Apparently, March is women's history month.
- Thread starter Cypress
- Start date
The Trung Sisters of Vietnam Fight the Han
Under the Han Dynasty, its imperial expansion threatened the traditional—and strongly matriarchal—culture of Vietnam. Two of the most famous Vietnamese rebels of this era were the Trung sisters, who led tribal armies against the powerful invaders. See how their story has become a touchstone of Vietnamese culture and pride into the 21st century.
Boudicca Attacks the Romans
Witness the end of Iron Age Britain and the birth of “Roman Briton” with the valiant but thwarted rebellion led by the Celtic warrior queen, Boudicca. Like many rebels before her, she was motivated by personal tragedy as much as she was driven by the bigger picture of freedom for her people. Her legacy would be revived in the rule of another British queen, Victoria.
Hypatia Dies for Intellectual Freedom
Look at the brilliant and controversial scholar, Hypatia, as she lived, taught, and died in Alexandria in the middle of the 5th century. Her role as a public intellectual and philosopher would make her a rare example of respected female scholarship in a male-dominated world—and would ultimately lead to her murder at the hands of an angry Christian mob.
Source credit: https://www.justplainpolitics.com/s...-Intellectual-Tradition&p=3389666#post3389666
Meet the world's deadliest female sniper who terrorized Hitler's Nazi army
In early 1941, Lyudmila Pavlichenko was studying history at Kiev University, but within a year, she had become one of the best snipers of all time, credited with 309 confirmed kills, 36 of which were German snipers.
“When a neighbor’s boy boasted of his exploits at a shooting range,” said Pavlichenko according to*the Smithsonian. “I set out to show that a girl could do as well. So I practiced a lot.”
Her reputation earned her more dangerous assignments, eventually facing off one on one with enemy snipers. The Smithsonian reports that she dueled and killed 36 enemy snipers, some of whom were highly decorated themselves. “That was one of the tensest experiences of my life,” Pavlichenko reportedly said.
She spent eight months fighting in Stevastopol, where she earned a praise from the Red Army and was promoted. On several occasions she was wounded, but she was only removed from battle after taking shrapnel to the face when her position was bombed by Germans who were desperate to stem the tide of her mounting kill count. She had become a well known figure in the war, as a protagonist in the Red Army's domestic propaganda, and the scourge of German soldiers all over the Eastern front. The Germans even went so far as to address her over loud speakers, offering her comfort and candy should she defect and join their ranks.
Source credit: https://www.justplainpolitics.com/s...-ode-to-kicking-Nazi-ss&p=2072597#post2072597
The Night Witches
Yevdokia Davidovna Bershanskaya (February 6, 1913 – September 16, 1982 ) was a Soviet pilot in World War II and second in command of the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.
In 1941 as an experienced pilot, Yevdokia Bershanskaya became the leader of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, an all women's regiment that flew Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes. In 1943, the regiment was renamed the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. Later she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. The women pilots were so fierce and accurate that the German soldiers began calling them Night Witches. They were called this because often during missions they would cut the engine of their planes and glide over their targets before dropping their bombs and turning the engine back on.
Until its dissolution in October 1945, the regiment remained totally female. Collectively they flew 24,000 sorties, and dropped 23,000 tons of bombs.
There were 23 pilots of the regiment who were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, two awarded Hero of Russia, and one was awarded the title Hero of Kazakhstan.
Source credit: https://www.justplainpolitics.com/s...es-of-kicking-Nazi-ass)&p=2112897#post2112897
Google Doodle celebrates mathematician Olga Ladyzhenskaya
The prolific Russian thinker would've been 97 on Thursday.
Thursday's Google Doodle looks at Olga Ladyzhenskaya, a mathematician who endured a tragic loss to become one of the great thinkers of her time.
Ladyzhenskaya was born March 7, 1922, in Kologriv, a small town in western Russia, and spent her early years being inspired with a love of mathematics by her father, Aleksandr, who taught the subject.
She lost him as a teenager in 1937, when he was arrested by Soviet authorities, declared an enemy of the state and killed. Her family name stopped her from getting into Leningrad State University (now Saint Petersburg State University) two years later, but she ultimately got into Moscow University in 1943. After earning her Ph.D., Ladyzhenskaya went on to lead the Laboratory of Mathematical Physics at the Steklov Mathematical Institute in Moscow and to write more than 250 papers.
She's best known for her work on fluid dynamics of the Navier–Stokes equations -- which describe the motion of viscous substances -- and partial differential equations.
Ladyzhenskaya's contributions to the field earned her the Lomonosov Gold Medal from the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2002. She died on Jan. 12, 2004, at the age of 81.
Source credit: https://www.justplainpolitics.com/s...geek-Olga-Ladyzhenskaya&p=2925273#post2925273