The most kick-ass female in history

[Mirjt]

If religious figures count:

The virgin Mary
Mary Magdalene
Mary of Bethany
Esther
Rahab

Though this is from my Christian perspective, I am sure there are many other great women religious figures in Christianity and other faiths and traditions.

[Bombadil]

Enough candidate for a poll then..

[Free Las Pinas]

There are way more kick-ass females, but I understand why you can't fit them all. For this poll, I think it's Joan or Ching Shih.

[Bombadil]

There are way more kick-ass females, but I understand why you can't fit them all. For this poll, I think it's Joan or Ching Shih.

Yeh there's only 10 options allowed, for Joan I'm still kind of puzzled how she got to head an army.

[Cannot think of a name]

Some black and white photo made it but not Denise McCluggage? I see how it is. Racing fans always sidelined by the mainstreamers.

I know I'll never look as cool as Shirley Slade does in this photo essay about the WASPS of WWII.

[Andsed]

Oh has Aleksandra Samusenko been mentioned yet? She was pretty badass.

[Bombadil]

Some black and white photo made it but not Denise McCluggage? I see how it is. Racing fans always sidelined by the mainstreamers.

More because it amused me than anything..

I know I'll never look as cool as Shirley Slade does in this photo essay about the WASPS of WWII.

(Image)

She does, indeed, look pretty cool.

[Free Las Pinas]

I know I'll never look as cool as Shirley Slade does in this photo essay about the WASPS of WWII.

(Image)

She looks badass in that picture!

Also wanted to mention:
Katherine Switzer
Amelia Earheart
Maud Stevens

[Geneviev]

Obviously Marie Curie. Science is always cool.

[Cannot think of a name]

Some black and white photo made it but not Denise McCluggage? I see how it is. Racing fans always sidelined by the mainstreamers.

More because it amused me than anything..

I know, I just wanted to complain.

[Bombadil]

More because it amused me than anything..

I know, I just wanted to complain.

I hereby grant you one free 'CTOAN Placeholder™' for my next poll as redress.

[Kowani]

Clarissa Barton (Founded the American Red Cross)
Mary Anning (Paleontologist)
Florence Nightingale (Led the nurses of the Crimean War)
Theodora (Byzantine Empress)
Rosalind Franklin (Helped discover the Double Helix of DNA)
Mary Caulkins (One of the most influential psychologists in history)
Hypatia (Mathematician)
Katherine Johnson (NASA human computer for the early space missions)
Lise Meitner (Helped discovers nuclear fission)
Hatshepsut (2nd female pharaoh, but the better one)

[Liriena]

In terms of the sheer, immediate scale of her accomplishments? Empress Wu. No question about it.

[Major-Tom]

Mrs. Ahern from 6th grade history, may you continue to drive Subarus and tell tales of beating up Southies before mass.

[Shofercia]

St. Olga of Pskov:

Domestic Policies:
- Religious Tolerance
- Progressive Taxation
- Women's Rights

Oh yeah, did I mention that she did it in the tenth century? For those of you that like violence:
- Burned the idiot who attempted to rape her, and his retinue, alive, because rape is bad... mmkay?
- Expanded Russia's borders through warfare

Diplomacy & Other Things:
- Informed the Patriarch that he'll be the one Baptizing St. Olga to St. Elena, and, to quote the Borg: "he complied"
- Influenced her husband, son, and grandson, and thus her philosophy directly influenced Russia's Rulers from 913 until 1015. That's over a century of influence. In the tenth/eleventh centuries
- Laid the foundation for the Zenith of Medieval Rus
- Assisted the establishment of a two capital system

[Bombadil]

St. Olga of Pskov:

Domestic Policies:
- Religious Tolerance
- Progressive Taxation
- Women's Rights

Oh yeah, did I mention that she did it in the tenth century? For those of you that like violence:
- Burned the idiot who attempted to rape her, and his retinue, alive, because rape is bad... mmkay?
- Expanded Russia's borders through warfare

Diplomacy & Other Things:
- Informed the Patriarch that he'll be the one Baptizing St. Olga to St. Elena, and, to quote the Borg: "he complied"
- Influenced her husband, son, and grandson, and thus her philosophy directly influenced Russia's Rulers from 913 until 1015. That's over a century of influence. In the tenth/eleventh centuries
- Laid the foundation for the Zenith of Medieval Rus
- Assisted the establishment of a two capital system

Jesus those Drevlians were thick as shit..

