Listen to the episode here.

Strange things happened this week. Both Angie and Theresa cover a very specific time in Russian History. Angie starts with the story of Maria Bochkareva, who created and led the Russian Women’s Battalion of Death during WWI.

Then Theresa harkens back to the Otsu Incident. In May 1891, Russian Crown Prince Nicholas Alexandrovich visited Otsu, Japan, when he was attacked by the Samurai Sanzo Tsuda. This would sour his affinity for Japan and lead to the Russo-Japanese War and the infamous Russian Second Pacific Squadron from Episode 69. 

This episode pairs well with: 
The Nightwitches of WWII
Infamous Russian Second Pacific Squadron

Transcript:

Theresa: Hi, and welcome to the Unhinged History Podcast. The podcast where two nerds are going to compulsively read history memes and then study the stories behind them and then connect it to syphilis and a dozen other stories we’ve done in the past. I am host number one. I’m Teresa and that I’m Angie. 

Theresa: You’re so mean. Always making me laugh before I get to say my name. 

Angie: I mean look you had one line. Say my name. Say my name. Say my name when no one is around you. 

Theresa: Okay, editing that out. No, you’re not. You’re going to keep that right there. Thank you so much. Appreciate you. Anyhow, first. It’s me. It’s me. I’m going to go first and I’m just going to apologize now. I’m probably going to take up the whole story unless you want to go first. 

Angie: No, you know what? Nope. Nope. Nope. I’ve got my embroidery. I’ve got a drinky drink and a puppy at my feet. 

Theresa: So you’re living you’re living a good life then. Living the dream as it were. Yeah. Break my heart. Go for it. Here we go. The history detectives have a podcast on my topic. 

Grunge has a really great YouTube video about my topic. So does the Smithsonian. Well, it has an article called the women’s the women warriors of the Russian revolution. 

Oh, uh-huh. The women’s battalion of death in a world war one Russia. This is a 2002 article by Don Duffy. And then the New York Times has this really great series of articles where they have decided to go back and do obituaries for people who have not previously made their paper. So basically they’re acknowledging for the fact that for the most part their paper has only really featured Whiteman of note and not really anybody else. 

So the New York Times has quote since 1851 obituaries in the New York Times have then dominated by Whiteman with overlooked were adding the stories of remarkable people that never found their way into the paper. Oh, I love this. Right. 

Angie: And I just thought that was so columnist for that. I feel like we could do a great job. Right. 

Theresa: Um, I was like just so delighted to see that that was even a thing that they were acknowledging, let alone doing something about so well done to them. Um, so with my sources out, do you remember the other day when you said what in the fresh hell is Angie gonna dig up next? Yeah, actually. Well, I got you. Um, this episode is brought to you by my husband and therapist who in hindsight should probably not be one in the same. 

Angie: Might be a conflict of interest. 

Theresa: I’m going to tell you about the Russian that’s the Italian. But I can’t tell you about them without first telling you about their fearless leader, Maria Boscarva. She have, are you familiar with her at all? 

Angie: No, not at all. But I am absolutely delighted. 

Theresa: Let me regale you with her tragic story because it’s tragic from beginning to end. Um, she’s born sometime in July of 1889. She’s raised in the Siberian town of Pomsk. 

Um, or at least near there. Her autobiography is really, really specific, but I’m not really clear on some of the language used. So I’m just going to go with near there because her autobiography was, um, was written in 1919 and she was basically dictating to a Russian immigrant during her time here in the U S. And so she’s retelling her life story. And that being said, um, we do have an opportunity. 

Angie: Does she go around the U S and talk to everyone? They start criticizing her clothing. And instead she is this woman. And then she’s like, well, at least I was fighting the war and serving my country. 

Theresa: Um, I didn’t read that in any of my sources, but she does go on tour. She does speak to a lot of heads of state and things like that. Okay. 

Angie: I might ever confuse this movie. Carry on. 

Theresa: Um, if you have an opportunity, I’ll send you the link. Her, her autobiography is actually free to read on Google. And I spent a huge portion of the last few days reading her autobiography. So my story is, um, is so long today because it is really nuanced with her own personal thoughts and what was actually happening in her life. And I think that that’s really special because a lot of times we don’t get that. 

We just get somebody else writing about the person, you know, right? Um, so I thought that was pretty cool. But that being said, I’m not clear on some of the language that she used in, especially in reference to distance and place. So I’m just saying, I know that she was raised near this town of comics. She’s born to a poor family. Her father, Leonetti Stimlovich Folkov was an alcoholic who was prone to beat her and her three sisters as well as their mother Olga. One source says even that he would even leave them outside in the harsh conditions like all day, like he wasn’t playing games with them. And as they got poorer, he got worse in her childhood, her audio, her, her, excuse me, her audio biographs. My God, audio, audio, I do it too. 

Angie: It’s autobiography. 

Theresa: It is autobiography, but I wrote it. I read it. Audio. This is what I’m going to say. Her, she doesn’t have a ton about her, her early childhood, like most of us wouldn’t. I mean, she goes on to tell us about probably memory starting about four years old. But I will say this, you know, her upbringing is terrible when by eight years old, she’s thinking that drowning herself might be the best way out. 

Oh, yeah. She’s already being like leased out to richer households to work as I don’t know, a laundress or whatever sort of servant type help you might need. And she, she spent a great deal of her, your, her youth actually working for a Jewish woman who cared for her for years. And I think she kind of later when she’s in her autobiography, she talks about this woman and how if it weren’t for her, she wouldn’t know how to run a house or really how to run a business or anything like that. Like this woman taught her everything she knew. So that is going to be an utter turmoil with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914. 

And the subsequent events leading up to the First World War, right? So she’s about 15. She’s a Russian. And she is dealing with the larger world problems of World War One, while also dealing with conflict within Russia. And like we’ve said before, her life doesn’t happen in a vacuum. 

