No, you're still using the more traditional view of her that was passed around by Kang through propaganda and misinformation.
She was the one who hired foreigners (such as Robert Hart or 'Chinese Gordon') to modernise most institutions in China; Hart led the Chinese customs for decades and Chinese Gordon led her army, modernising it under her blessing. She paid out of her own pocket for the first few modern ships for the navy, as well as putting large amounts of teals for a navy construction shipyard to be built by France. She also opened forced Chinese schools to accept foreigners to teach sciences and such. She also pushed for an increase of telephones, and from 1905, began to push for reforms to lead to a constitutional monarchy like Britain. It was under her that China began to open to foreign powers and hugely boosted their economic power, and it was under her that America and China signed China's first equal treaty. She was also the first ruler (empress dowager) who pushed heavily for officials to study abroad, and allowed foreign diplomats to meet Chinese officials to meet Chinese leadership. She also allowed women to begin to leave the houses in Han families, stopped foot binding (it would take 10 years after her death for it to stop fully) and accepted a half-Chinese half-American Ms. Pierson into her court. She also funded China's first ever filming of opera (effectively the first Chinese film), and she allowed cameras to be taken into the Chinese court. She also poured in huge amounts of money into the arts, creating the first Chinese celebrities from acting or arts.
She actually never declared war, what an odd thing to say. Let's have a small breakdown of the Euro-Chinese wars at the time.
Britain comes to China, attacks Beijing with France, they burn down Beijing and Xianfeng and Cixi and others flee. Prince Gong negotiates treaties.
Cixi launches a coup against the selected Regency Council with popular support of court as they are pro-European war, a view she disagreed with. Only 5 deaths, and she and Cian gain power on behalf of Tongshi.
Cixi gains popular support of European powers as she hugely opens up trade after the humiliating treaty following the burning of the Summer palace, the first ever treaty in include indemnities. She builds up the Chinese army and defeats the rebellion in the heartland and retakes Xinjiang.
Russia and China, with Cixi sending Prince Gong, agree on a peace treaty, but she cannot take Ito as she intended. She decides to take the long view. She expands hugely into Taiwan, begins to use it as a place to allow mining in China.
Cixi retires as Emperor Gaungxu takes over. She is exiled to the Summer Palace. Gaungxu is an old style Emperor, more obsessed with philosophy and art than ruling. Cixi's reforms fall apart, and the army falls apart and becomes undisciplined. Earl Li tries to appeal to the Emperor and when he failed, Cixi. Li and Cixi is ignored when she tries to point out Japan's ambitions, as Japan was seen as only a small country. Li points out that while China has grown lazy, Japan has been preparing for war.
China withdraws as Japan takes Korea. China then loses every single naval battle, and then every land battle. Gunagxu proves a poor military leader, driving his admiral to suicide through constant attacks, and refusing to believe that Japan will advance. European powers agree to step in for China and Japan takes only Taiwan and Korea.
European powers, knowing that China is weak under Guangxu, take most major ports knowing that China cannot refuse. Everyone walks up to China and demands a piece, knowing China cannot refuse. All international respect is lost.
Guangxu begins to talk more to Cixi. They begin to rebuild. Huge anti-Western sentiment begins to rise. In particular is a man called Kang, nicknamed Wild Fox Kang who literally believes he is the rebirth of Confucius.
He first gets their attention by writing many famous reformist articles; one of them is given to Cixi who is impressed, and Kang is given an audience to the Emperor. Impressive for a low level drone.
He appeals to the Emperor's shame, saying that everyone doesn't believe in him but Kang does, and everything was Cixi's fault (despite her having no part in politics for 10 years).
He plans to introduce a small council board to take over the Emperor, and has many ties to Japan, in particular a man called Ito who would later becomes a Japanese Prime Minister. Japan promises to help Kang remove Cixi and install Kang as the power behind the throne.
One of Kang's letters, detailing the assassination of several high ranking anti-Japanese powers, including Cixi, gets into the hands of General Yuan (then a Captain). He goes to Cixi with his news, and Cixi returns to politics full time. She puts the Emperor under house arrest for his part in possibly allowing her death (and his incompetance), and has Kang chased out of China to Japan.
France makes moves on Vietnam and the south of China. Cixi refuses to give up the South of China. France easily takes Vietnam, but due to increasing wars elsewhere and international pressure, agrees to leave the South of China alone.
Italy then threatens a war, and Cixi refuses again. They eventually give up and leave without a real fight due to Italian government not giving a shit.
Britain, France, Portugal and others begin to get aggressive with China, demanding more and more. Cixi refuses, appealing to international law. The rise of the Boxers and anti-west sentiment has many Christians killed. Cixi decides to side with the Boxers rather than the foreign powers who have been preying on China for decades under her.
After a very bloody war, Earl Li is awakened from retirement by Cixi and sent by her to deal with the European powers. They refuse to leave Tianjin until Cixi and Guangxu return to Beijing. China signs the most humiliating treaty yet, many ports are given away, but the borders of China remain solid and the people were united yet again despite the possibility of the Boxers having China destroyed; one of the main speakers that were pro-China was Britain and America who believed that China was too large to rule with an foreign leader, and privately because they felt it would ruin a country that was paying a lot of money to them. America even ended up returning their share of the indemnity as a sign of good will due to Cixi's constant favour with Sarah Conger, wife of the American diplomat who gave nothing but good press of Cixi and China at the time.
Cixi even allowed multiple newpaper publications that were given complete free speech; she only executed a single person who called for the people to rise up and murder people, which is a lot better than Zetian did.
During the last few years of her life, Cixi began to send many administrative drones to foreign countries to study parliaments, and even wrote up the first duties of a Democratic Monarchy like the U.K's parliament, but died in 1908 before her work could be finished, where it was quickly ignored.
It's a massive post, I know, but Cixi has always been unfairly judged. Most of the information given about her is written by Kang, the man who tried to have her killed multiple times and ended up organising several assassination attempts on her. These were allowed to be published in China (although the Viceroy Zhang forbade any official buying them or the post office delivering them out of personal anger for Kang).
This information has only come to light recently, as in 1976 (death of Mao) the writings, dairies and newspapers of the times were released from being hidden away in the First Historical Archives of China, as well as many dairies written by contemporaries like Queen Victoria or Hansard. Most of these sources are still in the original Chinese and being slowly translated, but they are there now.