Wiki Account of their Doom

After Igor's death at the hands of the Drevlians, Olga assumed the throne because her three-year-old son Svyatoslav was too young to rule. The Drevlians, emboldened by their success in ambushing and killing the king, sent a messenger to Olga proposing that she marry his murderer, Prince Mal. Twenty Drevlian negotiators boated to Kiev to pass along their king's message and to ensure Olga's compliance. They arrived in her court and told the queen why they were in Kiev: "to report that they had slain her husband...and that Olga should come and marry their Prince Mal."[14] Olga responded:

Your proposal is pleasing to me, indeed, my husband cannot rise again from the dead. But I desire to honor you tomorrow in the presence of my people. Return now to your boat, and remain there with an aspect of arrogance. I shall send for you on the morrow, and you shall say, "We will not ride on horses nor go on foot, carry us in our boat." And you shall be carried in your boat.[14]

When the Drevlians returned the next day, they waited outside Olga's court to receive the honor she had promised. When they repeated the words she had told them to say, the people of Kiev rose up, carrying the Drevlians in their boat. The ambassadors believed this was a great honor, as if they were being carried by palanquin. The people brought them into the court where they were dropped into a trench that had been dug the day before under Olga's orders where the ambassadors were buried alive. It is written that Olga bent down to watch them as they were buried and "inquired whether they found the honor to their taste."[14]

Olga then sent a message to the Drevlians that they should send "their distinguished men to her in Kiev, so that she might go to their Prince with due honor."[14] The Drevlians, unaware of the fate of the first diplomatic party, gathered another party of men to send "the best men who governed the land of Dereva."[14] When they arrived, Olga commanded her people to draw them a bath and invited the men to appear before her after they had bathed. When the Drevlians entered the bathhouse, Olga had it set on fire from the doors, so that all the Drevlians within burned to death.[14]

Olga sent another message to the Drevlians, this time ordering them to "prepare great quantities of mead in the city where you killed my husband, that I may weep over his grave and hold a funeral feast for him."[14] When Olga and a small group of attendants arrived at Igor's tomb, she did indeed weep and hold a funeral feast. The Drevlians sat down to join them and began to drink heavily. When the Drevlians were drunk, she ordered her followers to kill them, "and went about herself egging on her retinue to the massacre of the Drevlians."[14] According to the Primary Chronicle, five thousand Drevlians were killed on this night, but Olga returned to Kiev to prepare an army to finish off the survivors.

The initial conflict between the armies of the two nations went very well for the forces of Kievan Rus', who won the battle handily and drove the survivors back into their cities. Olga then led her army to Iskorosten (what is today Korosten), the city where her husband had been slain, and laid siege to the city. The siege lasted for a year without success, when Olga thought of a plan to trick the Drevlians. She sent them a message: "Why do you persist in holding out? All your cities have surrendered to me and submitted to tribute, so that the inhabitants now cultivate their fields and their lands in peace. But you had rather tide of hunger, without submitting to tribute."[15] The Drevlians responded that they would submit to tribute, but that they were afraid she was still intent on avenging her husband. Olga answered that the murder of the messengers sent to Kiev, as well as the events of the feast night, had been enough for her. She then asked them for a small request: "Give me three pigeons...and three sparrows from each house."[15] The Drevlians rejoiced at the prospect of the siege ending for so small a price, and did as she asked.

Olga then instructed her army to attach a piece of sulphur bound with small pieces of cloth to each bird. At nightfall, Olga told her soldiers to set the pieces aflame and release the birds. They returned to their nests within the city, which subsequently set the city ablaze. As the Primary Chronicle tells it: "There was not a house that was not consumed, and it was impossible to extinguish the flames, because all the houses caught fire at once."[15] As the people fled the burning city, Olga ordered her soldiers to catch them, killing some of them and giving the others as slaves to her followers. She left the remnant to pay tribute.

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

Griselda Blanco or Phoolan Devi.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Hurray! My mum is leading the poll!

Suck a dick in second place Joan of 'arc! Oh wait you cant because you are fucking deaaaaaaad

[Hakinda Herseyi Duymak istiyorum]

All women's hair should be like Jeanne d'Arc

[Fartsniffage]

All women's hair should be like Jeanne d'Arc

On fire?