Nothing does. And people in Russia, along with the World War at hand, they’re getting a bit fired up over their current living conditions. The Bolshevik resolution wouldn’t be too far off. So there’s kind of this frame of her life, right? Like her young childhood is, is poverty stricken. There’s really no sunshine in her life. She’s raised in freaking Siberia. And she can already see war on the distance, whether it’s internal conflict or external conflict that her country’s involved in. So for her, she’s about 15. And she thinks, like she’s in love, but not like the idea of love. She’s in love with the idea of freedom that a marriage could provide. 

Right? Because up to this point, she’s either been in the service of her alcohol-combusive father or in someone else’s home doing whatever or their shop keeping whatever they needed. So she really hasn’t had any sort of childhood to speak of, right? Right. So she, she is just at this point, she’s 15, she’s trying to make sure her family doesn’t starve. And I ponder why you don’t run off to the circus. Like when you have the chance, why is marriage the first thing that these young ladies come up with? 

Angie: You know, I don’t feel like the circus was as prevalent as we want to think to. You sure you were off to the circus? The circus has to be in town. 

Theresa: So much the same as we were told quicksand was going to be a far bigger problem than it is? 

Angie: Right. Like, we don’t have access to as many circuses to run off to because the number of times where I’m like, you know what? I’m just going to become the bearded woman. I’m going to let it grow out. I’m going to drop in some pony beads and I’m going to become a freak on the sideshow because who among us? Why not? 

Theresa: Exactly who among us. Well, so like I said, she’s got this idea of marriage in her mind and she meets a soldier. She absolutely adores him and he speaks of marriage, but then he leaves her because he’s an officer and she’s basically a lowly servant girl. Now, in his defense, he does actually offer to take her home to his parents and have her educated. And then when he returns for more, he can marry her because by then she can like read and write and things like that. She turns that down. 

She does. She loses her cool and basically tosses him out. They break up. He goes away for a few days. 

It drunken stupor, whatever. He tries to come back and reason with her, but she’s not going to have anything to do with it. So when it be long though, before she meets another soldier named Alfonzi Buchkadova, he’s basically penniless and dad says, absolutely no, you’re not even 16. You’re not going to marry this guy. 

But they kind of collide together and they save up. And she says in her memoir that quote, her marriage was a hasty affair. The only impression that I retain is my feeling of relief and escaping from my father’s brutal hands. 

Alas, little did I then suspect that I was exchanging one form of torture for another. Her picker is broken. You guessed it. He’s another abusive alcoholic a-hole who lacks any real intelligence. She lives with him for a little while. 

She never really has anything delightful to say about him. They worked hard long hours. She tries to escape once she’s almost successful, but then she takes him back. And then she eventually does leave him. She eventually escapes, but she’s not even 20 years old yet. Finally, with the help of her mother, the neighbors and an ex and the local police station, she finally gets out of that relationship. Because yeah, she goes home to mom, resolved that that killing him is the only way that she’s ever going to be free of this man. Fortunately for her, dad stops her and then the neighbors in the nearby area also corroborate her story of his abuse and his maltreatment towards her. And so the local police, they get involved in. They help her get a passport to get out of the area. So I’m not super familiar with understanding on Russian passports, but it seems to me that you needed one just to leave your immediate area. 

Like not just the country, but like to leave your county. Interesting. Yeah. So she eventually gets a passport. She makes her way from one place to another by the sheer mercy and goodness of people that she came in contact with. Also, she comes in contact with some not-so-helpful attackers here and there, but she finds sends them off and goes about her travels. She eventually gets some type of employment. She’s doing okay, but then she hears about a really high paying job and she takes it only to discover that it’s basically a house of ill-repute and she is not about that life. 

Like not at all. Her first night at work, she hasn’t really figured out what’s going to happen or what it is she’s meant to do, but the matron of the house gives her this outfit to wear and it’s much flimsier than anything she’s ever worn before. And she says very low cut, very sheer. She was very uncomfortable with it. 

She finally coaxes her out of her bedroom and into the main parlor for her to realize that they’re going to sell her body. Right? All right. She has throws the biggest fit, wraps herself in a shawl and leaves. However, she realizes she kind of has nowhere else to go. 

So after spending a night at the police station and kind of sort of working out mentally how she’s going to handle her life, she goes back to the house and she thinks to herself, perhaps she’ll just take me on as house help. Like I can be a servant. I don’t need to be selling myself, but I can work within the house. I can do laundry. 

I can mop floors. Right. That’s what she’s hoping. Now, interestingly enough, the first night she was there, she was introduced to this gentleman who would eventually be her next husband. He sees her. He comes back. 

They have a conversation. She threatens to kill herself because she doesn’t want to be a part of this life, but she just wants a job. He barges down the door, gets everybody involved and kind of saves her life at that moment. They do have a decent life, at least for a little bit. 

She might have been happy even, but they’re living in the barn above his family’s home. Oh, okay. Yeah. So, up to 1912, when all her hopes come to a screeching halt, she’s residing in this barn with him because, well, he’s sort of a political outlaw. 

Angie: So, she’s married to Jamie Frazier? 

Theresa: Um, no. No, he’s not noble at all. He basically, without going into too much of his backstory, his father, his mother and father, sort of well to you people, and his father sends him out on this mission to go buy resources for his butcher shop. 

And instead of doing so, he gambles it all away. Okay. That’ll do it. 

Now, right? Dad has lived it because most of the money that he had wasn’t his to begin with. So, he is now, you know, sort of seen as a liar and a thief from this guy he borrowed the money from and refuses to ever take him back in. But his mom intervenes and is like, hey, he has nowhere else to go, let him live in the barn. So, he lives in the barn, he takes a wife. In the barn, they house many people coming through. Like, they’re taking care of passers-by, travelers, the sick, she would feed and care for everyone, including political outlaws, whether she knew it or not. 

