy Julianna defends Lőcse against the Habsburg forces during the rebellion of Francis II Rákóczi.Förster Rezső: A lőcsei fehér asszony történeti alakja. Bp., 1933 (A Kis Akadémia Könyvtára, V. köt.)
1710s 1710s: During the Great Northern War, Maria Faxell, the wife of a vicar, defends her village against a Norwegian attack by handing out old weapons to both men and women during her husband's absence. 1711–1721: Ingela Gathenhielm operates the Swedish Privateering fleet jointly with her husband during the Great Northern War; when widowed in 1718, she continues herself.Harrison, Dick (2007). "Kvinnorna som blev pirater: två kvinnliga sjörövare står fram i vår historia : kaparredaren Ingela Gatenhielm och piratdrottningen Johanna Hård : båda visade att brott kan löna sig!". Svenska turistföreningens årsbok "2007,": sid. 24–35. 0283–2976. 1712: María de la Candelaria leads a revolt against the Spanish crown. 1712–1714: Anna Jöransdotter from Finland serves in the Swedish army under the named Johan Haritu.Borgström Eva, ed (2002). Makalösa kvinnor: könsöverskridare i myt och verklighet (Marvelous Women: genderbenders in myth and reality) Stockholm: Alfabeta/Anamma. Libris 8707902. (inb.) (Swedish) 1712–1717: Three unnamed females are discovered to have served in the Dutch Marines dressed as males. 1713–1721: Margareta Elisabeth Roos serves in the Swedish army while disguised as a man.Borgström Eva, ed (2002). Makalösa kvinnor: könsöverskridare i myt och verklighet (Marvelous Women: genderbenders in myth and reality) Stockholm: Alfabeta/Anamma. Libris 8707902. (inb.) 1713–1726: Ulrika Eleonora Stålhammar serves in the Swedish army under Charles XII of Sweden during the Great Northern War. 1713–1714: Annika Svahn, as well as several other enslaved Finnish women taken captive by the Russians, are forced to participate in the Russian conquest of Swedish Finland on the battle fields during the Greater Wrath dressed in Russian dragoon uniforms.Suomen kansallisbiografia (National Biography of Finland) 1715: Two unnamed women are rumored to have served among the soldiers in the Swedish army, one of them a wife of one of the soldiers, who by this point was to have served for a period of four years. 1715–1718: Anna Maria Christmann serves in the Austrian army under Prince Eugene of Savoy during the Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–1718).Helmut Engisch: Eine Jungfrau im Türkenkrieg: Wie die Anna Maria Christmann als württembergischer Grenadier das Abendland retten half und dann in Stuttgart Briefträgerin wurde. In: Helmut Engisch: Ein Mönch fliegt übers Schwabenland. Theiss, Stuttgart 1996, 1716: Norwegian Anna Colbjørnsdatter is granted the success in the victory over the Swedes at the Battle of Norderhov in Norway during the Great Northern War 29 March 1716 by capturing 600 Swedish soldiers.Hans Colbjørnsen (Store norske leksikon) 1716: Norwegian Kari Hiran averts the Swedish attempt to conquer Norway by feeding them false information about the size of the Norwegian army.Norheim, Olav: «Den modige finnekjærringa», Terra Buskerud. Historieboka.no 1718: Hangbe in the Kingdom of Dahomey becomes the ruler after her twin brother Akaba is killed. She may have led military campaigns.Bay, Edna (1998). Wives of the Leopard: Gender, Politics, and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey. University of Virginia Press. 1719: Brita Olsdotter, an old Swedish woman, meets the Russian army, who marches against Linköping after having burnt Norrköping, and makes them turn around and leave after telling them that reinforcements were arriving to assist Linköping.
1720s 1720–1739: Granny Nanny, a spiritual leader of the Maroons of Jamaica, leads rebel slaves to victory in First Maroon War. 1721: Comtesse de Polignac, previously the lover of Duc de Richelieu, fights a duel with her rival and successor, the Marchioness de Nesle.Lewis G. M. Thorpe: Nottingham French Studies, V. 41. W. Heffer., 2002. 1722: Six unnamed females are shipped back to the Netherlands after having been exposed to have served as males in either the Dutch Marines or army in an attempt to emigrate to the Dutch East Indies. 1723: Lumke Thoole serve in the Dutch navy dressed as a male under the name Jan Theunisz. 1725: Dutch woman Maria ter Meetelen serves in the Spanish army dressed as a man.Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland (DVN) 1726: Maria Elisabeth Meening served in the Dutch navy dressed as a male. 1727: Dahomey Amazons are founded.
