Female participation in the Sieges of Zaragoza. The perception of the military command and the interest of political power

This article studies women’s role in the Sieges of Zaragoza during the Peninsular War; the kind of actions in which they participated, their opportunities to lose their anonymity, and their suffering during and after the war. Moreover, it deals with the different interests of the female mobilization during the battle and the subsequent image of Zaragoza’s heroines, examining the motivation of the protagonists, the military commanders and the politicians who, after the war, had to construct the liberal state.