A Dangerous Amazon: Agustina Zaragoza and the Spanish Revolutionary War, 1808–1814

TitleA Dangerous Amazon: Agustina Zaragoza and the Spanish Revolutionary War, 1808–1814
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2007
AuthorsTone, John Lawrence
JournalEuropean History Quarterly
Volume37
Issue4
Pagination548-561
Date Published10/2007
Abstract

From 1808 to 1814, women fought alongside men in the Spanish war of independence against Napoleon. The extent to which this was a people's war has been exaggerated. Nevertheless, the involvement of hundreds of female participants in guerrilla warfare in Madrid, Gerona, Zaragoza, and elsewhere shocked the French and surprised the Spanish and was taken by both sides as a sign that the war in Spain was not like other wars. In Zaragoza, female militancy was initially associated with the Virgin of the Pillar, a traditional symbol of activism. Yet, the resistance movement - both in Zaragoza and elsewhere in Spain - created a small space in which women could begin to challenge traditional gender roles. Ironically, however, as illustrated in the story of Agustina Zaragoza de Aragón, called "la artillera" and considered one of the great "Amazons of Zaragoza," liberation from France brought with it a counterrevolution, at least as far as her personal liberation was concerned.

URLhttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0265691407081411
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