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.
