The Legend of the Original Femme Fatale | True Life Spy Stories
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
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Mata Hari is a name that has for more than 100 years captured the public’s imagination. The woman behind the persona acquired her fame as an exotic dancer and courtesan living in Paris during the French Belle Époque.
Meaning “eye of dawn” in Javanese, Mata Hari would have had you believe that she was a Hindu princess born of a union between a Dutch adventurer and a Javanese temple dancer. As the story goes, she blossomed into a beautiful young lady and learned the sensuous and sacred temple dances from her mother. It was then her gift to bring these lithe routines to the Western world where she entertained, enthralled and seduced.
Yet, the character of Mata Hari was just that - an invention. According to biographer Pat Shipman, Mata Hari (real name Margaretha Zelle MacLeod) loved men, but she did not love the truth. Ultimately, the myth that she had created was turned against her as she faced a French firing squad. Convicted of being the most lethal and dangerous spy of World War 1 it was said that she was responsible for the death of 50,000 French soldiers.
Not surprisingly, the true story of Mata Hari, in so far as it can be ascertained, is far different from what both she and the French political elite of her day would have you believe.
This is the legend and the truth about Mata Hari, the naked spy.
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Primary sources (afiiliate links):
📕 Femme Fatale: Love, Lies, and the Unknown Life of Mata HariFemme Fatale: Love, Lies, and the Unknown Life of Mata Hari, Pat Shipman - amzn.to/3ThNjkS
📕 Mata Hari: The biography of an Exotic Dutch Courtesan and World War I spy, United Library - amzn.to/4a9Aujg
📕 The Fatal Lover, Julie Wheelwright - amzn.to/3vctIKR
#philipthompson #truelifespystories #matahari
“Mata Hari never lacked for male admirers, even though she was nearing forty years old and even though she was in love with Vadime. From her perspective, she needed money and money meant lovers. From that of the officers she entertained, she was enchanting. An officer leaving the horrors of the battlefield and the dreadful responsibility of command to spend a few days or a week in Paris with Mata Hari entered a dream world.
The life expectancy of those fighting on the western front could be measured in weeks, not years, and they knew it. To enjoy the attentions of a beautiful woman who was fashionably dressed, to take her to fine restaurants, and to make love to her with passionate abandon were the surest escapes from the realities that haunted these men. No wonder so many sought her company and savoured every moment of it, knowing that the battlefield, that blood, death, and hardship, would be temporarily held at bay.”
- Pat Shipman, Femme Fatale
"Matahari" means ☀️ in Malay.
😂1q
Well said. Bravo.
Pois é...se não fosse branca, holandesa , européia...seria considerada mais uma prostituta ..
Mata Hari , Cleopatra , Maryline Monroe , Madeline Albright , , Thatcher , Condoliza Rice , Catharina The great that was a Lady , !
Mata Hari literally means “Eye of the Day”, NOT eye of the dawn in Indonesian and Malay, NOT Javanese. Mata means eye; hari means day. The lexical meaning of the word “Matahari” (one word) is the sun in both Indonesian and Malay. And yes, I speak Indonesian and Javanese. ☀️
Like Daisy then?
😅😮
But she is Jewish, was she not?!
Thank you for clarifying!
Im Malaysian. Matahari translates to Sun. Mata-hari, eye of the day.
Despite her flaws, it's sad what they did to her.
Thats how it happend , and still happens in any format digitaly these days ! ? . Backbone Build Better , is the best fundamental format these days or Any day ,Ps. Dont forget to analog it ,before youre in the clouds
She was such a beautiful woman.
She was made a scapegoat for knowing too many delicate secrets of the so-called elite.
Thank god for the internet, we can find out so much more about people who intrigued us in history
yes indeed
This isn’t a sensational historical story, this is a tragedy in every sense of the word. This outlines the despicable nature of mankind one to another. This poor girl was mistreated in her youth by men, she was mistreated in her young adult life by men and most likely by women as well, she was horrifically used and abused by men during World War I And the French, that godless society, murdered her for their own war time advantage. This poor lady, mistreated by every man she ever met, deserved better. This is a tragedy, nothing more, nothing less.
