The son of aDon Cossack landowner, Pugachev served in theImperial Russian Army during theSeven Years' War and theRusso-Turkish War of 1768–1774. In 1770 he deserted the Russian military and spent years as a fugitive, gaining popularity among the peasants,Cossacks andOld Believers against a backdrop of intensified unrest. In 1773, he initiated open revolt against Catherine. Claiming to be Catherine's late husbandTsar Peter III, Pugachev proclaimed an end toserfdom and amassed a large army. His forces quickly overran much of the region between theVolga and theUrals, and in 1774 they capturedKazan and burned the city to the ground. In August 1774, GeneralJohann von Michelsohnen inflicted a crushing defeat on the rebels atTsaritsyn. Pugachev was captured soon after by his own Cossacks and turned over to the authorities. He was then sent to Moscow and executed in January 1775.Alexander Pushkin wrote a notable history of the rebellion,The History of Pugachev, and recounted the events of the uprising in his novelThe Captain's Daughter (1836).
Pugachev, the son of a smallDon Cossack landowner, was the youngest son of four children. Born in thestanitsaZimoveyskaya (in present-dayVolgograd Oblast), he signed on to military service at the age of 17. One year later, he married a Cossack girl, Sofya Nedyuzheva, with whom he had five children, two of whom died in infancy.[1] Shortly after his marriage, he joined the Russian Second Army in Prussia during theSeven Years' War under the command of CountZakhar Chernyshov. He returned home in 1762, and for the next seven years divided his time between his home village and several service assignments.[2] During this period, he was recognised for his military skill and achieved the Cossack rank ofkhorunzhiy, which would be roughly equivalent to the post of company commander. It was also during this period, in 1770 at the siege ofBender during theRusso-Turkish War, that he first displayed a flair for impersonation, boasting to his comrades that his sword was given to him by his "godfather",Peter I.[2]
In 1770, Pugachev requested leave to return home to recover from a severe illness, later seeking permanent discharge. Despite urging from military commanders, Pugachev refused to be treated in a military infirmary or return to the front. Convinced by his brother-in-law, Simon Pavlov, he joined a dissatisfied Cossack group who were fleeing eastward for an independent Cossack community on theTerek River.[3] After they were safely across theDon River, he returned home to Zimoveyskaya. The fleeing Cossacks were caught soon after by the authorities, and Pavlov implicated Pugachev in the desertion, causing his arrest. He was held for 48 hours before he managed to escape, beginning his fugitive career.[4]Fleeing for the Cossack community on the Terek River, he arrived in early January 1772. During his six weeks in the area, he joined a protest group and was elected their official representative. On his way to St. Petersburg to make an official complaint, his fugitive status was discovered inMozdok, and he was again arrested. He escaped on 13 February and returned home, only to be arrested once again.[3]Dispatched toCherkassk for investigation, he met Lukyan Ivanovich Khudiakov, whom he tricked into releasing him, after which he fled to Vetka, a Polish border settlement, with the help of manyraskol'niki.[5] He returned to Russia in the autumn of 1772 by pretending to be anOld Believer wishing to return home. He received a visa to settle in the Malykovka district (present dayVol'sk), where he most likely first heard of theYaik Cossacks rebellion.[6]
The idea of impersonating the late EmperorPeter III occurred to Pugachev early on, even before he reached the Yaik Cossacks. It is of no surprise, given another recent peasant impersonator, Fedot Bogmolov, andRussia's history of impersonators.[7]Pugachev, posing as a wealthy merchant, reportedly tested the feelings of the Cossacks at theYaitsk by suggesting that he led a mass exodus into Turkey. When the majority seemed to agree with his plan, he deemed it the right time to begin his rebellion.[8]Though he was arrested shortly after once again, and this time held for five months atKazan, he escaped once more and returned to the Yaitsk to start his revolt.[9]By promising to return several privileges to the Cossacks and to restore the Old Belief, he was able to gain the support he needed to promote his identity as Peter III.[10]The story of Pugachev's strong resemblance to the Tsar Peter III, who in 1762 was overthrown and murdered by his wife's supporters, the future empress Catherine II, comes from a later legend. Pugachev told the story that he and his principal adherents had escaped from the clutches of Catherine.[11]
Having amassed an army through propaganda, recruitment and promise of reform, Pugachev and his generals were able to overrun much of the region stretching between theVolga River and theUrals. Pugachev'sgreatest victory of the insurgency was the taking ofKazan. As well as amassing large numbers of Cossacks and peasants, Pugachev also acquired artillery and arms and was able to supply his force better than the Russian army would have predicted.[12]
Pugachev Administering Justice to the Population. Painting byVasily Perov.
In response, GeneralPeter Panin set out against the rebels with a large army, but difficulty of transport, lack of discipline, and the gross insubordination of his ill-paid soldiers paralysed all his efforts for months, while Pugachev's innumerable and ubiquitous bands gained victories in nearly every engagement. Not until August 1774 did GeneralMichelsohn inflict a crushing defeat upon the rebels nearTsaritsyn, when they lost; ten thousand were killed or taken prisoner. Panin's savage reprisals, after the capture ofPenza, completed their discomfiture.[11] On 14 September 1774, Pugachev's own Cossacks delivered him to Yaitsk.Alexander Suvorov had him placed in a metal cage and sent first toSimbirsk and then to Moscow for a public execution, which took place on 21 January [O.S. 10 January] 1775.[13] InBolotnaya Square in the centre of Moscow, he was decapitated and then drawn and quartered in public.[citation needed]
Portrait of Pugachev included inAlexander Pushkin'sHistory of Pugachev, 1834
The Pugachev rebellion had a long-lasting effect on Russia for years to come. While Catherine II tried to reform the provincial administration, the horrors of the revolt caused her to drop other reforms, particularly attempts to emancipate the peasant serfs of Russia.
The term "Pugachevs of the University" was frequently used to describe the generation of the RussianNihilist movement.
The village (stanitsa) in which Pugachev was born, whose original name "Zimoveyskaya" was changed after his defeat to Potemkinskaya, was renamedPugachevskaya in his honor in 1917, following theOctober Revolution.
The central square in theKazakh town ofUralsk is named Pugachev Square.[15]
The 1928 silent filmBulat-Batyr (directed by Yuri Tarich) is devoted to the Pugachev rebellion.[16]
In theHulu seriesThe Great, Pugachev (played byNicholas Hoult) is portrayed as adecoy ofPeter III (also played by Hoult) who often steals things from the palace. He is stabbed seemingly to death byCatherine at the end of the second season, but is then revealed to be alive, setting the stage for his rebellion in the third season.
Alexander, John T. (1969).Autocratic politics in a national crisis: the Imperial Russian Government and Pugachev's Revolt, 1773–1775.Bloomington:Indiana University Press.
Alexander, John T. (1973).Emperor Of The Cossacks: Pugachev and the Frontier Jacquerie of 1773–1775.Lawrence, Kansas: Coronado Press.
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