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

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 combatants 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 bellicose Virgin of the Pillar, a rather traditional symbol. Yet, the fact that women found themselves deeply involved in 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 Aragón, the greatest of the ‘Amazons’ of Zaragoza, liberation from France brought with it a counter-revolution, at least as far as her personal liberation was concerned.