Idk I've been mistreated but I didn't abandon or abuse my kids
Absolutely..it is dreadful. She was abused and used by men, and in the end, set up, betrayed and murdered..by men.
@@melaniesheldon8013 She should have gone and gotten her daughter as soon as she made that million.
I agree. She have the first cool million so getting her daughter should have been her motherly instinct.
Beautifully written. ❤
Another victim of war. Well told, thanks ❤
So basically the proto-femme fatale is just a poor woman played by men and eventually dying in their game of thrones. That's so disappointing.
Yes, I thought she would be like some mastermind and her spy work would amount to some importance, but it didn't.
What it reveals more than any spy revelations, is the stupidity in the intelligence networks and courts to the extent it can inspire many comedies.
Minus the poor part, isn't that generally how the trope plays out?
I watched and think you did an absolutely splendid job. I'm 78 years old, have heard her name my entire life but, other than knowing she had been executed as a spy, I knew nothing about her. Thanks to your video, that lacuna has now been filled. Thank you.
YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. ME TOO, I'VE HEARD THIS NAME SINCE I WAS A CHILD BUT I DID NOT KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HER UNTIL TODAY APRIL 2024.
Well, Greta Garbo famously played her … but you may not know anything about Greta Garbo, either. Just watch “Queen Christina.” Much better than the movie about loosely based on Mata Hari.
Same here. I always thought she's Indonesian because of her name
What a confusing, chaotic and terrifying life, but I think she had more courage in her pinky than the men she knew had in their whole body.
I didn't know she was a total failure as a spy, or that she got called the best just so they could use her as a scapegoat. At least her life wasn't boring and she did pretty well with what she had to work with.
Thank you for clearing up a lot of the myth surrounding her, great video!
She was never a spy , she was used by the French and Germans . She lost her life because of both these countries , sham on both countries 👎
This is pretty much a video version of the book by Pat Shipman (minus the sympathy). None of the military men who supposedly told her secret information are ever criticized. Mata Hari possessed an indefinable charisma which still goes unremarked. There was no shortage of women, or strippers, so how exactly did Mata Hari enchant half of Europe?
These day's she'd have a blog and be known as an influencer 😅
Z high class hover and stropper no more no less 😂
That should have read hooker 😂
Play with fire you get burnt ,you reap what you sow etc etc
I have read several books Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod, better known by the stage name Mata Hari and thought what a SAD story. She was abused by men at an early age and had a difficult marriage. She reinvented herself but as she got older her suitors started to dry up and she was just trying to survive. There was no evidence existed that she provided militarily useful information to anyone. She made bad choices and it caused her to be executed.
Agreed. Her husband gave her syphilis as well as being violently abusive. She was used as a scapegoat to salve men's ego, and when they executed her she refused a blindfold. She was no vacuous harlot, but had more guts than her killers.
@@arianbyw3819 Well said.
@arianbyw3819 agreed. It makes me wonder who the blind fold was really for sometimes. The executed or the executioners so they don't have to look into their victims eyes.
@@oliviablackburn3907 the executed its a simple google search.
@@arianbyw3819 we dont really know if she had syphillis, as many of her lovers and wives lived well old ages, it was mostly a rumour i suggest more research before saying what people had, when you dont know...
Yet another excellent video Philip. Well narrated and illustrated. I knew a bit about Mata Hari but this production was so informative. Keep it up. I hope it gets the number of views it deserves.
One day we will all be gone ……. At least she has a story even today.
The VICTIM was sent home in disgrace, after having been taken advantage of by a middle-aged man in authority over her. Wow.
I hate it when that kind of thing happens. This idea that "It's always the female's fault." I say, "female," because it's not always a woman, but sometimes a literal CHILD.
