Töregene Khatun and Fatima

Töregene was the Great Khatun of the Mongol Empire for 4 short years between her husband's death and her son's ~election as the next Khan, 1242–1246. She was given to some noble as a wife early in her life and then when he was defeated she was given to another, who already had a wife. But, she gave birth to 5 sons and eventually her influence in the court increased. Her husband died in 1241 and when she became the Great Khatun a year later, she came into a sort of power. Like a lot of women in her position throughout history, her main goal wasn't really to rule herself - though she did for a while, and powerfully - but to make sure the next ruler was someone she chose and could trust. 

The first thing she did was to replace all his ministers with her own, and one of those new ministers was her slave, a Shiite Muslim woman Fatima. 

Fatima was a Tajik or Persian woman who was enslaved some time between 1216 and 1221 and was later acquired by Töregene. Eventually they became friends - or more. 

I first read this story in a book called The Secret History of the Mongol Queens by Jack Weatherford, which I highly recommend. He writes: “[Fatima] enjoyed constant access to Toregene’s tent.” 

It's hard to say whether their bond was romantic or just platonic, but as I was reading about them I couldn't help but think it was more than just friendship, and that line didn't help change my mind. 

After making her a minister, Töregene made sure Fatima got even more power at court, none of which was normal for women at the time and it made a lot of powerful people very unhappy. 

I wish I knew more about them, sadly, as it is, all I know is the ending of their story, which is brutal and one of those that shows the extent of human cruelty. Töregene's son, the new Khan, who was really only in power because Töregene made sure he would be, still felt like Fatima was in his way and demanded his mother turn her over to him to be killed. She refused and threatened to kill herself if he hurt Fatima but... he got her anyway. Töregene herself died a year and a half later. 

The reason this story is so sparse is because most stories about Mongol women were ripped out of "The Secret History of Mongols" and those that survive are often attached to the male stories. So the only reason we know this story is because Töregene's son hated Fatima so much that she became relevant to his own story. 

I wish I could link to online sources about them but aside from wikipedia the best source is probably the book I mentioned - also a great and well written source for a whole lot of Mongol queens history - and a book I haven't read but seems to be Google's favorite - The Tiger Queens by Stephanie Thornton, which seems to be somewhat fictionalized. 

Abram Petrovich Ganibal

Great grandfather of Alexander Pushkin, Ganibal, was brought from (probably) Ethiopia at the age of 7 because children of noblemen were taken as hostages in case their fathers misbehaved. (Wikipedia quote, warning for rape: "Ganibal's sister Lahan was taken into captivity at the same time but was so cruelly raped that she died during the voyage.")

I can't find out why, but he was requested by Russians, ransomed to them and was eventually adopted by Peter the Great and was his valet on journeys and military campaigns.  

He was taught languages, geometry and mathematics before he was sent to Metz, France, to study engineering and mathematics. In France he befriended Enlightenment thinkers and in a war against Spain rose to the rank of captain before he returned to Russia.

"After the death of Peter in 1725, Ganibal was exiled to Siberia in 1727, some 4,000 miles to the east of Saint Petersburg. He was pardoned in 1730 for his skills in military engineering. After Peter's daughter Elizabeth became the new monarch in 1741, he became a prominent person at her court, rose to the rank of major-general and became superintendent of Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia) a position he held from 1742 to 1752." (During his exile he was also sent to Chinese border, to "measure the Great Wall.")

His first wife was forced to marry him and when he found out she was cheating on him he had her imprisoned in horrible conditions for 11 years (after which she was forced to join a convent). While still legally married to her, he married another woman with whom he had ten children, one of which was Alexander Pushkin's grandfather. 

He is now best known as the great grandfather of Pushkin who wrote an unfinished novel on him, Peter the Great’s Negro.

Wiki and another source.

Nachthexen - Night Witches

Russian female bomber regiment formed in 1941 by Colonel Marina Raskova [photo] and led by Major Yevdokia Bershanskaya.
The regiment flew harassment bombing and precision bombing missions against the German military. At its largest size, it had 40 two-person crews. It flew over 23,000 sorties and is said to have dropped 3,000 tons of bombs. It was the most highly-decorated female unit in the Soviet Air Force, each pilot having flown over 1,000 missions by the end of the war and twenty-three having been awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union title. Thirty of its members died in combat.

