Causes of the Pugachev uprising

• The most difficult situation of the people, serfs, workers of the Ural factories
• Abuse of power by government officials
• The remoteness of the territory of the uprising from the capitals, which gave rise to permissiveness of local authorities
• Deeply rooted distrust between the state and the population in Russian society
• Faith of the people in the "good intercessor king"

Beginning of the Pugachev region

The revolt of the Yaik Cossacks laid the foundation for the uprising. Yaitsike Cossacks - settlers on the western banks of the Ural River (until 1775 Yaik) from the interior regions of Muscovy. Their history began in the 15th century. The main occupations were fishing, salt mining, and hunting. The villages were run by elected foremen. Under Peter the Great and the rulers following him, Cossack liberties were reduced. In 1754, a state monopoly on salt was introduced, that is, a ban on its free production and trade. Over and over again, the Cossacks sent petitions to Petersburg with complaints about the local authorities and the general state of affairs, but this did not lead to anything.

“From the very beginning of 1762, the Yaik Cossacks began to complain about oppression: about withholding a certain salary, unauthorized taxes and violation of the ancient rights and customs of fishing. Officials sent to them to consider their complaints could not or did not want to satisfy them. The Cossacks were repeatedly indignant, and major generals Potapov and Cherepov (the first in 1766, and the second in 1767) were forced to resort to force of arms and the horror of executions. In the meantime, the Cossacks learned that the government intended to form hussar squadrons from the Cossacks and that they had already been ordered to shave their beards. Major-General Traubenberg, who was sent to the Yaitsky town for this purpose, incurred the indignation of the people. The Cossacks were worried. Finally, in 1771, the rebellion was revealed in all its strength. On January 13, 1771, they gathered in the square, took icons from the church and demanded the dismissal of members of the office and the issuance of delayed salaries. Major General Traubenberg went to meet them with an army and guns, ordering them to disperse; but his commands had no effect. Traubenberg ordered to shoot; the Cossacks rushed to the guns. There was a battle; the rebels won. Traubenberg fled and was killed at the gates of his house ... Major General Freiman was sent from Moscow to pacify them with one company of grenadiers and artillery ... On June 3 and 4, heated battles took place. Freiman opened his way with buckshot... The instigators of the rebellion were punished with a whip; about one hundred and forty people were exiled to Siberia; others are given into the soldiers; the rest are pardoned and re-sworn. These measures restored order; but the calm was precarious. "It's only the beginning! - said the forgiven rebels, - are we going to shake Moscow up? Secret meetings took place in the steppe minds and remote farms. Everything foreshadowed a new rebellion. The leader was missing. The leader was found ”(A. S. Pushkin“ The History of the Pugachev Rebellion ”)

“In this troubled time, an unknown tramp staggered around the Cossack courtyards, hiring as workers to one owner, then to another, and taking up all sorts of crafts ... He was distinguished by the audacity of his speeches, reviled the authorities and persuaded the Cossacks to flee to the Turkish Sultan; he assured that the Don Cossacks would not hesitate to follow them, that he had two hundred thousand rubles and seventy thousand worth of goods prepared at the border, and that some pasha, immediately upon the arrival of the Cossacks, should give them up to five million; for the time being, he promised everyone twelve rubles a month of salary ... This tramp was Emelyan Pugachev, a Don Cossack and schismatic, who came with a false written appearance from beyond the Polish border, with the intention of settling on the Irgiz River among the schismatics there "(A. S. Pushkin" History of the Pugachev rebellion

The uprising led by Pugachev. Briefly

“Pugachev appeared on the farms of the retired Cossack Danila Sheludyakov, with whom he had previously lived as a worker. At that time meetings of intruders were held there. At first, it was about escaping to Turkey ... But the conspirators were too attached to their shores. They, instead of escaping, decided to be a new rebellion. Imposture seemed to them a reliable spring. For this, only a stranger was needed, daring and resolute, still unknown to the people. Their choice fell on Pugachev ”(A. S. Pushkin“ The History of the Pugachev Rebellion ”)

“He was about forty, medium height, thin and broad-shouldered. There was gray in his black beard; living large eyes and ran. His face had an expression rather pleasant, but roguish. Her hair was cut in a circle" ("The Captain's Daughter")