My own aunt was similarly blamed, when she was FIVE YEARS OLD, for somehow "seducing" the "godly" man next door. In his sixties. As if a truly godly man could not resist the "seduction" of a five-year-old.
okay but whenever i try to spy naked im called a “creep” and a “criminal” society today i swear
You probably never bothered to learn the sacred dances.
I suspect that you’ve been missing out step 1: be a Javanese princess.
Are you sure you have the body for that?
@@djquinn11hilarious bro
I've been accused of being a stalker,, but I am an anthropologist.
Admittedly I had a stalker.
Encore pour être une soit disant: “dangereuse criminelle Femme Fatale”, aurait-il fallu qu’elle soit celle qui aie tué, et non pas être tuée elle même. La pauvre! Victime de pénibles circonstances et d’hommes de mauvaise augure! RIP😟
I had only heard of the name Mata Hari. Thank you for the well authenticated video with names and dates and her tragic end.
I have been now been enlightened.
Thank you.
your channel deserves so many more subscribers. keep at it and I know for a fact your channel is gonna blow up
This was so well done. What an intriguing life she led after her abysmal marriage.
Just a very sad story.
Very nice documentary. Lots of photos I've never seen before too. Good Job!
She was really beautiful in her own natural, peculiar way. Thanks for the many photos that accompany the story.
Always been fascinated by stories about her espionage but feel sad about her end as you've revealed in this wonderful documentary. She wasn't even a proper spy unlike so many other brave women during both the wars!
Great job with this video. I knew nothing but the name, and this was so complete in covering her whole story.
3:14 This makes my blood boil! I don't see how any society that has called itself civilized could be so stupidly cruel. I won't rant, but grrrr.
Her husband was beyond the pale.
Great video, thank you.
You grow up, hearing her name used as a 'spy seductress', only to learn later her death created more to magnify her legend than her actual life.
My GOD look at the handwriting…omg, and we now are considering doing away with cursive writing …I can barely believe it.
Doing away with cursive handwriting?? You must be from America, no?
@@PumaLyn yes, cursive no longer taught for years here.
@@victorialoveday9998 That's sad. It's still taught here in primary schools beginning with Standard Four, ten year olds. Have a blessed Sunday everyone. ☕💐
Thank you for telling this story
It seems her problems started when she was nineteen and married McCloud. His own children couldn't survive him
I think it started when she was abused at the school in Leiden
@@Dutchess0909 even earlier with her father ditching the family after getting them into massive debt and her mom dying early after having a mental breakdown
The psychological complexities of the human mind will haunt me to my grave, i,ve seen it all. As a war veteran, the son of narcissistic raving lunatic father, religious contradiction. Human exploitation and manipulation. The gilded truth, embossed to conceal the truth. The life and times of Mata Hari were opportunistic, a flirtation with life that ultimately destroyed her. Her execution demonstrated the ultimate indignity and humiliation of humanity, when the firing squad commander strode to her lifless body and shot her in the head knowing she was dead. How could he justify such an dehumanizing undignified sickening act..
Your statement could not be more in line with my view of this admirable and deeply misunderstood woman. Devoid of self pity and victimhood, she utilized the gifts, talents, and devices at her disposal for self preservation in an era where every card was stacked against her, overwhelming obstacles where the order of the day. Tragically , she faced her demise at the hands of the very men that encouraged, used, abused and ultimately inflicted the final blow of unsubstantiated and blameless treasonous charges. I have always found her to be a beacon of strength and fortitude.
“Admirable” is hardly a good description of an immoral person as this woman undoubtedly was. Yes she showed fortitude at her execution, but how many lives did she destroy before that? Don’t make excuses for her excesses just because she was a female.
Spoken like a mister man who doesn't understand or consider the complexities of survivalin the time she lived. Did you really listen to her whole story?@@barryjgalbraith2635
Those men made their own choices. @@barryjgalbraith2635
Yes but such was it always done .It is called " coup de grace" and the aim is to cut short the possible suffering of a not yet completed dead executed person.
