It has been a common strategy during wars and other military conflicts to use escorts to infiltrate enemy forces and withdraw valuable information. Even in 2012 there was a scandal in Turkey, when 60 officers were arrested for buying secrets in exchange for sex. It was claimed that these officers had been organizing meetings between high-ranking officials and escorts in order to receive vital information regarding political strategies.

Looking back in history, Mata Hari wasn’t the only courtesan-spy. Josephine Baker, a French singer and exotic dancer who was born in America, is known to have snuck in valuable secret codes across Nazi borders in order to aid the French Resistance. With her burlesque shows going mainstream, Baker used her unique sex appeal and charm to fool the allied forces, picking other secrets along the way by flirting with soldiers and politicians.

Even earlier in history, Marthe Richard became a spy immediately after World War I, offering the French information she received from her Russian lovers. She reported directly to Captain Georges Ladoux and managed to find out that the captain was actually a double-agent, secretly working for the Germans. After the conflict dissolved completely, she became a politician and later turned to writing erotic literature.

Even before Baker, Richard or Mata Hari, there was Casanova, the infamous poet, lover and conman, who worked for the Venetian and French nobles as a spy, serving secrets he discovered while on his escapades with royal courtesans. The women, who always heard strategies around court, were never expected to actually know them, and Casanova took advantage of this unwritten expectation.

From Casanova to the 2012 Turkish incident, wars have always been waged through more than just weapons. Seduction is the best weapon after all. 

Pictured above is Josephine Baker, courtesan, burlesque dancer and spy.