• 1742 - Emelyan Pugachev was born
• 1772, January 13 - Cossack riot in Yaitsky town (now Uralsk)
• 1772, June 3, 4 - the suppression of the rebellion by the detachment of Major General Freiman
• 1772, December - Pugachev appeared in the Yaik town
• 1773, January - Pugachev was arrested and sent under guard to Kazan
• 1773, January 18 - the military board received a notification about the identity and capture of Pugachev
• 1773, June 19 - Pugachev escaped from prison
• 1773, September - rumors spread around the Cossack farms that he had appeared, whose death was a lie
• 1773, September 18 - Pugachev with a detachment of up to 300 people appeared near the Yaitsky town, Cossacks began to flock to him
• 1773, September - Capture of the Iletsk town by Pugachev
• 1773, September 24 - the capture of the village of Rassypnaya
• 1773, September 26 - the capture of the village of Nizhne-Ozernaya
• 1773, September 27 - the capture of the Tatishchev fortress
• 1773, September 29 - the capture of the village of Chernorechenskaya
• 1773, October 1 - the capture of the Sakmara town
• 1773, October - The Bashkirs, excited by their foremen (whom Pugachev managed to load with camels and goods captured from the Bukharians), began to attack Russian villages and join the army of rebels in heaps. On October 12, foreman Kaskin Samarov took the Voskresensky copper smelter and formed a detachment of Bashkirs and factory peasants of 600 people with 4 guns. In November, as part of a large detachment of Bashkirs, Salavat Yulaev went over to the side of Pugachev. In December, he formed a large detachment in the northeastern part of Bashkiria and successfully fought with the tsarist troops in the area of ​​the Krasnoufimskaya fortress and Kungur. Service Kalmyks fled from outposts. Mordvins, Chuvashs, Cheremis ceased to obey the Russian authorities. The master's peasants clearly showed their allegiance to the impostor.
• 1773, October 5-18 - Pugachev unsuccessfully tried to capture Orenburg
• October 14, 1773 - Catherine II appointed Major General V. A. Kara as commander of a military expedition to suppress the rebellion
• 1773, October 15 - government manifesto about the appearance of an impostor and exhortation not to succumb to his calls
• 1773, October 17 - Pugachev's henchman captured Demidov's Avzyan-Petrovsky factories, collected guns, provisions, money there, formed a detachment of artisans and factory peasants
• 1773, November 7-10 - battle near the village of Yuzeeva, 98 miles from Orenburg, detachments of the Pugachev chieftains Ovchinnikov and Zarubin-Chik and the vanguard of the Kara corps, Kara retreat to Kazan
• 1773, November 13 - a detachment of Colonel Chernyshev, numbering up to 1100 Cossacks, 600-700 soldiers, 500 Kalmyks, 15 guns and a huge convoy, was captured near Orenburg
• 1773, November 14 - the corps of brigadier Korf, numbering 2,500 people, broke into Orenburg
• 1773, November 28-December 23 - unsuccessful siege of Ufa
• November 27, 1773 - General-in-chief Bibikov was appointed the new commander of the troops opposing Pugachev
• 1773, December 25 - Ataman Arapov's detachment occupied Samara
• 1773, December 25 - Bibikov arrived in Kazan
• December 29, 1773 - Samara was liberated

In total, according to rough estimates of historians, in the ranks of the Pugachev army by the end of 1773 there were from 25 to 40 thousand people, more than half of this number were Bashkir detachments

• 1774, January - Ataman Ovchinnikov stormed the town of Guryev in the lower reaches of the Yaik, captured rich trophies and replenished the detachment with local Cossacks
• 1774, January - A detachment of three thousand Pugachev men under the command of I. Beloborodov approached Yekaterinburg, capturing a number of surrounding fortresses and factories along the way, and on January 20 captured the Demidov Shaitansky plant as the main base of their operations.
• 1774, end of January - Pugachev married a Cossack Ustinya Kuznetsova
• 1774, January 25 - the second, unsuccessful assault on Ufa
• 1774, February 8 - the rebels captured Chelyabinsk (Chelyaba)
• March 1774 - the advance of government troops forced Pugachev to lift the siege of Orenburg
• 1774, March 2 - the St. Petersburg Carabinieri Regiment under the command of I. Mikhelson, previously stationed in Poland, arrived in Kazan
• 1774, March 22 - a battle between government troops and Pugachev's army at the Tatishchev fortress. Defeat of the rebels
• 1774, March 24 - Mikhelson in the battle near Ufa, near the village of Chesnokovka, he defeated the troops under the command of Chiki-Zarubin, and two days later captured Zarubin himself and his entourage
• 1774, April 1 - the defeat of Pugachev in the battle near the Sakmarsky town. Pugachev fled with several hundred Cossacks to the Prechistenskaya fortress, and from there he went to the mining region of the Southern Urals, where the rebels had reliable support
• 1774, April 9 - Bibikov died, lieutenant general Shcherbatov was appointed commander instead of him, which took Golitsyn terribly offended
• 1774, April 12 - the defeat of the rebels in the battle near the Irtets outpost
• 1774, April 16 - the siege of the Yaitsky town is lifted. continued from December 30
• 1774, May 1 - Guryev town was recaptured from the rebels

The general squabble between Golitsyn and Shcherbatov allowed Pugachev to recover from defeat and start the offensive again.