Perhaps today, with unlimited nudity and porn available to one and all and all that, it is difficult to get the feeling of what exactly the sensation of Mata Hari was. You need to understand that in those times, it was already deemed inappropriate for a lady to show a nude ankle or décolleté (cleavage). This is why men were supposed to climb and descend stairways in front of their ladies. To dance semi- or fully nude on stage was really far far beyond the pale of propriety.
Yes, we forget that up until very recently most men had only seen one woman nude (except maybe their mothers) and that being their wife.
Great video as usual. However another day of me wishing you would cover WWII's Agent Garbo please
I'll get there, I promise!
@@PhilipThompsonI think you have done a marvelous job and I will gladly watch any of your podcasts!!❤🎉❤🎉
Today, she would be an influencer and an OnlyFans artist.
MY GOODNESS SHE SUFFERED WAY TOO MUCH. SHE WAS A SURVIVOR LIKE MANY OF US.
THEY ACCUSED HER WITHOUT REAL EVIDENCE OF GUILT AND EXECUTED HER FOR BEING CRUEL MALE CHAUVINISTS! THEY KILLED HER FOR THE SIMPLE FACT THAT SHE WAS A WARRIOR AND INDEPENDENT WOMAN. THEY MURDERED HER FOR PURE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN. RIP. THANK YOU FOR THE EXCELLENT DOCUMENTARY.
I prayed for her after the video. She never had a chance.
She lived in Sumutra/Java with her military husband and two children. One day the children started spewing black vomit and shortly threreafter died. They suspected poisoning by a servant, but I do not know if this was proven,,,Mata Hari started to sneek out at night to dance with the natives.....,eventually becoming a spy.....It was announced by France at least a decade ago that Mata Hari was a double agent...in other words, she was working for France. Got this from a biography in the waaay back
Hey, stumbled upon the channel recently and it's quite interesting so far.
I think, however, the AI-voiced videos were very subpar compared to your voiced ones. Human narration, despite lacking much emotion to it, still carries more pleasantly and fluidly.
I'm not even against AI in creative work, just the one you picked wasn't very good.
Hope to see more.
Thanks for the feedback! The AI narrator is a thing of the past now. I'm trying to improve my own narration, I find it quite challenging!
@@PhilipThompson Here's hoping you re-do previous videos then. Could be good practice for you!
@@PhilipThompsonyour voice is so much better than AI voices
Love your voice!
It’s a shame she didn’t save money to be united with her daughter. She found motherhood boring unfortunately
She should have taken that first million and gone and got her daughter.
She's a legend, what a beauty!
At least she had her principles
Ah, Mata Hari. She stepped out of bounds and masculine hubris shot her down. I do hope men will someday evolve.
Nope
She was very brave.
I doubt she was the original femme fatale
Who then?
@DirtySouth-om7zj are you serious? You think in all the millennia before there were no seductive women. Cleopatra, for example, seduced both Julias Ceasar and Mark Anthony.
How ironic, She played a greater unifying role amongts a bunch of nations embroiled in senseless violence.
French justice = hypocrite as always.
Go Mata Hari Go! 😅
That was a good documentary. Always heard her name but never knew her exact story. Thank you for putting that great peace together.
3:34 that’s a Frisian hat the lady is wearing. My great grandma was wearing it too. Under the lace hat is a Silver or golden hood. My great grandmother had a silver one, she wasn’t that rich.
I did view the photo in this video you mentioned, which is impressive. I'm holding a very old photo (as I type) of my Great, Great Grandparents late eighteen hundreds. Its a professionally taken portrait ( sepia colour ) very formal attire, full length dress on the mother, the father was in a suit. Their young boy was very smartly dressed as well.
@@HookBeak_66 I was wondering if that was actually Margaretha's actual relatives. My Frisian born mother told me how she would watch her G-Grandmorher starch the lace and use hot glass rods to shape the lace into a fan at the nape of the neck.
The last woman to wear this over a gold skull cap (early 1950's).She doesn't know what happened to it or any wealth long gone in the wars.
