ably acquitted, and restored to service. He
rose to vice admiral in 1901 and the following
year was promoted to naval chief of staff. In
1903, Cervera was further honored by being
made a senator for life. He died in Puerto
Real, Spain, on April 3, 1909, a gallant but
tragic figure, embittered by the disaster that
he repeatedly warned would happen.
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Truyol, Miquel G. The Naval Battle of Santiago de
Cuba: Cuba-Spanish-American War.Miami: M. G.
Truyol, 1991.CIXI
Cixi
(November 29, 1835–November 15, 1908)
Chinese Dowager Empress
F
or nearly half a century, crafty Cixi was
a central figure in China’s palace poli-
tics, only the second woman in history
to rule that enormous country. Faced with a
massive upheaval against foreigners, she
channeled the Boxer Rebellion to her own
ends, although at great cost to China.
Cixi (or Ts’ u-Hsi) was born under the
name Yehonala (Orchid) in Beijing on No-
vember 29, 1835, the daughter of a minor
Manchu bureaucrat. The Manchus, who orig-
inated from the plains of northeastern Asia,
had ruled China since 1644 under the aegis
of the Qing (or Ch’ing) Dynasty. In the
course of the usual court politics, Yehonala
became a minor concubine of Emperor Xian-
feng at the age of 16. Normally women, even
those close to the centers of Chinese author-
ity, were excluded from politics owing to
deep-seated Confucian precepts against
them. However, Yehonala was intelligent,
ambitious, and wielded her beauty like a
weapon. A master of manipulation, she
proved herself charming, astute—and utterly
ruthless. In 1856, her growing importance to
the imperial court was confirmed when
Yehonala gave birth to the emperor’s only
surviving son. Thereafter, she was regularly
allowed to participate on matters of state
and handled official papers. When the deca-
dent Xianfeng died in 1861, a council of eight
advisers was installed as regents to his son.
However, they failed to anticipate Yehonala’s
guile, for she conspired with Prince Gong, an
important Manchu official, who had the ad-
visers either arrested or executed. There-
after, Yehonala, who assumed the title Cixi
(Dowager Empress), was installed as co-
regent of her son with Cian, the emperor’s
wife.