Now, on a brisk evening in 1912, all of her hopes for any sort of peaceful life come to a screeching halt. Her man answers the door and there’s a fellow there. And they chat at the door for a long time. He’s one of her husband’s old associates. Now, okay, I should say this, he’s her husband by common law, which is a very common thing in Russia at the time. And that was, I think, sort of her choice. Like, she didn’t want to have any sort of legality attached to this. Yeah, she’s already been to this. 

Right. So, the husband comes in and he’s like, okay, listen, my friend’s here, he needs to be stowed away. She helps him, she helps him hide the friend. They get ready to go to bed, but not long after they’ve gone to bed, the police storm the house and toss everything. So, she’s like, what? 

What are we doing? Now, fortunately, her husband’s friend is not located within the house. Yasha, her husband, and the friend disguise themselves up as poor travelers and Yasha leaves him out of town before the morning light. 

And things are going pretty good. They get him out of town, no issues. But, to their detriment, there’s a police officer sweeping off a drunken stupor in a ditch and he sees them. Now, he doesn’t think anything of it until hours later when he gets to the office and he hears about the previous night’s activities. 

Angie: First off, I have never spent the night outside that I didn’t need to. Yeah. 

Theresa: This is a common occurrence in their village. They go back to the house, Yasha gets arrested. Maria at this point is insistent on finding him. He gets moved from like a process of like asking to be arrested so that she too can go with him when he’s sentenced to exile because that’s like a thing. 

That’s a thing. You can get sentenced to exile for however many years. And if you’re lucky, your family can come with you. 

So, off into exile they go. This life is hard and Yasha is not taking it well and he also in turn starts to be abusive. At one point, he invites the young man to stay with them despite her saying that it was a terrible idea and that she didn’t feel comfortable with it. 

Yasha goes, he’s like, no, no, no, it’s fine. He’s going to be a great helper on the house. You’ll love him. It’ll be great. 

Well, Yasha goes away for a few days and on the last night, Maria wakes up to see the young man looking over her. No. Yeah. She beats him off and kicks him out. Now, in this kerfuffle, some neighbors see everything that’s going down and the young man escapes, but he goes and he waits near the road where Yasha’s going to return. 

Now, this is what I find particularly interesting about this moment in the story. They’re in exile, but they have neighbors. That means their other neighbors are also exiled. Maybe. So, it is. 

Angie: If you get, oh, okay. Yeah. 

Theresa: So, basically they’re sort of released into the frozen tundra that is just south of the Arctic. There’s maybe a thousand and they sort of fill in these little villages wherever they find that maybe they might be able to till the land. But then I thought that was important to point out that that is her neighbors are in fact other exiles. 

So, they see all this happening. Yasha comes home and the young man tells him, you know, she propositioned me and I’m your good friend. So, I fled so I could come tell you about her behavior because she’s wrong. She attacked me. She put herself on me. Now, one of the reasons that Maria did not want this young man to stay with her is that Yasha had proved time and time again that he was a jealous man one way or another. And so, she was like, I don’t want this young man living in my house because you’re already jealous as it is. Right. 

Like, this is problematic and I don’t feel comfortable with it anyways. All I have to say, he loses his cool. He sets off home to hang her for her infidelity. She is like on the stool like seconds away from death when finally her neighbors are able to talk some sense into him and he releases her. So, she lives and then she hears about the war effort because by this point, World War II is in, excuse me, World War I is in full swing and even up near the Arctic Circle, there’s still this mass amount of pride of country and it’s spread among all the people and she wants to aid in this effort however she can. Now, up to this point, she sees no reason at all to leave him even though he’s tried to hang her. 

Angie: So, yeah, I think that would be a deal breaker for me. 

Theresa: Like, you think? I mean, it’s getting red flags a little bit. Like, not something I want to be a part of but I guess when you think about her previous relationships, this might not be the worst thing she’s endured. Fair. 

Right. However, while she doesn’t want to leave him, she also really, really feels that call to war like she wants to be part of the the force that saves Russia and she thinks that this might bring enough glory to her where she can she can appeal and have his exile pardoned. She is initially told no but Russia had taken probably the biggest hit to date in loss of life. So, turning someone willing away was served like a no go for the Russian command. So, the commander tells her she has to apply directly to the Tsar which she does. 

Angie: Tsar Nikki too. 

Theresa: Uh-huh. Okay. Like, for all those playing at home, this is Anastacia’s dad and he agrees to her military career. So, it’s November, it’s 1914, she’s about 25 years old. And like I mentioned earlier, part of her goal of leaving was that she hoped that she could win glory, she could win respect and once she did, she could position the Tsar to pardon Yasha so that they could go home to the city that they loved or at least where she had experienced some sort of peace. Like, that was her that was one of her goals. But she is now officially a member of the military. She’s initially mocked and sexually harassed but she proves herself time and time again and the fellows begin to love her. 

Like, there’s a point in her autobiography where she talks about being with the troops for so long and in doing all of these these things with them. However, she couldn’t just go to the bathhouse at any given time and they had their bathhouse time like let’s say once a week on Sundays. And so, she’s talking to Command and she’s like, look, I’ve been avoiding going to the bathhouse because I can’t get any privacy in there and I am female. And she has huge moral standards that we can tell at this point. And the Command is like, well, as I can tell, you’re not happy about being filthy. 

Like, she’s dealing with all sorts of vermin and lies and all the things that I can imagine you’re going to deal with on the Russian front, right? And he’s like, just go in there. They already respect you. Make them mind their manners. And so, the first Sunday they walk in there and she’s like, fine, then I’m going with them and they’re just going to have to deal with it. And she’s a little bit nervous but she demands one corner of the bathhouse and they give it to her. They tease her a little bit but it seems to be at this point it’s all in good fun. 

Like, they all appreciate her and no one’s going to harm her. And so, from that Sunday on, she always went with them. She had her corner. They had the rest of the building. 