WHAT A NICE WARMING BIT of HISTORY : ) LOL
So she wasn't a spy? She was a sex worker who specialized in rich married men? I don't understand the outpouring of over the top sympathy in so many of these comments. Yes, it's horrible that she was abused by the first two men in her life when she was far too young. No, she didn't deserve the death penalty. But how does she deserve hero worship and how are her decades of fun, money, glamour, nice dinners and payments of millions for her services, getting labeled by some here as being abused by all the men in all her life??? This woman seems a victim her first few years, and her last. All the years in between, NOT
It is possible to look up books and videos that describe the behavior of women who had been sexually abused as children. There are videos talking about the effects of narcissistic abuse.
One book is titled The Courage to Heal. I suggest that you read it.
You obviously have no knowledge of the damage that is done to abuse victims, and nor do you care.
@@susanmercurio1060You are so very wrong in your assumptions about me. I am a childhood sa survivor as well as a dv survivor. Though I prefer to say I THRIVE rather than just survive. I could have become a couple of wealthy men's mistress when younger and “hotter.” I had actual offers, even one from my boss. I chose to work my bootie off after leaving a dangerous situation with my infant daughter and bought my own house as a single mother with no college degree and almost no child support from deadbeat. I think you're trying to come from a good place by trying to educate me, but I'm coming from a place of self respect and strength in our womanhood. It isn't easy. It's a man's world still in 2024 in my country at least. But we can try our best without selling ourselves to the highest bidder and leaving ourselves open to even more harm. Just my opinion. Best wishes to you
@@gf3011 I apologize for jumping to conclusions about your life and I congratulate you on your successes.
@@susanmercurio1060 Thank you. Much love, which I think we all need more of
Agreed. Interesting story. Not a hero though.
What A humble warrior/historian.
She was a master manipulator of men - she should have saved her millions and made better choices. She became rich and squandered it.
Excellent ' I guess she never had a chance since all Europe's nobility including chirch nobility were all on the one side 'against the people of Europe ( much like today )
You could consider looking into Coco Chanell 'i dont think she was considered a spy but most definitely was. Her links to European elite on all sides of WW2 'linking british French and German elites
Of course the difference here was she came from nobility 'eventhough impoverished 'until the french royalty discovered who she was and arainged for a stipend for her and her siblings 'equally as interesting a story 'perhaps even more
Only 5 minutes in and there are so many discrepancies, I’m having a hard time tracking… her parents were divorced in 1899, and mother died in 1901 (two years later), and the children were sent to live with relatives and Margaretta was sent to a boarding school. At the boarding school, she was the victim of a perverted teacher in 1893 (somehow six years before her parents divorced, mind you) at the age of 15. Then she met and married a Scot who was 20 years her senior in the year 1895, when she had somehow aged 4 years in the span of 2 years… and her parents still won’t be divorced for the next 4 years… and her mother won’t have died until 6 years after her marriage… this is not adding up. Makes me question the veracity of this video.
It doesn't make sense. Born 1876, father bankrupt 1899, divorced soon after, mother died 2 years later (1901) where as Margaretha - now 15 years old ??? was sent to relatives and then to a boarding school ( as 25 year old 😂). Someone really should do corrections on the text.
He meant 1889 for the bankruptsy. She was 14 yrs old and had to be sent away to school at 15.
@@libbyhicks7549 I gathered as much. My point is, if you don't know and just listen, you will be misinformed. It should have been corrected, at least in the transcript.
There was very little any woman could do to support herself. The only avenues available to make anything other than food or shelter but not both were those careers that meant living without morals.
Once the barriers between what is acceptable and that which isn't, each step farther away from what is good, wholesome and right gets easier.
When the horizon is moved, balance is lost. I feel for her. But it doesn't excuse her acts. It helps explain, even predict, but not excuse. So sad, her life mirrors that of millions who find themselves with few prospects and no hope. Drugs, crime and sins of all types become the cruelest prisons.
