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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.
Women have been serving in the military since the inception of organized warfare, in both combat and non-combat roles. Their inclusion in combat missions has increased in recent decades, often serving as pilots, mechanics, and infantry officers.
Many people have engaged in cross-dressing during wartime under various circumstances and for various motives. This has been especially true of women, whether while serving as a soldier in otherwise all-male armies, while protecting themselves or disguising their identity in dangerous circumstances, or for other purposes.
Soldaderas, often called Adelitas, were women in the military who participated in the conflict of the Mexican Revolution, ranging from commanding officers to combatants to camp followers. "In many respects, the Mexican revolution was not only a men's but a women's revolution." Although some revolutionary women achieved officer status, coronelas, "there are no reports of a woman achieving the rank of general." Since revolutionary armies did not have formal ranks, some women officers were called generala or coronela, even though they commanded relatively few men. A number of people assigned female at birth, took male identities, dressing as men, and being called by the male version of their given name, among them Ángel Jiménez and Amelio Robles Ávila.
A variety of roles were played by women in post-classical warfare. Only women active in direct warfare, such as warriors, spies, and women who actively led armies are included in this list. James Illston says,
Women have played a leading role in active warfare. The following is a list of prominent women in war and their exploits from about 1500 up to about 1699.
The following is a list of women in war and their exploits from about 1800 up to about 1899.
Ulrika Eleonora Stålhammar, was a Swedish corporal and crossdresser who served in the Great Northern War. She was put on trial for having served in the military posing as a man and for marrying a woman. She has been the object of plays, literature, research and exhibitions.
Margareta Elisabeth Roos or Anna Stina Roos (1696–1772) was a Swedish woman and a crossdresser who served as a soldier in the Swedish army of Charles XII of Sweden during the Great Northern War.
Carin or Karin (Catharina) Du Rietz (1766–1788) was a Swedish woman who became a soldier at the Royal guard in the guise of a man. She was the first woman in the Swedish royal guard. Her story was a well known and discussed event in her time, and later regarded to exemplify the vivacious Gustavian age.
Elisabeth "Lisbetha" Olsdotter was a Swedish woman, who was executed on a number of different charges after having dressed as a man, served as a soldier and married a woman. On 24 October 1679 Svea Hovrätt in Stockholm brought the charges, earlier raised in the court of Långhundra Häradsting.
Brita Christina Hagberg, née Nilsdotter, alias Petter Hagberg, was a woman who served as a soldier in the Swedish army during the Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790). She is one of two confirmed women to have been decorated for bravery in battle in Sweden before women were allowed into the military in the 20th century.
Anna Åkerhielm or Åkerhjelm, née Anna Agriconia, was a Swedish writer, in languages including Latin, and traveller. She was the first woman in Sweden to have been ennobled for her own actions (1691).
Maria van Antwerpen was a Dutch soldier and seamstress who disguised herself as a man to enlist in the Dutch States Army. She is considered by the Dutch historians Rudolf Dekker and L.J.M. van de Pol as a transsexual woman. Maria married twice to women. Two biographies were published about Maria in her own lifetime, one by Franciscus Lievens Kersteman in 1751.
Brita Olofsdotter, was a Finnish soldier of the Swedish cavalry. She is the likely first confirmed female soldier in Sweden, as well as the first confirmed Swedish example of the historical phenomena of women impersonating men to gain access to professions barred to their gender.
Maria Johansdotter, or Maja Jansdotter, also known as Magnus Johansson, was a Swedish spelman and parish clerk. She was the first woman parish clerk in Sweden. She was put on trial for homosexuality and for having posed as a man in 1705.
Magdalena Elisabeth de Ram van Hagedoorn, was a Swedish politically active salon-holder during the Age of Liberty.
This is a timeline of women in warfare in the United States before 1900.This list includes women who served in the United States Armed Forces in various roles. It also includes women who have been Warriors and fighters in other types of conflicts that have taken place in the United States. This list should also encompass women who served in support roles during military and other conflicts in the United States before the twentieth century.
This is a timeline of women in warfare in the United States up until the end of World War II. It encompasses the colonial era and indigenous peoples, as well as the entire geographical modern United States, even though some of the areas mentioned were not incorporated into the United States during the time periods that they were mentioned.