Things were going great to the point where when new recruits would come in and they would try to mock her, the other soldiers would immediately put the kibosh on it. Wow. Like, you’re alone. Let her be. She is trying to have a bath just like the rest of us. 

Like, mind your business. The New York Times suggests that her fellow soldiers adored her too. Their Yashka, was what she was called, proved herself day in and day out in the battlefield trenches. Bach Kadervo was one of them, enduring the barrage of enemy artillery rescuing the wounded from no man’s land, volunteering for scouting missions, subsidizing unspoiled meat and other subpar rations and she was decorated multiple times and survived several life-threatening injuries. 

And that’s just serving with them then. Wow. So, fast forward. It’s now 1917. 

In February of that year, there’s a revolution, right? Because like, people are serving, right? They’re demoralized. 

They’re still fighting World War I and they have been given devastating defeat after devastating defeat on the Eastern Front. And there are a ton of people out there who thought the Tsar’s leadership was completely ineffective. So, much of that year, he advocates. That’s a story in and of itself. 

Angie: Yeah. And abdication is a word that makes it sound like it’s his idea. Yeah. 

Theresa: We’re forced retirement, if you will. Again, a whole nother story. Maybe we’ll cover that here eventually. But this leaves Maria in a little bit of a pickle because there is now a new Russian revolutionary provisional government and they’re continuing the war with Germany. And I just want to take a second to quote the Smithsonian here because this article explains a lot about the time that she lived in a really black and white fashion that helped me understand sort of what was going on. They say that, quote, the key difference between the ruling provisional government and the Bolsheviks was Russia’s participation in the First World War. Louvre and minister of war Alexander Kerensky were committed to continuing the conflict while Vladimir Lenin favored an immediate peace that would end the imperialist war. 

While the provisional government urged soldiers to stay at their posts on the front, Lenin encouraged fraternization with German and Austrian troops on the breakdown of the traditional hierarchy of military discipline. So, this kind of sets the tone a little to see that she is living in a really divided war-torn situation and they all have big emotions, big ones. It’s late spring, early summer of 1917, Krasensky gives a speech trying to rally the remaining troops. By this point, there is an unknown number of Russian women with Shays head standing among the troops because the situation that Russia has found themselves in is so dire that a lot of the Russian women are joining up to doctors turning a blind eye to the fact that they’re female and just passing them through. Like, we need all the fighters we can get. 

Like, sign me and you’re good to go. So, May 16th, she meets with the Russian Parliament President Mikhail Radazenko. She has an idea. She’s going to organize an all women’s battalion for the upcoming summer offensive, saying, quote, you heard of what I’ve gone through and what I’ve done as a soldier. Now, how would it do to organize 300 women like me to serve in this example to the army and lead the men into battle? 

Wow. So, warfare history points out that she did have one condition, quote, unlike the new revolutionary army democratized by Krasensky’s decree, her battalion would respect the traditional discipline of the old Imperial Army. She would exercise absolute authority and demand absolute obedience from her volunteers. Radazenko, he says, um, yeah, let’s do it. But first you gotta meet with General Olensky, Albushev, who is now the new commander in chief since the czar is a little bit indisposed. So, she meets with him in Krasensky and by all accounts, they love the idea. So, she is granted with the authority right then and there and her battalion would be called the first Russian women’s battalion of death. 

Angie: Very chill. Very good. So chill. 

Theresa: So modest. So, the following night she holds a meeting in St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Meriansky Theater, and she says at this meeting, quote, our mother is perishing, our mother is Russia, I want to save her. I want women whose hearts are crystal, whose souls are pure, whose impulses are lofty, with such women setting an example of self-sacrifice, you men will realize your duty in this grave hour. Because look, either they’re gonna do it or they’re gonna shame the men into doing it. I mean, I’m here for it. 

Right? At least 200 women show up. There are 2,000 women show up. Of that number, only 500 pass her inspection and meet her standards. She said that she sent away 1,500 women for, quote, loose behavior. 

Evidently, that means flirting with male instructors. How dare you? Don’t. Just don’t. 

Right. She ran a tight ship during an interview with the Associated Press. She said, quote, we apply the rigid system of discipline of the pre-revolutionary army, rejecting the new principle of soldier self-government. We impose the Spartan regime from the first. They sleep on boards without bedclothes, thus immediately eliminating the weak. 

The smallest breach of discipline is punished by expulsion and disgrace. And she meant every word of it. She was just that hard-line. For context or broader picture, the AP reported, the AP reporter that was there noted the daughter of a czarist-era naval minister standing guard at Century Duty, as well as the former editor of a feminist magazine who served as much caravans clerk. So I take this as her really speaking to the women of the country because there is people of all walks of life that are absolutely willing to follow her heed. 

And I think that’s really cool. By July, their basic training is complete and all their personal effects are confiscated, except their bras. She let them keep their bras. That’s good. 

Angie: You find a favorite, you keep that battle, that old battlehorse. Right. 

Theresa: I mean, it is what it is. She puts them on parade to the square of the Cousin Cathedral in St. Petersburg. They kneel and receive the blessings from the Archbishop and Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. There are several international witnesses, including the American Ambassador, David Francis, as well as the British Ambassador and correspondents from the Associated Press. If you’re anything like me, you then ask yourself, really, how long has the AP been around? And if you’re curious, the answer is $107. 

Angie: I’m here for it. I appreciate the side quest. Please thank you. 

Theresa: You’re welcome. I had to know. These witnesses say that thousands of touring spectators as well as on well-wishers line the parade route all the way to the station where they’re loaded up to go to the front. Now by this point in her story, it’s pretty clear that Maria and Krasinski’s leadership styles are very different to say the least. He has this sort of loose lead yourself kind of way about him and she was the absolute authority. Additionally, for her, your word is your oath and at some point just after the parade, he went back on something he had said to her and commanded her to abide by his declaration of rights to the soldier. So as Lieutenant Batchkarva, she ripped her epilates off her shoulders through them in his face screaming, I don’t want to serve under you. Supposedly at this point, Krasinski shouts to have her shot on the spot. She leaves the room in a huff and someone points out that according to Krasinski, capital punishment has been abolished. Oh! 