[Shofercia]

St. Olga of Pskov:

Domestic Policies:
- Religious Tolerance
- Progressive Taxation
- Women's Rights

Oh yeah, did I mention that she did it in the tenth century? For those of you that like violence:
- Burned the idiot who attempted to rape her, and his retinue, alive, because rape is bad... mmkay?
- Expanded Russia's borders through warfare

Diplomacy & Other Things:
- Informed the Patriarch that he'll be the one Baptizing St. Olga to St. Elena, and, to quote the Borg: "he complied"
- Influenced her husband, son, and grandson, and thus her philosophy directly influenced Russia's Rulers from 913 until 1015. That's over a century of influence. In the tenth/eleventh centuries
- Laid the foundation for the Zenith of Medieval Rus
- Assisted the establishment of a two capital system

Jesus those Drevlians were thick as shit..

Wiki Account of their Doom

After Igor's death at the hands of the Drevlians, Olga assumed the throne because her three-year-old son Svyatoslav was too young to rule. The Drevlians, emboldened by their success in ambushing and killing the king, sent a messenger to Olga proposing that she marry his murderer, Prince Mal. Twenty Drevlian negotiators boated to Kiev to pass along their king's message and to ensure Olga's compliance. They arrived in her court and told the queen why they were in Kiev: "to report that they had slain her husband...and that Olga should come and marry their Prince Mal."[14] Olga responded:

Your proposal is pleasing to me, indeed, my husband cannot rise again from the dead. But I desire to honor you tomorrow in the presence of my people. Return now to your boat, and remain there with an aspect of arrogance. I shall send for you on the morrow, and you shall say, "We will not ride on horses nor go on foot, carry us in our boat." And you shall be carried in your boat.[14]

When the Drevlians returned the next day, they waited outside Olga's court to receive the honor she had promised. When they repeated the words she had told them to say, the people of Kiev rose up, carrying the Drevlians in their boat. The ambassadors believed this was a great honor, as if they were being carried by palanquin. The people brought them into the court where they were dropped into a trench that had been dug the day before under Olga's orders where the ambassadors were buried alive. It is written that Olga bent down to watch them as they were buried and "inquired whether they found the honor to their taste."[14]

Olga then sent a message to the Drevlians that they should send "their distinguished men to her in Kiev, so that she might go to their Prince with due honor."[14] The Drevlians, unaware of the fate of the first diplomatic party, gathered another party of men to send "the best men who governed the land of Dereva."[14] When they arrived, Olga commanded her people to draw them a bath and invited the men to appear before her after they had bathed. When the Drevlians entered the bathhouse, Olga had it set on fire from the doors, so that all the Drevlians within burned to death.[14]

Olga sent another message to the Drevlians, this time ordering them to "prepare great quantities of mead in the city where you killed my husband, that I may weep over his grave and hold a funeral feast for him."[14] When Olga and a small group of attendants arrived at Igor's tomb, she did indeed weep and hold a funeral feast. The Drevlians sat down to join them and began to drink heavily. When the Drevlians were drunk, she ordered her followers to kill them, "and went about herself egging on her retinue to the massacre of the Drevlians."[14] According to the Primary Chronicle, five thousand Drevlians were killed on this night, but Olga returned to Kiev to prepare an army to finish off the survivors.

The initial conflict between the armies of the two nations went very well for the forces of Kievan Rus', who won the battle handily and drove the survivors back into their cities. Olga then led her army to Iskorosten (what is today Korosten), the city where her husband had been slain, and laid siege to the city. The siege lasted for a year without success, when Olga thought of a plan to trick the Drevlians. She sent them a message: "Why do you persist in holding out? All your cities have surrendered to me and submitted to tribute, so that the inhabitants now cultivate their fields and their lands in peace. But you had rather tide of hunger, without submitting to tribute."[15] The Drevlians responded that they would submit to tribute, but that they were afraid she was still intent on avenging her husband. Olga answered that the murder of the messengers sent to Kiev, as well as the events of the feast night, had been enough for her. She then asked them for a small request: "Give me three pigeons...and three sparrows from each house."[15] The Drevlians rejoiced at the prospect of the siege ending for so small a price, and did as she asked.

Olga then instructed her army to attach a piece of sulphur bound with small pieces of cloth to each bird. At nightfall, Olga told her soldiers to set the pieces aflame and release the birds. They returned to their nests within the city, which subsequently set the city ablaze. As the Primary Chronicle tells it: "There was not a house that was not consumed, and it was impossible to extinguish the flames, because all the houses caught fire at once."[15] As the people fled the burning city, Olga ordered her soldiers to catch them, killing some of them and giving the others as slaves to her followers. She left the remnant to pay tribute.

