This is a list of women who led a revolt or rebellion. A revolt is an organized attempt to overthrow an existing body of state authority through a rebellion, or uprising.
Armed conflict
Before 1000 AD
Queen Zenobia's Last Look Upon Palmyra, by Herbert Schmalz.
In 671–670 BC, the oracle of Nusku, a former slave-girl, initiated a rebellion against the Assyrian king Esarhaddon in favor of the official Sasi and played a central role in the ensuing conspiracy.[1]
In 280 BC, Chelidonis, a Spartan princess, orchestrated provisioning the warriors on the wall during the Siege of Sparta. She wore a noose around her neck to show her husband Cleonymus that she would not be taken alive.[2]
In the 9th century BC, according to the legendary history of Britain, Queen Gwendolen gathered an army and fought her ex-husband, Locrinus, in a civil war for the throne of Britain. She defeated him and became the monarch.[3][4]
In 40, the Trưng Sisters successfully rebelled against the Chinese Han-Dynasty rule, and are regarded as national heroines of Vietnam.
In 60–61, Boudica, a Celtic chieftain in Britain, led a massive uprising against the occupying Roman forces.[7] The Romans attempted to raise the morale of their troops by informing them that her army contained more women than men.[8]
In 69–70, Veleda of the GermanicBructeri tribe wielded a great deal of influence in the Batavian rebellion. She was acknowledged as a strategic leader, a priestess, a prophet, and as a living deity.[9]
In 378, Queen Mavia led a rebellion against the Roman army[11] and defeated them repeatedly. The Romans finally negotiated a truce with her on her conditions.[12]
In 1420, Tang Sai'er led an army in the White Lotus revolt against the Ming dynasty in China.
In c. 1538-1542, Juliana, a Guaraní woman of early-colonial Paraguay, killed a Spanish colonist (her husband or master), and urged the other enslaved indigenous women to do the same; ending executed.[14][15][16]
In 1760-1790, Rani Velu Nachiyar (Tamil: இராணி வேலு நாச்சியார்) was an 18th-century Indian queen from Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu. Rani Velu Nachiyar was the first queen to fight against the East India Company in India.
In 1763, Gabriela Silang led a revolution against the Spanish to establish an independent Ilocos, which was started by her husband, Diego Silang in after her husband was assassinated in 1763.
In 1778, Baltazara Chuiza leads a rebellion against the Spanish in Ecuador.[20]
In 1868, Ana Betancourt helped organize the fight for Cuban independence during the Ten Years' War and used it as an opportunity to advocate for women's rights.
In 2011, twenty-six-year-old Asmaa Mahfouz was instrumental[34] in initiating the protests that began the uprising in Cairo[35] and started the 2011 Egyptian revolution.[36] She urged the Egyptian people to join her in a protest on January 25 in Tahrir Square to bring down Mubarak's regime.[37] She used video blogging and social media that went viral[38] and urged people not to be afraid.[39]
In 2011, Aya Virginie Toure[40] organized over 40,000 women [41] in numerous peaceful protests that turned violent[42] in a revolution[43] against Laurent Gbagbo[44] in Côte d'Ivoire.
^Radner, Karen (2003). "The Trials of Esarhaddon: The Conspiracy of 670 BC". ISIMU: Revista sobre Oriente Próximo y Egipto en la antigüedad. 6. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid: 165–183.
^Plutarch; Scott-Kilvert, Ian (translator) (1973). Life of Pyrrhus. New York: Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044286-3. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
^Geoffrey of Monmouth, translated by Lewis Thorpe (1966). The History of the Kings of Britain. London, Penguin Group. p. 286.
^Geoffrey of Monmouth, p.77
^Leon, p. 202
^"Lu Mu - mother of a revolution - ColorQ Articles Etc". www.colorq.org.
^Hazel, John (2001). Who's Who in the Roman World. Routledge, London, UK. ISBN 0-415-22410-1.
^Salmonson, p.39
^Lendering, Jona. "Veleda". Livius. Retrieved December 2, 2006.
^"Roman Emperors - DIR Vaballathus and Zenobia". www.roman-emperors.org.