So he had to sit all the way down because we’re, it’s pretty, I’m pretty sure it was his decision to abolish capital punishment in the first place. So they’re not really on the best of terms from here on out, as you can tell, but either way she makes it with her unit to the trenches. Artillery had been bombarding the German position for a couple of days preparing for the Russian assault in the Battle of Sorgan. However, when zero hour arrived, the enlisted men there, they cowered in the trenches. Evidently, there was some debate as to whether or not to obey their officer’s command and go over the hill, like the hilltop of the trenches. 

I didn’t think that was something you could debate. Yeah, well they did. According to Batchkarva, 75 male officers and 300 of, quote, the most intelligent and gallant enlisted men pledged to follow her battalion into an infantry assault. At one point, she recalls a number of people yelling their faking until all 300 women and all 375 male followers climbed to the trenches to begin their trek through No Man’s Land with her. Right? That’s pretty impressive. Yeah, in her words, we moved forward against a withering fire of machine guns and artillery. My brave girls encouraged by the presence of men on their sides marching steadily against a hail of bullets. First, our regiment poured out and then on both sides, the contagion spread and a unit after us joined in the advance. So they had done what they set out to do, serve and make the others do so as well. Because, right, like we’re dealing with an army that has been utterly defeated and totally demoralized. Right. How else do you get them back on their feet? 

Angie: Well, and you don’t want to be shown up by anybody, especially somebody of you who is lesser in their case, women. 

Theresa: Absolutely, absolutely. So they smashed through the first line and into the second where she says poison was waiting for them, but not mustard gas, alcohol, specifically vodka and beer. Now some of the men did try to celebrate a little bit here, but she orders the girls to smash it and destroy it all. And then she leaves the nexus salt and the enemy breaks their lines and retreats. 

At this point, her forces regroup in the forest. They retrieve their dead and get their wounded out. They send out scouts to assess the next position and wait for the promised night’s core reserves, but they never show up. Quote, those male reinforcements never arrived. A telegraph line sent word that the ninth court preserves remained huddled in the first line of the Russian trenches, debating whether to obey their officer’s request to advance. 

So pretty much everything goes south after this moment. Eventually the men agree to hold their line, but they will not advance from their trenches, leaving the women’s battalion of death to retreat. According to Batchkarva, she’s knocked unconscious and is clearly concussed during this time. She only wakes up after the decision was made and she wakes up in a field hospital to find out that at least 50 of her girls were among the dead and wounded. 

Theresa: Oh no. 

Theresa: So she’s, you know, she’s, she’s a little bit battle weary at this point, having gone through that. There are mixed reviews on women’s effectiveness in battle, both as soldiers and as morale boosters for the men, depending on who you are and what side of the gender bias you’re looking at it from. There’s a lot of topic, a lot of talk on the subject at the time from both sides of the argument, but let’s just say nice things were said and not nice things were said. I will say this though. 

Eyewitnesses accounts reported incredulous German prisoners, prisoners cursing in shame and embarrassment after discovering they had surrendered to a woman. So I’m here for it. Despite, right, despite all the nice things that were said and all the mean things that were said, at least that was said and that makes me laugh. But now, thanks to the Bolsheviks, there’s some real unrest at home, right? We’re in 1917, the Czar’s abdicated, things are getting a little bit hot. St. Petersburg is very, is sort of on fire, if you will. She takes her girls home to St. Petersburg and a mob of clearly very drunk male troopers sees 20 of her girls and lynched them. 

Which, oh, is gnarly. At this point, Boshkara and her remaining girls travel from one totally demoralized command post to the next until some Bolshevik deserters find her and threaten her execution because to them she’s a traitor to their cause for peace, right? Because she fought in World War I. She holds on to the idea of absolute authority and fought for the Imperial Army. So they’re seeing her as the absolute worst of the worst. They threaten her execution. They call her a traitor. 

She makes the call at this point to disband her girls and heads back home to her village of Tomex. The way she says that she spied for the White Guards, sold prisoners to a band of Red Guards and escaped yet another attempted execution. 

Angie: Darwin does her swing and for her. I shouldn’t say Darwin. I should say fate or the patriarchy. Take what you will. Yeah. 

Theresa: Now at this point, she finds herself in the presence of General Marshkowski, the commander in chief of the Northern White Guard, which just sounds like such a name. I imagine him with armor that’s got like a wolf’s head. 

Angie: I mean, yeah, he’s in a fantasy novel somewhere. 

Theresa: Yeah, he is. He’s ready to fight for him. Absolutely. Yes, he does. She’s ready to fight for him in the anti-Bulshiviks cause, but he turns her down saying, quote, I do not take the responsibility of estimating the merits of Madame Boshkotov’s organization in the Russian Army. And I surmise that the efforts made and bloodshed in the name of the fatherland will be duly considered by the central government and by history. 

I believe that the performance by women of military duties, which are improper for the sex is a shameful mark stamped upon the entire population of the region. So she hates this. And she joins the White Russian self exiles who are pleading a sort of international case. She heads to the Far East Point port where ally troops are keeping the peace and collecting refugees. She is confirmed to have boarded the Sheridan to America by a diary entry from one Florence Farm Bureau who is also evacuating. She says in her diary, quote, by a strange working of fate, one of the first persons I have seen on board is Joshua Bushkotov, Ursula leader of the women’s death battalion. She had eluded the spy night of the Red Guards and is making good her escape to United States. Now, Boshkotov, she boards that boat with one message in mind and this is the final page of her memoir. She says, help Russia release herself from the German yoke and become free in return for the five million lives that she has sacrificed for your safety, the security of your liberties, and the preservation of your own homes and lives. That’s her plea. 

