In 1801, Ching Shih (c. 1775-1844) was working as a brothel slave on a floating Cantonese pleasure house when she was taken captive by the Pirate admiral Zheng Yi. Captivated by the prostitute's beauty and unusual height, Zheng Yi asked her to marry him. The cunning Ching Shih agreed to the marriage on the condition that she be entitled to fifty percent of all profits that Zheng Yi made, and that she be allowed to command one of his pirate fleets. The smitten captain eagerly agreed. The pair became a formidable force, and within three years of the marriage they were in command of one of the most powerful pirate fleets in China, named the Red Flag Fleet, which comprised more than 1,500 ships. In 1807, Zheng Yi was killed and Ching Shih took his place at the head of the pirate armada. Ching Shih was as formidable as she was ruthless, and within a year the Red Flag Fleet was one of the largest navies in the world. She extorted taxes and levies from coastal townships in exchange for sparing them, and began to impose her own laws. Retribution was swift and punishment severe for any man or woman who attempted to defy her. Ching Shih defeated multiple fleets sent by the hostile Chinese government, as well as the British and Portuguese navies. In 1810 the Chinese government had no choice but to admit defeat. They offered amnesty to Ching Shih and all other pirates who would give up their ships and arms. Ching Shih accepted the offer on the condition that she be able to keep the extensive amount of loot she had obtained during her racketeering years. The Chinese government agreed, and Ching Shih, at thirty-four years old, retired a very wealthy woman. She opened a combined gambling house and brothel, and lived to the ripe old age of sixty-nine.
War, as they say, is hell. It's a constant, violent struggle for survival, in which men kill each other for reasons their government or leaders assure them are very good. Being a prisoner of war is no better either: here are ten of the worst things done to POWs throughout history.
The Selarang Barracks Incident
In 1942, four Australian POWs did the unthinkable, and tried to escape from their Japanese prisoner of war camp. The Japanese became so incensed that they ordered every POW in the Changi peninsula to sign an agreement promising not to escape. These prisoners-being Australian-promptly told the Japanese to do one.In retaliation, the Japanese ordered every single one of them to assemble in the Selarang barracks without food or water-all fifteen thousand of them. For four days, the men were forced to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in a space only constructed to hold as few as one thousand people. After four days suffering from dysentery, malnutrition, and dehydration, the Australians relented and signed the agreement.
Soviet POWs Punished By Their Own Comrades
During WW2 the Soviet's had a fairly simple motto: "no surrender and screw the Nazis" [citation needed]. But although it was uncommon for Soviets to be taken prisoner, it could-and did-happen.Many Soviet POWs were invariably used as forced labour for the Germans, which is fairly standard and in no way warrants them a place on this list. But what happened after the war makes it clear why they should be included. The Soviets didn't look kindly on POWs, and many were accused of collaborating with the Nazis. Their punishment, upon returning home from their POW camps? Forced labour camps.
Soviet POWs Couldn't Catch A Break
If double forced labour wasn't bad enough, during their time as POWs Soviet soldiers were among the worst treated in WW2. For example, when the food available for use in camps became incredibly scarce, Colonel Eduard Wagner issued an order to let prisoners starve to death. Soviets again somehow got the worst out of this deal when German officials barred Allied soldiers from sharing their Red Cross care packages with them. When the Red Cross offered to vaccinate prisoners, the Germans declined the offer and instead left them in the cold to freeze to death.
The Tiger Cages of Vietnam
The Vietnamese were infamous for their treatment of POWs-but nothing sums up their sheer brutality more than the so-called "Tiger Cages." Despite the name, they weren't cages that contained tigers. But after reading the next sentence you'll quickly realize that tigers would have been a more human option. The tiger cages were small cages where prisoners were literally left to die; they were given neither numbers nor names, but were merely left there. Some prisoners were hung on metal hooks, others were beaten with clubs. Open sores from metal shackles quickly became infected by the layer of human waste left on the floor. But worse that what actually happened to the prisoners, is why it was done to them. It was wartime after all, and there must have been a good reason?
POWs In Vietnam Tortured Without Good Reason
Horror stories about the treatment of POWs by the Vietnamese are all too common. But a fact that's commonly left out is why the Vietnamese actually did it. The reason was simply to break the will of the soldiers they'd captured. It wasn't to obtain information or even punish disobedience, it was simply a cold methodical way of ensuring that every prisoner hated Vietnam forever. Which explains why the systematic torture inflicted on victims was the same, whether a POW had been captured in combat, or found with broken legs after a bailout from his plane.
Homosexuals in Concentration Camps Were Never Liberated
When the Nazi concentration camps were liberated by the Allies, it was a time of great jubilation for the tens of thousands of people incarcerated in them. But an often forgotten fact of this time is that prisoners who happened to be wearing the pink triangle (the Nazis' way of marking and identifying homosexuals) were forced to serve out the rest of their sentence. This was due to a part of German law simply known as "Paragraph 175" which criminalized homosexuality. The law wasn't repealed until 1969.
The Aztecs Were As Harsh As You'd Expect
The Aztecs have a reputation as one of the most barbaric civilizations of all time: their society revolved around sacrifice and war. If you were unlucky enough to face the Aztecs in combat and be taken prisoner, your options for negotiation were pretty much limited to "having your heart cut out". That is-unless you were captured while the Aztecs were paying tribute to Tezcatlipoca, their most powerful god. In which case you'd be
The Hell Ships
"Hell ship" is a colloquial term used to describe the ships used to transport POWs during war. The inhuman and often deadly conditions onboard are the reasons for the title. Though the conditions on such ships were awful, that's not why they have a place on this list. You see, hell ships were normally just reconstituted transport ships; outside observers often