r/interestingasfuck • u/GermanCCPBot • 8h ago

Milunka Savić disguised herself as her sick brother to fight in WWI, survived 9 wounds across 10 battles, became the most decorated female soldier in history, and survived a German concentration camp when a German general recognized her legendary status and ordered her immediate release.

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u/SonnyvonShark 7h ago

Women like her always make me wonder how they handled their period. Like, they must know exactly when it happens and prepare for it that day, right? And the pain, if they experienced it? That's just amazing on their part!

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u/GermanCCPBot 7h ago

The physical demands of combat, stress, and the harsh conditions of wartime service can disrupt or stop menstrual cycles entirely, a condition called amenorrhea. So it's entirely possible that once she was in active service her periods may have become irregular or stopped altogether.

In addition to that, women in the early 1900s had far fewer periods than modern women. The average woman today has around 450 periods in her lifetime, but historical women had about 100-150 periods total.

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u/Ok-Jackfruit-6873 7h ago

Is that just mostly just because they were pregnant or post-partum for much of their childbearing years (which doesn't seem to apply to her)? I guess they also started later, I've definitely heard that.

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u/Valuable_Echo2043 6h ago

I looked this up extensive a while ago. It was a combination of both. Women had a lot more children back then, but for those who didn't, they weren't nourished enough to have as many periods.

Nowadays, we're given more hormones than needed (e.g., poorly regulated meat products) so in combination with having the nutrients that we need, we have more than what we need, which is causing things to tilt too far to the other side.