history
Began as a low-ranking concubine, rose through giving the Xianfeng Emperor his only surviving son (the future Tongzhi Emperor). Ruled 'from behind the curtain' (垂帘听政) through the Tongzhi, Guangxu, and Xuantong reigns. Crushed the Hundred Days' Reform in 1898 by placing the Guangxu Emperor under house arrest, and backed the Boxers against the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900 - widely blamed for the Qing collapse.
