Here are 5 women that have demolished expectations of their gender and wielded immense power throughout history.
Empress Dowager Cixi:
- 1861-1908 – dominated China’s Qing dynasty
- Pretty remarkable since she initially entered the court as just another lowly concubine of Emperor Xianfeng
- Her status was enhanced when she bore him a son, and after Xianfeng’s death, she ruthlessly dispatched the regents appointed to rule until the bot came of age (2 of the regents were given silk scarves and ordered to hang themselves)
- When Cixi’s son died at 18, she installed her 4 year old nephew as the new emperor and continued to dominate the dynasty as a fearsome regent – even ordering the young emperor to address her as ‘My Royal Father’
- Many historians regard her as a despot who crushed opposition and was probably behind the fatal poisoning of her nephew the day before her own death in 1908
Catherine the Great:
- Empress of Russia from 1762-1796 even though she technically wasn’t Russian and was actually born Sophie von Anhalt-Zerbst, the daughter of a practically penniless Prussian prince
- But her marriage to the future Peter III of Russia and conversion to the Russian Orthodox church put her on the path to greatness
- She earned her moniker ‘the Great’ by overthrowing her husband and during her reign, Russian territory was massively expanded to take in regions like Crimea and Lithuania, and there was a flourishing if the sciences and the arts
- She also had many lovers, one of whom was 38 years younger than her
Zenobia:
- The Palmyrene Empire was a breakaway state from the Roman Empire in the Middle East which only existed for a few years in the late 3rd century, but it’s still remembered thanks to its charismatic queen Septimia Zenobia
- She came into power after the assassination of her husband, although technically only a regent for her young son however she was very much in control, rising up against her Roman overlords, brazenly expanding her territory, and even invading Egypt
- The Roman Emperor Aurelian eventually reconquered Palmyra, the seat of Zenobia’s power in modern day Syria, and took her captive
- Sources differ on Zenobia’s fate: she may have been beheaded, starved herself to death or died of natural causes
Maria Theresa:
- 1740-1780 – Maria Theresa held sway as sovereign of the Hapsburg dominions which sprawled across Europe, with Austria, Hungary and Croatia among her lands
- Her strength of will was shown from the start when controversy around her ascension triggered a Europe-wide war
- As well as remaining resilient in the face of numerous messy conflicts and maintaining her grip over most of her territories, Maria Theresa pushed forward radical reforms relating to everything from education to healthcare, she also personally pushed for the take-up of the new science of vaccination
- She gave birth to 16 children, with many of the pregnancies taking place during times of war and threats to her position and she once said that if she hadn’t been pregnant so often, she would’ve gone into battle herself
Nefertiti:
- One of the most iconic female rulers of antiquity, Nefertiti presided over Egypt alongside her husband, Pharaoh Akhenaten, in the mid-14th century BC
- Carvings of Nefertiti’s image outnumbered those of her husband, and she was even depicted riding chariots and personally slaughtering prisoners – a testament to her stature in the royal household
- During her reign she played a pivotal role in re-shaping religious faith in Ancient Egypt, ushering in the worship of the sun deity Aten above all other gods
- Its also widely thought that Nefertiti ruled as pharaoh in her own right after Akhenaten’s death