Sounds great, right?

Here's the thing though.

The formation of the group took while because no one wanted to recruit women. One officer is quoted as saying “Things may be bad but we’re not so desperate that we’re going to put little girls like you up in the skies. Go home and help your mother.”

But eventually they DID get that desperate and three regiments were formed and the women did 2 years' worth of training in 6 months.

When they started fighting they had hand-me-down uniforms from male pilots and flew wood and fabric made planes that lacked basic things like radio communication to ground control and navigation instruments.

They could only carry two bombs at a time so the Night Witches had to keep coming back to base for more bombs.

Even though the planes were old and slow, they very maneuverable, and the Night Witches used that to their advantage.

They developed their own tactic for avoiding German "circus of flak" (concentric rings of up to two dozen flak cannons and searchlights they used to bring down planes). "...Flying in groups of three, two planes would approach the target and wait for the searchlights to pick them up. These two would then split apart and maneuver around the target, drawing the attention of the cannons. The third plane, having waited behind, would cut their engines and glide in to deliver the bombs. This was repeated until each of the three planes had made a bombing run."

 Source and more info and also links to books about them.

Isabelle Eberhardt

17 February 1877 – 21 October 1904

Eberhardt, born in Switzerland, was an illegitimate child of an aristocratic Lutheran Baltic German Russian mother, Nathalie Moerder (née Eberhardt), and an Armenian-born father, Alexandre Trophimowsky, anarchist and ex-priest.

In Algeria she and her mother converted to Islam in 1897 and some time later she took took the side of local Muslims in violent fighting against colonial rule by the French.

Her mother and father died, and being illegitimate Isabelle was estranged from the rest of the family, so she stayed in northern Algeria.

Dressed as a man and calling herself Si Mahmoud Essadi, Eberhardt travelled in Arab society with a freedom she could not otherwise have experienced.

She forgave and successfully pleaded for the life of a man who almost cut her arm off in an assassination attempt.

During a flood the house she and her husband were in collapsed on them. Eberhardt managed to save her husband before she died.

Isabelle wrote on her travels in many books and French newspapers. She started working as a war reporter in the South of Oran in 1903.

Source - wiki (I know, sssh)

Her works are now being translated into English. From amazon - Volume 1, including journals, diary entries, and observations of life in North Africa, offers a view of the culture and people of French Algeria rarely seen by outsiders—the peasants, prostitutes, mystics, criminals, and other marginalized members of a colonized society. This translation brings to life a brilliant woman ahead of her time while also raising questions—about North African history, colonialism, gender representation, and writing—that resonate in our day.

Mahmud of Ghazni and Malik Ayaz

Mahmud of Ghazni (971 A.D.) was the founder and Sultan of Ghaznavid Empire. He was a Sunni Muslim who brought Islam to the Indian subcontinent, though he did it through destruction and conquest so he is both loved and hated by different people. He was educated and a patron of fine arts.

He was in love with Malik Ayaz, a Turkish slave and later a general in Mahmud's army.

Malik Ayaz was, it was said, not very good looking, but he was loyal and intelligent and found his way into Mahmud's heart and the top of Mahmud's government. He was given the throne of a city and under his rule it became a cultural and academic center.

Many stories were told about their love. One of them states that the Sultan asked Ayaz who the most powerful man in his kingdom was. Ayaz said it was himself. When Mahmud asked for proof, Ayaz replied "Because even though you are king, your heart rules you, and this slave is the king of your heart."
Their relationship became the epitome of idealized love in Islamic legend and Sufi literature and “slave to a slave” became a favorite trope in Persian literature.

My favorite thing about this story is this one line: It is said that in old age "Sultán Mahmúd spent his whole time in the society of Malik Ayáz, neglecting the business of the state."

Because what that means is that they grew old together.

Sources used:

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Three.