# Any wars by countries where the head of state was a mother? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 23, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302 "2002-11-23T03:29:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BZ00000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/47e85d/32.png) [@BZ00000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BZ00000)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/1 "2002-11-23T03:29:29Z")
As it says. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/2 "2002-11-23T03:36:13Z")
Israel - Golda Mier India - Indira Ghandi England - Queen Victoria ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/3 "2002-11-23T03:38:31Z")
Queen Victoria comes to mind, also Catherine the Great, IIRC fought a couple of wars against the Turks and added much land to the Russian empire. Those are two just off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/4 "2002-11-23T03:39:41Z")
Catherine de Medici was officially a regent, but really running much of France during a whole lot of civil war and religious violence. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/5 "2002-11-23T03:44:11Z")
Queen Victoria was at least the nominal head of Great Briton and they were constantly killing off folks all over the world during her reign. Cleopatra also comes to mind. Also, do you want to count countries headed by a mother who defend themselves when attacked? I’m thinking from the context of your question that you are looking for aggressive mothers. You could make the argument that Hitler was a mother. ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/6 "2002-11-23T03:47:02Z")
> [@](#): > > You could make the argument that Hitler was a mother. I’d like to hear this one. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BZ00000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/47e85d/32.png) [@BZ00000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BZ00000)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/7 "2002-11-23T03:50:37Z")
I, too would like to hear about Hitler. And any type of war is ok. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/8 "2002-11-23T03:52:27Z")
For Hitler, mother is only half a word. It is offered in the spirit of a jest, or joke. ---
**Author:** ![FSimons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@FSimons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FSimons)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/9 "2002-11-23T04:29:23Z")
Margaret Thatcher - Falklands War. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/10 "2002-11-23T04:40:46Z")
What’s-Her-Name from Pakistan. Wasn’t she embroiled with India a time or two? Maybe the question should be; how many mothers who are leaders of countries have not been in a war? Mothers as head of state are somethng of a minority. Perhaps their apparant peaceful nature is more due to lack of opportunity than some inner goodness. ---
**Author:** ![theotherangel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@theotherangel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theotherangel)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/11 "2002-11-23T04:45:08Z")
Indira Ghandi was Prime Minister of India. Did Pakistan have a female PM too?!? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/12 "2002-11-23T04:56:16Z")
Benazir [Bhutto](http://www.wic.org/bio/bbhutto.htm) was the P.M. of Pakistan. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/13 "2002-11-23T05:00:26Z")
Let’s not forget Isabella, Queen of Castile during the conquest of Granada and the beginning of the conquest of the New World. ---
**Author:** ![Lockz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Lockz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lockz)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/14 "2002-11-23T05:39:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FSimons \* > \*\*Margaret Thatcher - Falklands War. \*\* Wouldn’t it be Queen Elizabeth II that was head of state? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/15 "2002-11-23T05:46:56Z")
Boadiccea comes to mind…and she was pretty “hands on” when it came to warfare too, as I recall. ---
**Author:** ![Nishroch\_Order](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Nishroch\_Order](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nishroch_Order)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/16 "2002-11-23T08:40:32Z")
Tzu-Hsi: The dragon empress of china ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/17 "2002-11-23T09:16:03Z")
Some of the asian empresses… man, genocide is an understatement. ^^;; ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/18 "2002-11-23T12:05:20Z")
Queen Isabella of Aragon (her youngest daughter married Henry VIII) , Emperess Maria Teresa of Austria,(Her daughter was Marie Antoniette) ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2002, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/19 "2002-11-23T12:38:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Wouldn’t it be Queen Elizabeth II that was head of state? I would think the OP meant head of state in a political sense where the title holder has real power rather than HM’s largely ceremonial role. MT was certainly the person with the final say in the decision to go to war. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302/20 "2002-11-26T03:52:26Z")
Queen Anne (although none of her children survived long). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-by-countries-where-the-head-of-state-was-a-mother/138302.md?page=2)