With their intellectual capacity, dominance, fervor, and leadership characteristics, various powerful women have shaped the course of history. They have challenged the existing state of affairs, create long-term improvements, and several have ruled over their countries for decades, leading to success and cultural transformation. Here are a few of the most powerful women in history.
Here are five of the most powerful women in history.
Elizabeth I
Never married and known as the “Virgin Queen”, Elizabeth I conquered the Spanish Armada and dominated successfully for a long time. As a matter of fact, her reigning period from 1558 to 1603 is named as the “Elizabethan Era”. One of the most powerful English monarchs and the last of the Tudor dynasty, she promoted huge cultural revolutions such as the Renaissance which demonstrated the flowering of music, literature, and poetry and the conversion of England into a Protestant country.
Empress Wu Zetian
Empress Wu Zetian was the first and only female Chinese Emperor, reigning throughout the Tang Dynasty. She rose to the throne after the death of her husband, Emperor Gaozong of Tang. Her reign is popular for spreading the Chinese empire, economic success, and improvement in education.
Wu Zetian is also called the patron of Buddhism. She did have her critics who accused the Empress of cruelty and harshness, possibly going as far as murdering her own children as part of a political conspiracy.
Catherine The Great
Her reign is considered as the Golden Age of the Russian Empire. Also known as Catherine II, she was undeniably one of the most popular women in history. Born in Poland, as a princess of Germany, she ruled Russia by marriage and clutched into it for around 3 decades.
She was the reason why Peter the Great’s work in renovating Russia continued, guiding it with the West’s Enlightenment concepts. Catherine the Great also beat the Ottoman Empire with 2 huge wars and prominently extended the Empire of Russia across three continents and the colonization of Alaska in the West. She created legislative changes, ended the threatening Pugachev Rebellion and was popular for a ribald personal life.
Maria Theresa of Austria
Ruling for 4 decades, Maria Theresa of Austria was a Hapsburg Empress who dominated a huge part of Europe, including Austria, Bohemia, Croatia, Hungary, and some regions of Italy. Gave birth to a total of 16 children, they became major power players, becoming the Queen of Naples and Sicily, Queen of France, and 2 Holy Roman Emperors. Her reign is popular for her changes in education such as making it compulsory, initiating a Royal Academy of Science and Literature in Brussels, and backing scientific researchers. She was able to increase taxes and made improvements in commerce and fortified and growing the military of Austria.
Empress Dowager Cixi
The mother of a Chinese Emperor and a regent who substantially governed the Chinese Empire for almost 5 decades (1861-1908). She established technological and military transformations, rebuilt the dishonest government, and backed anti-Western viewpoints, such as the Boxer Rebellion between 1899 and 1901.
