×
SECTIONS
Home About Us Ancient History 1800s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Abandoned Buildings American Indians Animals In History Archaeological Finds Artifacts British History Civil War Color Historical Pictures Colorized Historical Pictures D-Day Edwardian Era Events Funny History Ghost Towns Gifts for Historical Lovers Gulf War Historical Art Historical Facts Historical Landmarks Historical Photos History Quiz Holocaust Iconic Buildings Letters Literature Medical History Medieval History Military History Movies People Rare Collection Recent History Roman History Sports History Then and Now Today in History Victorian Era Videos Vietnam War Vikings Vintage Ads Vintage Fashion Vintage Finds Vintage GIFs Vintage Photos Vintage Videos Weird History Weird Rare Photos Wild West Women In History World War I World War II

Unseen History Photos That Leave Nothing To The Imagination 

Rare Collection | November 27, 2020

The most beautiful spy in the world

source: reddit

No figure in history has received quite the same brand of unfair treatment as Mata Hari. As a professional dancer and mistress, this sultry babe enticed men from across the world to kneel at her feet, but when she was hired by George Ladoux as a spy for France in 1916 she sealed her fate. A reporter in Vienna wrote of Mata Hari:

[She is] slender and tall with the flexible grace of a wild animal, and with blue-black hair. [Her face] makes a strange foreign impression.

It was this "strange foreign impression" that made her the perfect spy for the French, for a time that is. Mata Hari insisted that she wanted to use her skills to get in with the Germans, pretend to spy for them, and then turn around and provide information for the French. That didn't really work and she was seen as a German double agent.

In just a few months Mata Hari was mixed up in a tangle of European intrigue and she was arrested for espionage on February 13, 1917. After investigators found out that she accepted 20,000 francs to gather information for the Germans (something that she claimed she wouldn't follow through on) she was put on trial, found guilt, and sentenced to death. On October 15, 1917, she was executed by a firing squad. She refused a blindfold and blew a kiss to the soldiers.

Next Page

Like it? Share with your friends!

Share On Facebook
Jacob Shelton

Jacob Shelton

Writer

Jacob Shelton is a Los Angeles based writer. For some reason this was the most difficult thing he’s written all day, and here’s the kicker – his girlfriend wrote the funny part of that last sentence. As for the rest of the bio? That’s pure Jacob, baby. He’s obsessed with the ways in which singular, transgressive acts have shaped the broader strokes of history, and he believes in alternate dimensions, which means that he’s great at a dinner party. When he’s not writing about culture, pop or otherwise, he’s adding to his found photograph collection and eavesdropping on strangers in public.