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Heroes from History People Really Don’t Appreciate Enough

Khalid Elhassan November 10, 2020 32 min

William Colby - William J. Donovan — William Colby (oak leaves on cap) with OSS personnel and Norwegian Resistance members in Norway. Special Operations

31. The Execution of Edith Cavell Made Her a Martyr

Legally, the Germans had every right to execute Edith Cavell – a civilian who helped the enemy during wartime. Her protection as a Red Cross nurse was forfeited when she used it as cover to help Germany’s enemies. Politically, the German decision to execute the middle-aged nurse, which was carried out by a firing squad on October 12^th, 1915, was a public relations disaster.

Propaganda poster about the execution of Nurse Cavell. Wellcome Library, London

Nurse Cavell became an iconic propaganda figure in Britain. In the then-still-neutral United States, her execution further sullied Germany’s reputation – a reputation already marred by a German U-boat’s sinking of the Lusitania earlier that year. After the war, Cavell’s remains were returned to Britain for a state funeral at Westminster Abbey. The Church of England commemorates the date of her execution, October 12^th, on its Calendar of Saints.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.