Right. In the U.S., she is sort of a celebrity and this is where she publishes her memoir in 1919 and she also meets Woodrow Wilson and then she goes on to Britain and meets King George V. She returns home more determined than ever to help rid the country of the Bolsheviks and any other forces that are, you know, against the idea of what she thought was right. However she could, whether that’s working in a nurses unit, whatever it took, like she was going to figure out how to aid her people. 

She, however, is captured and after being held and interrogated for four months, the Bolsheviks declare her an enemy of the working people and execute her by firing squad. No, she is just 30 years old. No. Yep. And with her death so is the death of the Russian battalion of death. 

Angie: Angie, you have two more pages of notes. This is inappropriate to end here. 

Theresa: I, that’s it. She dies, but I do have pictures. 

Angie: I’m okay. 

Theresa: Way to salvage it. You’re welcome. I’ve seen in other news, I have pictures. This photo here, I don’t know if you can see it yet. 

Angie: Oh, okay. So I’m seeing a black and white photo of a woman with an impressive side part for this being a hundred plus years ago. She has a, she’s not young or not young looking. I should say she died at 30, but this woman, if you told me was 52, I’d be like, get a girl. Which I think says something to her hard life. Yeah. She’s wearing a uniform that looks like a dress, like it looks like it’s got a skirt to it. 

Theresa: It is actually just the way her coat is cut and I’ll show you another picture for later this week. 

Theresa: Oh, okay. But she’s got a chest full of medals. 

Theresa: Yes, she does. She was decorated. Her time spent in the trenches with the men before her unit was created was, she was heavily decorated. Here is, she is this on the front. 

Angie: She looks photoshopped in. Okay. So you see two rows of men with guns and she is the only one standing attention looking at the camera and they are all looking off to the corner. 

Theresa: What if I told you those were all her women? 

Angie: Fantastic. Here for it. But still, she does not look like she was in that picture in its originality. Right. 

Theresa: Because I was curious, this is the cousin cathedral where they were blessed and marched in their parade. 

Angie: That is a huge, I wouldn’t, okay. So she’s showing and she’s showing me what looks like a, you know, like the pergola, you know, you have like not an enclosed thing, massive stone columns going in a force she said. 

Theresa: It definitely is revival. Exactly. And in the center is the church building. 

Theresa: Not at all what I would have expected to find in St. Petersburg. 

Angie: No, I would want enclosed corridors. 

Theresa: You would think, right? Okay. So in this photo, Maria is the one standing in the back. Okay. And these are also her soldiers in training. 

Angie: We’re seeing people on the ground, guns pointed, bayonets fixed and a very clear nurse nun seated on a stool behind them. Yep. 

Theresa: I do have, there is another fun little story in here of other women that did serve, but her story is the one that I was like, what in the French hell is this? I’m here for it. Yeah, that’s, so that’s my story of Maria Bashkareva and her Russian women’s battalion of death. 

Angie: So I have an admission for you. Hit it. Earlier this week, you had said, oh my gosh, I have the sudden panic that we’re doing the same person. Yeah. What year are you doing? And I said, oh, 32, 3400 BC or some such. And you’re like, oh, good. And then you said, oh, my story is really long. And I was like, no problem. 

I’ve got a short one I can do. You never asked what year. Okay. What year? 

Well, I’m doing 1914. And as the story continues, you’re going to be like, oh, we didn’t do the same one. We said we did it again. We didn’t do the same one. 

But I swear to you, there is a lot of overlap. So I’m going to do the Otsu incident. Okay, go. Okay. My sources, an article on JSTOR, Revolution Goes East in Imperial Japan, a Soviet communism in 2020. 

JapanForward.com has the Otsu incident, a how a goodwill tour sent Japan-Russia relations frightfully awry by John Carroll. So yeah. Okay. Episode 69. I love this. We talked about my favorite naval squadron, which I didn’t think I would have until this podcast. And we talked about. 

Theresa: It’s funny what we’ve learned about ourselves, isn’t it? 

Angie: Right. Yeah. Okay. So episode 69, we talked about Russia’s second Pacific squadron, this doomed group of mismatched boats that were fitted for war in quotation marks and kind of slap-dash faction. They sailed all the way from the Baltic around Africa up between Japan and Russia or China to a Russian-held port in China. Okay. 

Theresa: The crew. I love them chocolate. Yep. 

Angie: Faced, caused, experienced. Catastrophe. 

Theresa: They’re the definition of fubar. 

Angie: Yeah. I will never lock things up as badly as the Kim Chaka did. Repeatedly. 

Theresa: Surely no one ever could. Like, on a daily basis, you couldn’t try that hard. 

Angie: I feel like I want to go through a chapter of my life trying to be the Kim Chaka. I just want a chapter. I just want a chapter. 

Theresa: Like, I want to be my side quest, you know? Go for it. I’m here for it. 

Angie: But anyhow, the story I’m going to tell you is what gets us to the Kim Chaka. 

Theresa: I’m so excited. 

Angie: Now, there have been assassinations and assassination attempts that have changed the course of history. 

Theresa: Oh, like Archduke, Friend, Ferdinand? 

Angie: Yeah, you know, like when an Austrian is shot by a Serbian, so Germany declares war on Britain. You know. You know. That old chestnut. Over a sandwich. Over a sandwich? 

Theresa: I think so. There was a sandwich involved. There was a sandwich involved. I mean, like, maybe the assassins stopped for a sandwich, and that’s how he ended up in the right place at the right time. 

Angie: Because they ended up circling back, and then that’s when he finished the job? Yeah. Okay. All that oversimplification aside. What I bet you didn’t know is that there was an assassination attempt on the Russian crown prince. Nicholas Androvoskovich. Our boy, Nikki, too. 

Theresa: I, well, I mean, it’s to be expected, but I have not heard the story. 

