(Mental Floss) -- Behind every good war are many good women. Using their feminine (and in at least one case masculine) wiles, the following five spies would make James Bond proud. Noor Inayat Khan was posthumously awarded the George Cross for her spy service. 1. Mata Hari While Margaretha Geertruida Zelle MacLeod (1876--1917) may not have caused World War I, she sure as heck kept it going. Having spent time in Java with her husband, Captain Campbell MacLeod, Margaretha returned to Holland and sued for divorce. To make ends meet she took up exotic dancing and the name Mata Hari (meaning "the light of day" in Malay). With her sensual performances becoming the attraction of the major European cities came the men and the gifts for her favors. Many of these favors came from royalty and high-ranking French and German military officers.
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Elizabeth Van Lew pretended to be crazy so no one would take her seriously
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Belle Boyd passed on information to the Confederate forces
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Sarah Edmonds fought and spied as a man during the Civil War
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Exotic dancer Mata Hari convicted of espionage and executed by firing squad
In 1863, @placeholder caught malaria and deserted the army out of fear that hospitalization would reveal her true identity.