^Sue M. Sefscik. "Zenobia". Women's History. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
^Jensen, 1996, pp. 73-75.
^Kessler, David (1996). The Falashas: A Short History of the Ethiopian Jews. Routledge. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-7146-4646-6.
^Schvartzman, Gabriela (September 19, 2020). "Relatos sobre la India Juliana. Entre la construcción de la memoria y la ficción histórica". Periódico E'a (in Spanish). Asunción: Atycom. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
^Colmán Gutiérrez, Andrés (December 5, 2020). "En busca de la India Juliana". Última Hora (in Spanish). Asunción. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
^Tieffemberg, Silvia (2020). "La india Juliana: el enemigo dentro de la casa". Pensar América desde sus colonias: Textos e imágenes de América colonial (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Editorial Biblos. ISBN 978-987-691-787-2. Retrieved December 12, 2021 – via Google Books.
^MacPherson, Telasco A. (1891). Diccionario histórico, geográfico, estadistico y biográfico del Estado Miranda (República de Venezuela) (in Spanish). Caracas: El Correo de Caracas. pp. 29, 233–234. OCLC 253754667. Retrieved January 28, 2022 – via Google Books.
^Anna Nzinga Summary – via www.bookrags.com.
^"Government of Jamaica, national heroes listing". Archived from the original on May 15, 2011.
^Salmonson, p. 58
^Salmonson, p. 26
^Jennifer S. Uglow,Maggy Hendry. The Northeastern dictionary of women's biography. UPNE, 1999 ISBN 978-1-55553-421-9, p. 81: "Greek freedom fighter."
^Kirstin Olsen. Chronology of women's history. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994 ISBN 978-0-313-28803-6, p. 110.
^David E. Jones. Women warriors: a history. Brassey's, 2000 ISBN 978-1-57488-206-3, p. 131: "the Greek woman warrior tradition continued into the 18th century with Laskarina Bouboulina. Born in 1783, she developed into a Greek naval commander"
^Bernard A. Cook. Women and war: a historical encyclopedia from antiquity to the present, Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO, 2006 ISBN 978-1-85109-770-8, p. 225: "...of the 1,500 Greek combatants in the crucial battle 1,000 were women. Nevertheless, Laskarina Bouboulina and Manto Mavrogenous, the most famous women fighters of the Greek Revolution were not from mountain villages but islands."
^"Apache2 Debian Default Page: It works". Archived from the original on October 6, 2011.
^"The Death of Comandanta Ramona". www.radiozapatista.org.
^"5th October 1789 – the Women's March on Versailles".
^Judith A. Byfie (2003). "Taxation, Women, and the Colonial State: Egba Women's Tax Revolt". Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism. 3 (2). Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism (Project Muse): 250–277.
^'People Power' Leader Toppled Philippine Dictator, The Washington Post (1 August 2009)
^"Women's Peace Movement of Liberia". The MY HERO Project.
^"African women look within for change". CNN.com. 30 October 2009.
^Ukraine's 'goddess of revolution', BBC News (5 December 2004)
^"Arab Women Lead the Charge". Archived from the original on March 16, 2011.
^"Women play vital role in Egypt's uprising" (transcript). National Public Radio. February 4, 2011. Retrieved 2011-02-06.
^El-Naggar, Mona (February 1, 2011). "Equal Rights Takes to the Barricades". The New York Times.
^Jardin, Xeni (February 2, 2011). "Egypt: The viral vlog of Asmaa Mahfouz that helped spark an uprising". Boing Boing.
^The Canadian Charger
^"Ivory Coast women defiant after being targeted by Gbagbo's guns" (article). The Guardian. London. March 11, 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
^"A plea for help from an Ivorian women's leader amid the violent power struggle" (radio broadcast). BBC Radio. March 23, 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-23.
^"Ivory Coast: women shot dead at anti-Gbagbo rally" (article). Euronews. March 3, 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
^Smith, David (April 1, 2011). "Ivory Coast's well-armed rebels making quick work of revolution" (article). The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2011-04-01.
^"Women in Ivory Coast lead the revolution against Gbagbo". Newscast Media. March 9, 2011. Archived from the original (article) on March 14, 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-09.