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Born on August 7, 1876, in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, Mata Hari's birth name was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle.
Mata Hari's father was a prosperous hatter who lost the family's money when she was a teenager. Her parents subsequently divorced, and, following the death of her mother, 15-year-old Hari went on to live with relatives.
Aged 18, Hari responded to a newspaper advert looking for a wife with a photograph of herself.
Hari's application was successful, and she married Rudolf MacLeod, an officer of the Dutch East India company who was 20 years her senior, in 1895.
At that time, she went by Margaretha MacLeod, and together they moved to Java in the Dutch East Indies in 1897.
Marrying MacLeod elevated her social and financial position, however, it wasn't a happy marriage. He was an alcoholic, physically abused her, and blamed her for his lack of promotion. MacLeod also openly kept a concubine, a socially accepted practice in the Dutch East Indies.
They had two children, Norman-John and Louise Jeanne. However, in 1899, two-year-old Norman died after reportedly being poisoned by a nanny. After the tragedy, the MacLeod family returned to the Netherlands. Hari and her husband separated in 1902 and divorced in 1906.
Although Hari was initially awarded custody, MacLeod refused to pay the agreed allowance. She was incapable of supporting herself and her daughter, or of fighting when her ex-husband took custody of the child. Their daughter later died at the age of 21, possibly from complications related to syphilis.
After separating from her husband, Hari searched for work in Paris. After unsuccessfully working as a ladies' companion, piano tutor, and German tutor, she decided to make a living using her beauty.
She began to present herself as an Indonesian princess and lied to journalists about her birth. She also took on the name of Mata Hari, a Malay expression for the Sun, which literally translates to "eye of the day."
Using cultural and religious symbolism she picked up during her time in Java, she brought a new and foreign style to Paris.
She sat as an artist's model and made theatrical contacts, who would get her roles in plays. She then began her career as an exotic dancer in 1905.
Hari's pioneering style made her well-known. Famous designers would offer her looks for the stage, and postcards showing her in revealing outfits were printed.
Her income as a courtesan became more important in the build-up to World War I, as Hari got older and her dancing less lucrative.
Beyond performing on the stage, Hari had numerous relationships with powerful and wealthy men of various nationalities as a courtesan.
Her international affairs and famed sensuality, which at the time was unacceptable for women, heightened the threat that Hari was perceived to present as an alleged spy.
Hari had found herself penniless and took the money offered to her. She also claimed to have discarded the invisible ink given to her, never considering actually spying.
Hari argued that she had viewed the money as recompense for the jewels and money taken from her at the start of the war, when she was considered an enemy in Berlin due to her prolonged residence in Paris.
Although her involvement in spying is questionable, Hari admitted under questioning to receiving 20,000 franks from her German handler, Captain Hoffman.
The famous dancer was reportedly trained in Cologne by Elsbeth Schragmüller (pictured), known by the Allies only as Fräulein Doktor.
The French claimed they didn't know about her when she was arrested and interviewed by British authorities in November 1916, having come to their attention due to her freedom of movement thanks to her neutral Dutch nationality.
However, it was reported at her arrest and trial in 1917 that she had been employed by the French. While visiting her Russian lover, Captain Vladimir de Masloff, she was recruited by French spy Georges Ladoux to do espionage work for France.
However. Hari had allegedly been passing information to her German military attaché lover, Arnold Kalle. When a radio from Kalle detailing new information was intercepted by the French, the code name H-21 was quickly assigned to Hari. It's believed that Kalle knew that the code he used had been decoded.
It's speculated that the French were already feeding Hari false information due to their own suspicions. Hari is pictured here on the day of her arrest on February 13, 1917, at the Hotel Elysée Palace in Paris.
Hari was tried in France on July 24, 1917, accused of spying for Germany and consequently causing the deaths of at least 50,000 soldiers. She pleaded innocence, saying: "A courtesan, I admit it. A spy, never!"
Mata Hari was even tasked by the French with seducing Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany and Prussia, who had recently been placed in command of an army.
However, the famous dancer admitted to taking payment under questioning and was sentenced to death. At the age of 41, she was executed by a firing squad consisting of 12 French soldiers just before dawn on October 15, 1917. Pictured is the pre-execution scene from the 1931 film 'Mata Hari.'
Click on to learn more about the mysterious Mata Hari.
In the years following her death, more information came out about Mata Hari, and doubts arose over her guilt. The German government publicly exculpated her in 1930. What's more, French documents that were released in 2017 led many to believe that she had been a scapegoat of French officials looking for someone to blame for the country's lack of success in the war.
Sources: (History Hit) (Britannica) (History) (Time)
See also: Unexpected ways spies have been caught
She was, however, noted as the source of German intel stating that the French weren't planning an imminent attack in 1915.
From dancer to alleged spy: who was Mata Hari?
Her shocking story has inspired books, films, and music
LIFESTYLE History
She refused a blindfold and by some accounts even smiled at her executioners. Now synonymous with the femme fatale, Mata Hari was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany in France during World War I. However, the nature and extent of her espionage activities remain uncertain, and her guilt is widely contested. The idea of a beautiful dancer using her powers of seduction as a spy has fascinated people for decades, but who was Mata Hari, really?
Click on to learn more about the mysterious Mata Hari.