Forgotten Warriors

On Tuesday, November 28th, Women in International Security – Australia Inc. was fortunate enough to have a conversation with Dr Sarah Percy from the University of Queensland. Dr Percy discussed her new book Forgotten Warriors: The History of Women on the Front Line  published with Hachette Australia. Described by The Times as ‘An important contribution to the field of military history’ and Bookseller as ‘Brilliant, perspective-shattering’, Forgotten Warriors it an attempt to set the record straight on the diverse and indispensable roles that women have played on the battlefield. Richly detailed and well researched, this book details the long history of women on the front lines.

Part One of Forgotten Warriors begins by exploring the vital role women played in pre-modern war. Percy unpacks women’s contributions to warfare in the form of notable female generals such as Boudicca, a British Celtic queen from the first century CE, Joan of Arc, and Queen Njinga of Ndongo, a warrior queen who ruled during a time of almost constant warfare at the end of the 1500s in what is now Angola. The book then turns its attention to the concept of camp followers, a term often equated with prostitutes, but actually encompasses a vital network of women and men who provided the logistical backbone for pre-modern militaries. Women could also be found in some places in female regiments such as the Dahomean Amazons, or disguised as men and serving in male regiments. When battles were not being fought on battlefields, they took the form of sieges (which were the dominant form of warfare from 1495-1715). In contexts where cities become the battle ground, women proved themselves capable fighters and leaders. The increased professionalization of war, however, slowly, but inexorably, reduced places for women on the battlefield. By the turn of the century, women had all but disappeared from combat.

Part Two of the book turns its attention to women’s roles in the great wars of the twentieth century, World War I and World War II. In this section, Percy highlights how modern, western militaries strongly resisted the idea of having women within the military and only began accepting them (often as civilians) when the existential threat of a global war was at their doorstep. By almost all accounts, women acquitted themselves well in combat and under fire, but they were often not recognised for their contributions. As soon as the world wars ended, women were systematically removed from combat by major militaries.

Part Three of Forgotten Warriors turns its gaze to the debates on women in combat that we are familiar with today. Percy deftly charts the impact of rising support for gender equality on the different justifications militaries put up for the continued exclusion of women from combat. When physical restrictions did not keep women out, militaries claimed that women on the front line would upset the public, not to mention undercutting the almost mythological ‘band of brothers’ organisational cohesion that was apparently only possible in male only units. These arguments, however, failed to withstand the breakdown of the distinction between combat positions and support positions in the face of the asymmetric conflict environments if Afghanistan and Iraq.

Forgotten Warriors is a compelling read. By taking the long-view of history, Percy shows that women have long be part of war and that their exclusion from combat is a modern, and specifically engineered, phenomena. By bringing to light this forgotten history, Percy is helping women take their rightful place as key players in warfare.