A decent society protects and takes care of women like this rather than discarding them to be left to the very worst elements.
The story is intriguing, but also the English dialect of the narrator! When he says the word, ‘life,’ it sounds like a southern US accent-East Coast. I wonder where he is from?
South Africa! Thanks for watching.
@@PhilipThompson How interesting! They say American east coast southerners got their accent from a British dialect, so maybe we have a common ancestry.
No temple dancer existed in Indonesia. There are court sacred dances (bedhaya), and folk thanksgiving ritual dances (tayuban), but no temple dances.
Very good video, thanks.
Your channel is amazing, great vid, beautiful editing.❤😮❤
Doesn't make sense that her children were said to have died from the results of syphilis or the treatments yet neither her nor the infected ex ever suffered effects from the,dease.
He said the syphilis part was all speculation. Another theory was that the young son was poisoned by a sinister servant who didnt like the military personnel or their offspring.
I didn’t know she wasn’t really a spy. What a sad life.
I would have willingly left Germany in 1915! 😅
So she did spy - but for the French .... and they shot her..
Yeh. Sometimes, the hand that feeds us, poisons our food.
“No good deed goes unpunished.”
That’s a terrific documentary. Thank you for separating the truth from the legend.
I made my living as a young woman singing in Broadway shows. David Merrick produced a Broadway show, called "Mata Hari" It opened and closed in one night, in Washington DC. The final scene of the show was her death by firing squad. The soldiers marched onto the stage to execute her . . . shot . . . she slumped and her head fell . . . then she lifted her hand to remove a tear falling down her cheek. The audience nearly died laughing . . . and Merrick came backstage in a rage, closing the show right then and there.
Women just literally trying to survive make history.
This is great entertainment, if only for some of the English pronunciation, such as @6.36. Very well spoken. I love it:)
Very well done biography.
Was the video of her execution real or some reenactment?
A reenactment. There is no visual record (nothing public anyway)
This was well done. I learned a lot about her.
I very much appreciate the info about the difference in meaning between Matahari and Mata Hari.
She was beautiful, and in those days a woman's beauty could be both a blessing and a curse, possibly even more so than is true today.
Being a handsome man could be a curse as well, but Women always seem to get “the short end.”
I had a boss who was extremely handsome and athletic. At first I envied him enormously but then I saw how his many serial “conquests” always wanted a long term relationship when he wanted to “move on.” He said he tried to “let them down easy,” but he even admitted that’s impossible. I came to realize I’m glad to be just an average looking guy. Like Miles said in the movie Sideways, “The price is too high.”
In the city Leeuwarden where Mata Hari was born is now a statue of her. It’s situated In front of the house where she grew up in.
Friday saved! PT to the rescue.
MARI HARI WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST HOAX(S) IN NISTORY!!!!!!
Mata Hari was NOT A SPY! She was a scapegoat to coverup the incompetence of the French generals who were constantly losing thousands of men and consecutive battles against the Germans. She had a lover on the German side PRIOR to World War I, and then DURING the war; she had a high ranking French military officer lover. When the French were CONSTANTLY LOSING BATTLES against the Germans they needed and sought an excuse to save face, hence a spy within their ranks was suggested and the myth of the Mata Hari spy was manufactured to coverup their own blunders.
This mirrors the similar case with Alfred Dreyfus in 1894. accused of being a spy primarily because he was Jewish, and resulted in a long and scandalous trial that resulted in his eventual exoneration. It proved a huge embarrassment to the French military prestige and government. Class-warfare was a longstanding practice history in many European aristocratic governments, …even in modern times toady it still happens.'
Really interesting video love the channel
Mata Hari used her beauty & womanly wiles to persue wealth and notoriety above getting her daughter back.
Sad she let herself down. 😢😢
The French immortalized her!
They more ‘mortalized’ her….duhhh
The best spies seem to be those who have suffered childhood trauma and betrayal.
It's the one job where their personality faults become strenghts
ikr
"they fell instantly in love"
Snort.