Angie: Okay. May 1891 in a city named Otsu near Kyoto, and this may have been the contributing cause to the Russo-Japanese War. Love this for me. Now, what happens? Okay. We’ve got a Russian warship that brings Nikki to, he’s 25 at the time, it brings him to Japan. It’s the spring of 1881 or 1891. It’s beautiful. Spring, Kyoto, there’s nothing better. 

The cherry blossoms are in bloom. Lastly, go see the golden temple. Amazing. Wouldn’t turn it down. He’s accompanied by his cousin George, the crown prince of Greek and Denmark, who’s two years older. 

Theresa: Who also looks just like him. 

Angie: I swear, Victoria’s grandbabies were clones. Copy-paste. You’re not wrong. Sorry. Every single one of them. Her genes were strong. In fact. Now, in the midst, they’re there in the midst of this world tour, from Vettelblass stock to where they attend a groundbreaking ceremony at the mark of the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. 

Theresa: I don’t know why, but immediately I thought of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. 

Angie: Because I feel like we have more touchstones to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra than Wellway in our lives. That feels right, yeah. We just came out of the Christmas season. You’re not wrong. If I brought this up in April, May, you might have been more generous with being able to get to Brewerway. Anyhow. 

Yeah, that’s true. All right. So it’s May 11th. He’s staying in Kyoto. And Nicholas and his party make a day trip to a place called Lake Biwa. 

In the morning, they visit the Medara Temple at the foot of Mount Ki’ai. And they view art and treasures and all kinds of fun stuff. So they start to return to Oats. And they’re riding these Jirenchka’s. And what is that? 

Let me look it up. Because I feel like I should have written it down in actual Japanese because I made that sound so much more Russian. And it looks like it’s a Japanese word. It’s a term for a rickshaw. Oh, okay. 

Oh, rickshaw. Okay. Okay. I’m with you now. Sorry. 

I should have written that out in a way I would have remembered to pronounce it. They’re passing streets that are lined with policemen. Suddenly, a member of the Shuga Prefecture Security Team, the region that they’re in, assigned a guard, or assigned, it’s assigned to guard their travel route, is a dude named Sanzo Suda. And he un-s-unsheaves his sword, runs towards the rickshaw carrying Nikki too. Oh, yes. He is a skilled swordsman, Red Samurai. 

Right? So he-he knows his way around the blade. He’s a former soldier. 

He hails from the samurai family of the Nia Prefecture. Now, the Crown Prince is able to partially dodge the blow. And the rogue policeman wounded the Zodervich twice on the right temple and on the back of his head, reaching the bone. Okay. So he’s got a nine centimeter gash on his forehead that leaves a permanent scar. 

Theresa: And supposedly- Battle wounds making him look even more handsome. More rugged. Yeah. 

Angie: He gets headaches for the rest of his life, albeit short. 

Theresa: Doesn’t make it better. 

Angie: You’re right. Suda really didn’t have control of his length of life. He was trying to control the length of his life, but Nikki too lived a little bit longer than he intended. So- Crown Prince 1991, right? 

Theresa: Yeah, 1891. Okay. I was just making sure I got my dates. I was thinking, I don’t know how many more years he does look. 

Angie: Yeah. Crown Prince George reacts quickly and begins homiling his sword. Suda furiously with a bamboo cane. And then the two rickshaw pullers jump in and they disarm Suda. Now, Nicholas’s head wounds are bleeding profusely because head wounds bleed. 

Theresa: That’s what they do. That’s what they’re known for. 

Angie: He’s taken to a nearby kimono shop to receive first aid before being transferred to a suga prefecture office. So think like City Hall, but maybe more like- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and that’s where a doctor waited. Now, Nikki too, he adamantly refuses being treated by a Japanese doctor because boy suffering from bias right now. 

Theresa: Uh, to be fair, I mean, honestly, um, instead he’s returned to his his Kyoto hotel before going back to Kobe. And there he’s treated by a doctor on a r- a doctor on a Russian warship in the harbor. The wounds, they’re serious, but they’re not life-threatening. 

That’s the permanent scar. Um, okay. Now the Japanese government little bit up in their fields about the possible outbreak of hostilities because you know, they just had a member of the security team try to- Did they just cause an international incident? Right. Um, the very least, there’s going to be a demand for heavy reparations and they understand this. 

Whether it’s going to be paid in money or territory, they’re shitting bricks. There, six Russian warships had accompanied Nikki too to the Far East. Now, Japan doesn’t have much of a navy to speak of at the moment. 

Theresa: And they are- But don’t worry, because one of them is the Kim Chaka. See, you don’t have to worry about anything. 

Angie: But that’s like in a couple of years. They’ve got- Everyone’s got time to prepare or not in Russia’s case. But Japan doesn’t want to do battle with Russia. Fair. So they are like, look, you are big, you are amazing, you came here. We have, to quote my grandfather, stepped on our foreskins. We don’t want to go into toe-to-toe with you. The Meiji Emperor goes by express train rushing to Kyoto, then to Kobe. He’s going to apologize to Nikki too personally. 

Theresa: I mean, I would accept that. 

Angie: Right. Um, he boards the ship in Kobe Harbor. Nikki too is recuperating. The government leaders in Japan are frantic. They think that their Emperor’s not to be taken hostage. Seems like they’re a logical spot, you know? Um, the fears are unfounded, since Nikki too is gracious and accepts the Emperor’s apology. 

Theresa: And as you do, because you were raised, right? Because Victoria’s not going to have no fool running around her house. I mean true. 

Angie: But nevertheless, he decides he wants to go home. He’s going to leave Japan. Thanks. It’s been real. It’s been nice. It hasn’t realized. I’m going to go back home. My mom’s calling. Yeah. Um, now, the nation of Japan, they’re deep in their fields. They’re deeply ashamed. There’s 10,000 Contolas telegrams from individuals and institutions that pour in. Prayers are held at temples and shrines throughout Japan. Okay. 