1730s 1732: An unnamed female serves in the Dutch army dressed as a male. 1733: Breffu leads the 1733 slave insurrection on St. John. 1738–1752: Johanna Sophia Kettner serve in the imperial Austrian infantry for fourteen years in the guise of a man and is promoted to feldwebel.Günther Noé, "Amazonen" in der österreichischen Geschichte. – In: Österreich in Geschichte und Literatur, Band 30 (1986), S. 350–361
1740s 1740: Ann Mills fights on the frigate Maidenstone as a dragoon.Felsenstien, Frank: Unraveling Ann Mills. Some thoughts on Gender Construction and Naval Heroism (2006) 1741–1743: Maria van de Gijessen served in the Dutch navy under then name Claes van de Gijessen. 1743: Johanna Sophia Kettner disguises herself as a man and enlists in the Austrian army. 1744: An unnamed female serve in the Dutch navy dressed as a male. 1745: Jacobina (last name unknown) served in the Dutch navy dressed as a male. 1745: An unnamed female served in the Dutch navy dressed as a male. 1745: Phoebe Hessel fights in the Battle of Fontenoy. She had disguised herself as a man to do so.The Circulator of useful knowledge, amusement, literature, science and general information. London, 1825 p. 147 1745: Scottish Mary Ralphson fights in the British army in Battle of Fontenoy dressed as a man 1746: Johanna Bennius serve in the Dutch navy dressed as a male under the name Jan Drop. 1746: Elisabeth Huyser serve in the Dutch army dressed as a male. 1746–1769: Maria van Antwerpen serves as a soldier in the Netherlands under the name Jan van Art. 1748: Gertruid van Duiren enlists and briefly serve in the Dutch army before being discovered 1747–1750: Hannah Snell, serve disguised as a man in the Royal Marine: her military service is officially recognized in 1750, and she is granted a pension.Matthew Stephens – Hannah Snell: The Secret Life of a Female Marine, 1723–1792
1750s 1750: Maria Sophia Stording serve in the Dutch navy dressed as a man. 1751: Two unnamed soldiers of the Dutch navy are discovered to be females dressed as males. 1754: An unnamed female serve in the Dutch army dressed as a man. 1755: An unnamed female serve in the Dutch navy dressed as a man. 1756: Soldier Jochem Wiesse of the Dutch army are discovered to be a female dressed as a male. 1757: Sailor "Arthur Douglas" is revealed to be a woman. Her birth-name is unknown.Suzanne J. Stark: Female tars: women aboard ship in the age of sail. Naval Institute Press, 1996 1757: An unnamed female serve in the Dutch army dressed as a man. 1757–58: Two unnamed females serve in the Dutch navy dressed as a males. 1759–1771: Mary Lacy serves as a Marine carpenter under the name of "William Chandler".
1760s 1760s: Petronella van den Kerkhof possibly serve in the Dutch army as a grenadier: however, as she was not discovered during service, this is unconfirmed. 1760–1761: A woman serves in the British Marines as "William Prothero". 1762: Rafaela Herrera inspires the outnumbered Spanish defenders to victory during a 1762 British siege of the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception in El Castillo village within El Castillo municipality, Nicaragua.Carlos Viscasillas (2009). "La Fortaleza de la Inmaculada Concepción de María" . Managua, Nicaragua: Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID). Retrieved 2011-04-24. 1763: After the assassination of her husband Diego, Filipina Gabriela Silang decided to continue his rebellion in Ilocos against Spain but was unsuccessful.Commire, Anne, and Deborah Klezmer. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Connecticut: Yorkin Publications, 2002. Print. 1764: The Dutch soldier Tiesheld is discovered to be a female dressed as a male. 1765: An unnamed member of the Dutch navy is discovered to be a female dressed as a male.