I never quite understood their way of thinking: "hey, I killed the man she loved, and I want to rape her, so why won't she marry me?" I'm like - dude, the answer's in the question. And the whole boat scene, "yes, we're carrying you to be burned, erm, we mean honored!" And the final scene "hey, this is an extremely smart woman who kicked our butts up and down the battlefield and won the respect of her people, why's she requesting birds from each nest? She must be taking an interest in ornithology!"

I guess it helped that most of her opponents were nowhere near as intelligent as she was, but still... I want her as leader. I think what happened after that is cooler:

She imposed upon them a heavy tribute, two parts of which went to Kiev, and the third to Olga in Vyshgorod; for Vyshgorod was Olga's city. She then passed through the land of Dereva, accompanied by her son and her retinue, establishing laws and tribute. Her trading posts and hunting-preserves are there still. Then she returned with her son to Kiev, her city, where she remained one year.

6455 (947). Olga went to Novgorod, and along the Msta she established trading-posts and collected tribute. She also collected imposts anci tribute along the Luga. Her hunting-grounds, boundary posts, towns, and trading-posts still exist throughout the whole region, while her sleighs stand in Pskov to this day. Her fowling preserves still remain on the Dnieper and the Desna, while her village of Ol'zhichi is in existence even now. After making these dispositions, she returned to her city of Kiev, and dwelt at peace with it.

6456-6463 (948-955). Olga went to Greece, and arrived at Tsar'grad. The reigning Emperor was named Constantine, son of Leo. Olga came before him, and when he saw that she was very fair of countenance and wise as well, the Emperor wondered at her intellect. He conversed with her and remarked that she was worthy to reign with him in his city. When Olga heard his words, she replied that she was still a pagan, and that if he desired to baptize her, he should perform this function himself; otherwise, she was unwilling to accept baptism. The Emperor, with the assistance of the Patriarch, accordingly baptized her.

When Olga was enlightened, she rejoiced in soul and body. The Patriarch, who instructed her in the faith, said to her, "Blessed art thou among the women of Rus', for thou hast loved the light, and quit the darkness. The sons of Rus' shall bless thee to the last generation of thy descendants." He taught her the doctrine of the Church, and instructed her in prayer and fasting, in almsgiving, and in the maintenance of chastity. She bowed her head, and like a sponge absorbing water, she eagerly drank in his teachings. The Princess bowed before the Patriarch, saying, "Through thy prayers, Holy Father, may I be preserved from the crafts and assaults of the devil!"

At her baptism she was christened Helena, after the ancient Empress, mother of Constantine the Great. The Patriarch then blessed her and dismissed her. After her baptism, the Emperor summoned Olga and made known to her that he wished her to become his wife. But she replied, "How can you marry me, after yourself baptizing me and calling me your daughter? For among Christians that is unlawful, as you yourself must
know." Then the Emperior said, "Olga, you have outwitted me." He gave her many gifts of gold, silver, silks, and various vases, and dismissed her, still calling her his daughter.

Sauce: https://www.mgh-bibliothek.de/dokumente/a/a011458.pdf

Couple of really cool things if you're reading between the lines: "two-thirds of tribute to Kiev, and then she visited Novgorod" - affirmed the double-capital standard of Russia. Mongols burned Kiev, but not Novgorod, Russia stood. Napoleon took Moscow, but not St. Petersburg, Russia stood. Hitler besieged St. Petersburg, (known as Leningrad,) and lost at Moscow, Russia stood. Having two capitals can be quite useful.

"Baptized in Constantinople" - gave young Russia a History to follow, enhanced the youthful Russian Language, and made a powerful ally for Russia, while enabling Freedom of Religion in Russia and opening up the initial Russian trade route, from Nordic Lands to Constantinople.

[Nimzonia]

Margaret Beaufort wasn't even the most kick-ass woman in the Wars of the Roses called Margaret.

[Bombadil]

Margaret Beaufort wasn't even the most kick-ass woman in the Wars of the Roses called Margaret.

Possibly, but D'Anjou was in a position of power and lost, Beaufort was a 13 year old single mother with little claim and won.

[The Blaatschapen]

My future wife

[Ostroeuropa]

Karen Straughan and the honey badgers.

Or Mrs. Loving is also a good example.