So the entire nation has some big fields about this. There is a 27 year old woman named Hiko Hakake Yama who journeyed from Kyoto to the coast, or journeyed to Kyoto from the coast of the town in cheaper free picture. She commits suicide, hoping that it tones by stabbing herself in the neck with a razor in front of the Kyoto Prefectural Office. 

Theresa: And I feel like that’s not going to make it better. 

Angie: No, no, but this is how much she felt about this. Yes. Bigger in her fields. I have never felt that strongly about anything. So these are things that says a lot more about me than it does her. I appreciate your sentence. 

Yeah. Now she leaves documents behind apologizing profusely for the assassination attempt. So she takes this personal. The Japanese cabinet, they want to off Suda. Because reasons. 

Look what you’ve done. They quote the article 116 in the Majesty Clause of the Criminal Code, even though the provision clearly only applies to Japan’s emperor, Empress, and crown prince. But they’re like close enough off the dude. 

Theresa: Still a crown prince, you’re done, Ski. Yeah. 

Angie: Now the legal community gets up in their fields. They withdraw the petition too often. And they charge him appropriately with attempted murder, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Okay. So this makes sense. The Supreme Court ends up ruling out the death penalty. And so the court thereby established the principle of judicial independence and separation of powers. So, okay. Everyone kind of goes through the full legal system. I appreciate the bureaucracy, the checks and balances here, because this is a person’s life. 

Theresa: They compromise. The only time someone will ever say I appreciate the bureaucracy here. The only time. 

Angie: I mean, if you’re trying to make sure due diligence and justice is served. Yeah. 

Theresa: That’s what I’m saying. This is the only time bureaucracy is ever going to be appreciated. 

Angie: Right. You know, otherwise you’re just having me feel too many forms out. Right. Truth. Truth. They did say that, you know, hey, we’re going to make them work this way through the lower court, so that there’s going to be a normal procedure involved, because we want to make sure this guy gets his due process. Okay, great. They don’t take into consideration his mental health. Now, to be fair, we’re talking pre 1900s. 

Theresa: Mental health probably hasn’t been considered until the 90s in this century. Right. 

Angie: Like, you know what I mean? Like, there’s so many things. Yeah. Like, so because some of the things would be like, well, no rational person would even do this. So he’s obviously insane. Obviously. 

You know, so there’s a lot of stuff there. But he’s given a life sentence and shipped off to prison in Hokkaido. Hokkaido is the northernest island in Japan. Okay. 

Sometimes referred to as the Siberia of Japan. Interesting. He’s in exile in prison. 

That works. He ends up, his life in prison is kind of cut short when he dies of pneumonia in September of that same year. Some sources say he starved himself to death. But motive is kind of always been up in the air. 

Now, we do know that he served in the Japanese imperial army during the Seinen war, which is the official name for what is also called the Satzuma rebellion. Now, I could go into that. I won’t. 

I didn’t even put that in my notes. He’s deep in his heels over this. He’s in the area around the Medea temple around 10 a.m. when Nikki too is there. Around this time, he reportedly becomes incensed when he sees two Russian shoulders in the crown princes entourage sitting on a monument to the soldiers who died in the Seinen war and otherwise acting quote-unquote disrespectfully. The assassination attempt happens around 1.50 p.m. 

Theresa: Okay. So we have some issues about some foreigners who may not know the situation here sitting on our monument to my fallen brethren. Right. So I’m going to attack their leader. 

Angie: I mean, honestly, I see the logic train. It makes all the appropriate stops. Okay. So 1894, Nikki too becomes czar and the czar and his other advisors contemptuously dismiss any suggestion that Japan could stand to Russia. 

They are against this concept. Clearly, Nikki too had been deep in his heels about Japan for some time. This was three years later. I’ve got a boo boo. Uh-huh. Yep. And all the way home. 

That leads to him getting his ass handed to him at the Battle of Tsushima, which was covered in Episode 69. Love this for me. They can chuck a yes. But that is the story of Nikki too being attacked by a samurai. 

Theresa: What’s not on the bingo card here? That’s intense today. No, I’m just going to say here you go. I love that for me. Can I just tell you that when you told me that your story tied into the Kim Chaka, I literally scrumpt with joy and what does that mean that like the scream I scrumpt, I scrumpt, I screamed, I screamed with joy. I cackled with joy. Pick your word. I was joyous about it. And I said in that moment that I’m fairly certain the Kim Chaka story is my very favorite of your stories. 

Angie: It is delicious. Like could. 

Theresa: That’s just cat. I love them so freaking much. Like the image I have of the one commander at being like, please don’t listen to them. They’re really what there’s no, they’re not actually here. Please don’t. I can’t see them. 

Angie: The image I have of the Admiral throwing binocular after binocular into the ocean to the point where his staff brought multiple cases of binoculars. 

Theresa: I mean, y’all just go back and listen to listen to that episode. 

Angie: Honestly, number 69. That’s what I’m going to do. I’m just going to go back and listen to 69 because it is an absolute delight. 

Theresa: Every minute of it makes me laugh so hard that the fact that this wasn’t like, this has proved that life is stranger than like you can’t write this crap. Like this, this is what happens out in the real world. 

Angie: It’s crazier than the Micaels Navy. Every minute of it. 

Theresa: Every minute of it. Well, thank you. I loved hearing the story about how Nikki too was attacked by Samurai and how that was an Omenbingo card for today. The whole sentence was the Omenbingo card. 

Angie: So if you are wondering how all of things are connected and who else is going to be attacked by Samurai next week, we’re waiting. We don’t know. We’ll research. Rate, review, subscribe. We’re on YouTube, so you can listen to us there. We don’t have the video versions of these up there yet. Maybe one day, but right now it’s super easy to push that content. So on that note, goodbye. 

Theresa: Bye.