Men dislike amazons even after killing a lot of them in armed encounters, as Sthenelus did. But they do not mind if women, who are feminine, oppose them with typical female wiles, or even fight them once in a while. Queen Louise of Prussia in the early nineteenth century is a case in point. Unlike Laxmi Bai or Hazrat Mahal, she did not actually command troops on the battlefield. But she did use her charm to inspire the Prussian soldiers on the battlefields, and employed her undoubted beauty and coquetterie to advance Prussias interests in diplomacy. Oxford Companion to Military History does not mention her, although Napoleon, whom she called a monster, held that she was the only man in Prussia. But there is a contradiction here as, in a letter to his first wife, he said that he liked women who were good, nave and sweet. Well, maybe warriors, coming home from battle, had no use for intelligent women. Louise came on the stage of history at the height of Napoleonic wars, married King Friedrich William of Prussia, bore him 14 children and died in 1810, aged 34. By general agreement, she was beautiful, sweet and submissive. Her ambition was to make up for Prussias military weakness (yes, even Prussia was militarily weak at one time) with her own diplomacy, made potent by her beauty. Thus, she attempted to persuade Russias Alexander I not to make peace with France and Napoleon not to break up Prussia territorially, failing on both counts. For great powers, bargaining among themselves about sharing lands and strategic positions, small countries are truly not more than pawns. She went to Tilsit, where Alexander and Napoleon were meeting to discuss the fate of Europe and met them separately, using upon them all the armour of charm and wiles, given to the woman by the nature. But they did not budge. Their settlement left Prussia as weak and divided as before. However, she was vindicated 60 years after her death, when her son was declared the Emperor of a unified Germany - after Prussia had defeated France. Jhansi, in the middle of British India, had been raised to princely status, in 1817, upon the break up of the Maratha Confederacy. Its rulers had always been unquestioningly loyal to the British. As a result, Gangadhar Rao was made a maharaja in 1825. However, circumstances forced his widow, Rani Laxmi Bai, into action against the British when the so-called Bengal Army, a colonial outfit, revolted against the British occupation in 1857. This army, though named after Bengal, was composed almost entirely of recruits from Awadh and Bihar, the homes of the then martial races, a euphemism for mercenaries. The fighting was mainly in Delhi and Lucknow. But the entire population between eastern Panjab and Dacca (now Dhaka), stretching down to Aurangabad, sympathised with the rebels and aided them. Jhansis people were, of course, with the rebels. But there was a specific problem with the state. In 1834, the British government had cancelled the charter by which the East India Company (EIC) had been given the right to monopoly trade with India. In fact, the company was not henceforth allowed to participate in trade at all. Its income was to be confined to the revenue from the land it owned. The company responded by launching a policy of annexation of local states, even the private estates on one pretext or another. The annexation of Awadh in 1856 triggered the revolt of 1857. In Jhansi, the ruler, Gangadhar Rao, had no children in spite of having two wives, the second being Laxmi Bai. So he adopted a boy to succeed him. The British refused to recognise the adoption and, upon Raos death in 1853, made preparations to annex the state. While this problem was still unresolved, our first war of independence broke out in the north. Rani Laxmi Bai , who was still the regent, wanted a compromise with the British. But the latters stubborn attitude and the anti-British agitation in Jhansi itself forced her to join the revolt. The British then besieged the city, while the Rani recruited more troops and intensified their training, taking their command herself. She then broke out of Jhansi towards the north to join Nana Sahib at Kalpi and suggested that they join Hazrat Mahal at Lucknow. Nana Sahib instead persuaded her to attack Gwalior, which they conquered. This brought them that states treasure and a big quantity of arms. However, the British aided Gwaliors troops and the Rani, who was commanding her troops, died in the ensuing battle. The British, early experts in propaganda warfare, spread the rumour that she had been killed while running away from the battlefield. But she had four wounds in her chest and the sword in her hand was soaked in blood. She is loved by the masses all over the subcontinent and there are innumerable poems in her praise. The female battalion in Subhas Chandra Boses Indian National Army was named the Laxmi Bai battalion in her memory. Hargiz na meerad aan kay dilash zinda shud ba ishq, Sabt ast bar jareedai aalam davaam-e-ma. The struggle for freedom lasted the longest in Awadh. The first rebellion was in Berhampore in Bengal. It then spread widely to affect Rajasthan, UP, CP and even touching Aurangabad in the Deccan. Delhi fought for four months, being crushed in September, 1857. Lucknow was conquered only in March, 1858. The rebels then spread out all over Awadh to carry on the guerrilla war and were not finally defeated until December, 1858. According to Mirza Azhar Ali Baig, Awadh was the most important centre of the struggle because it was the only place in the whole of India where the historic war of 1857-1858 acquired the character of a national liberation war. The armed struggle started in Lucknow on May 30, 1857 and, within a week, all its districts had got rid of the British administrations. The British garrison in Lucknow was besieged in the Residency. Wajid Ali Shahs 10-year old son, Birgis Qadr, was proclaimed king, his mother, Nawab Hazrat Mahal, becoming the regent. She took effective command of the freedom fighters, visiting and encouraging their camps and lines, and ensuring the necessary supplies to them. She, accompanied by Birgis Qadr, was present at the Battle of Alambagh in September 1857. After the fall of Lucknow, she rejected an amnesty on behalf of Queen Victoria and went into exile in Nepal. Nature assigns to the human female the job of re-producing and nurturing the mankind. The male protects them and hunts to provide them food. This division of function governs their lives and their attitudes. Therefore, the female can emerge from her assigned place only in very extraordinary times when the general social arrangements have broken down. This explains the small number of women, who actually took part in combat. n The writer is a retired ambassador.