Why did her first husband even bother if he was so active.
Ek het dadelik van jou stem gehou en kon maklik die Engels volg. Hier en daar was die datums ietwat onder verdenking, maar 'n goeie video andersins. Persoonlik is ek van die opinie dat sy nie aantreklik was nie, maar "beskikbaar" was vir mans en dit het haar aanloklik gemaak.
“Eye of Dawn” “Mata Hari” means “ The Sun- in Balinese.
Not in defence of Mata Hari but, in deference to the principles of evidential truth, I would ask the makers of this documentary, what military secret she unveiled and sold to Germany that was instrumental in the death of 50,000 French soldiers?
@@ernst-gg1eb probably none. That is what the French said, not me.
Is the narrator South African ? 😍🇿🇦
Great documentary. I wonder if the narrator has lived in South Africa at some point?
Yes, for 30 years!
@@PhilipThompson Cool. I have been living in S.A. since 1997. Thank you so much for sourcing some unusual photos of Mata Hari.
This would make a great modern movie.
Her roll as Lancelot Secret Chimp’s girlfriend was exciting and dramatic.
Her father declared bankruptcy in 1899 when she was 15 and her kids fell sick in the same year (1899)???
😅
She had an iconic and unique style, her picture is famous forever, looks like a real goddess.
Wait so there's no proof of anything?
Great video as always!
That was very sad❤🙏
Ive"d heard mata hari
Since i was 12 years old
But until im 30 yrs old
I heard of BIBI GANDANG
HARI
Hahaha
I really like your videos. The K.K. one was great. He is hardly ever mentioned. I’ve delayed until now because I didn’t think it would be as interesting as she was not a big deal spy. Nothing needs changing regards format, accent etc. I never watch shorts but only because I like in-depth history videos. You have a really good channel.
Two immediate comparisons come to mind...
One, Joan of Arc. The French love betraying their women for political points don't they?
Two, Henry VIII's wife Katherine Howard. The 17 year old who had not been brought up in the Tudor court system and seem to have *no* clue what Queenly decorum/etiquette was. She was very much 17 and everything seemed to be a bit of a fun game to her. She was innocent and sheltered but to our modern interpretations...she comes off as a bit of an airhead, so absolutely clueless to the point of embarrassing about how to behave that it got her beheaded.
Mata Hari reminds me a lot of that. Playing "big boy" games she was in NO WAY prepared or ready for. Thinking she could just flit through half of wartorn Europe with no consequences. The travel alone would raise eyebrows even if she never saw anyone/took any lovers....but she did that too. So now you have an adult woman who legitimately thought she could romp across warring countries while taking dozens of lovers of said warring countries, complete with paper trail of letters wherever she went. It just beggars belief that it never crossed her mind about how that looked or that just saying "But I didn't actually *do* anything." wasn't going to be compelling evidence. Had she never seen or read about a single criminal trial in her life? Oh, the criminal said they didn't do it. Well then, that's all the evidence anyone ever needs eh? Let them go immediately! It's a naïveté that you could believe for Howard who was 17 but becomes very difficult to believe from a worldly 40 year old like Hari.
me sitting in my bed drinking a beer thinking....darn she had a lot of stuff go on in her life.
A child of the provinces, I was during that time confused by Mata Hari and Greta Garbo who I believed had either portrayed each other or were the same person.
Mother don’t stab father with the bread knife. Remember t’was a gift when you were wed. But, mother if you must stab father with the bread knife, mother kindly use another for the bread. 😅
Great job! Mercí!
Amazing super detailed video. Unpopular opinion: While I believe she was somewhat scapegoated, I do believe she was messing tremendously with fire and that she was willing to sell info to whoever pays more.
Also, she could have retired back when she was getting paid 45k dollars per performance, and reunited with her daughter. I dont see her as a complete victim.
I echo your sentiments exactly. Thanks for watching!
She was being threatened by military officials. She agreed to what she thought would allow her to leave the country and move freely.