Who was Mata Hari, a seductress, spy and exotic dancer who was given death by firing squad

She was an exotic dancer, a courtesan. However, she changed the course of World War I. She was ultimately executed by a firing squad in France on October 15, 1917, at the age of 41. But she is still remembered as the original and most original modern-day woman spy, who defined intelligence or spying. Born as Margaretha Geertruida Zelle on August 7, 1876, in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, she did not know her fate when she applied to an advertisement in a Dutch newspaper placed by Dutch colonial army captain Rudolf MacLeod, who was looking for a wife. The marriage proved to be a disaster. Zelle moved to Paris in 1903 and performed as a circus horse rider.

Mata Hari: Javanese princess of Hindu birth?

But fate has a much bigger design for her. She was promiscuous, flirtatious, and openly flaunting her body to captivate her audiences. She posed as a Javanese princess of priestly Hindu birth, pretended to have immersed herself in the art of sacred Indian dance and took the name Mata Hari. Her dance style was provocative, her free-willed attitude made her popular. As she became immensely popular, Mata Hari posed for provocative photos and mingled in wealthy circles. Though her career declined after 1912, Mata Hari crossed international borders thanks to her relationships and liaisons with powerful men. She was generally viewed as an artist and a free-spirited bohemian before World War I. 

(Mata Hari as an exotic dancer in 1906)

How did Mata Hari begin spying?

As the Netherlands remained neutral during World War I, Mata Hari could cross national borders freely. Consequently, she traveled between France and the Netherlands via Spain and Britain. She met Captain Vadim Maslov, a Russian Staff Captain of the 1st Special Infantry Regiment serving with the French Army. She developed a very intense romantic and sexual relationship with the captain. Maslov was with the 50,000-strong Russian Expeditionary Force sent to the Western Front in 1916.

However, the fate conspired for something else. Maslov was seriously injured and lost vision in one of his eyes while trying to capture the German-controlled fortified Brimont mountain range. Mata wanted to meet her husband. She was not allowed because she was a citizen of a neutral country. The agents from the Deuxième Bureau offered to allow her to see Maslov if she agreed to spy for France. These agents offered her one million francs if she could seduce Crown Prince Wilhelm, the eldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and get vital information from him. 

Mata Hari arrested

While traveling from Spain on the steamship Zeelandia in 1916, Mata Hari was arrested at the British port of Falmouth and taken to London. After a long interrogation, she was released. She traveled to Madrid in 1916 and met German military attache Major Arnold Kalle. She offered to reveal importance intelligence on France for money. Major Kalle sent a message giving details of German spy code-named H-21, whose biography matched to that of Mata Hari. 

Mata Hari executed

Mata Hari was arrested in France on February 13, 1917. During intensive grilling by Captain Pierre Bouchardon, she confessed to having accepted 20,000 francs from a German diplomat and former lover. However, she claimed innocence and wrote to the Dutch Ambassador in Paris. Mata Hari was executed by a firing squad on October 15, 1917.