• 1774, May 6 - Pugachev's five thousandth detachment captured the Magnetic Fortress
• 1774, May 20 - the rebels captured the strong Trinity Fortress
• 1774, May 21 - Pugachev's defeat at the Trinity Fortress from the corps of General Dekolong
• 1774, 6, 8, 17, 31 May - battles of the Bashkirs under the command of Salavat Yulaev with the Michelson detachment
• 1774, June 3 - Detachments of Pugachev and S. Yulaev united
• 1774, early June - the campaign of Pugachev's army, in which 2/3 were Bashkirs, to Kazan
• 1774, June 10 - Krasnoufimskaya fortress was captured
• 1774, June 11 - victory in the battle near Kungur against the garrison that made a sortie
• 1774, June 21 - capitulation of the defenders of the Kama town of Osa
• 1774, late June-early July - Pugachev captured the Votkinsk and Izhevsk ironworks, Yelabuga, Sarapul, Menzelinsk, Agryz, Zainsk, Mamadysh and other cities and fortresses and approached Kazan
• 1774, July 10 - at the walls of Kazan, Pugachev defeated a detachment that came out to meet under the command of Colonel Tolstoy
• 1774, July 12 - as a result of the assault, the suburbs and the main districts of the city were taken, the garrison locked himself in the Kazan Kremlin. A huge fire broke out in the city. At the same time, Pugachev received news of the approach of Michelson's troops, marching from Ufa, so the Pugachev detachments left the burning city. As a result of a short battle, Mikhelson made his way to the garrison of Kazan, Pugachev retreated across the Kazanka River.
• 1774, July 15 - Michelson's victory near Kazan
• July 15, 1774 - Pugachev announced his intention to march on Moscow. Despite the defeat of his army, the uprising swept the entire western bank of the Volga.
• 1774, July 28 - Pugachev captured Saransk and on the central square announced the "tsar's manifesto" about freedom for the peasants. The enthusiasm that seized the peasants of the Volga region led to the fact that a population of more than a million people was involved in the uprising.

“We grant this nominal decree with our royal and paternal mercy to all who were previously in the peasantry and in the citizenship of the landowners, to be loyal slaves to our own crown; and we reward with an ancient cross and prayer, heads and beards, liberty and freedom and forever Cossacks, without requiring recruitment kits, capitation and other cash taxes, ownership of lands, forest, hay land and fishing, and salt lakes without purchase and without dues; and we free everyone from the nobles and Gradtsk bribe-takers-judges who were previously inflicted from villains by the peasants and all the people of the taxes and burdens imposed. Given on July 31st, 1774. By the grace of God, we, Peter the Third, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia and the like"

• 1774, July 29 - Catherine II endowed General-in-Chief Pyotr Ivanovich Panin with emergency powers "in suppressing the rebellion and restoring internal order in the provinces of Orenburg, Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod"
• 1774, July 31 - Pugachev in Penza
• 1774, August 7 - Saratov is taken
• 1774, August 21 - unsuccessful assault on Tsaritsyn by Pugachev
• 1774, August 25 - the decisive battle of Pugachev's army with Michelson. Crushing defeat of the rebels. Flight of Pugachev
• 1774, September 8 - Pugachev was captured by the foremen of the Yaik Cossacks
• 1775, January 10 - Pugachev executed in Moscow

The centers of the uprising were extinguished only in the summer of 1775.

Reasons for the defeat of the peasant uprising Pugachev

• The spontaneous nature of the uprising
• Belief in a "good" king
• Lack of a clear action plan
• Vague ideas about the future structure of the state
• The superiority of government troops over the rebels in armament and organization
• Contradictions among the rebels between the Cossack elite and the barren, between the Cossacks and the peasants

The results of the Pugachev rebellion

• Renames: the Yaik River - to the Urals, the Yaitsky army - to the Ural Cossack army, the Yaitsky town - to Uralsk, the Verkhne-Yaik pier - to Verkhneuralsk
• Disaggregation of provinces: 50 instead of 20
• The process of transformation of the Cossack troops into army units
• Cossack officers are more actively transferred to the nobility with the right to own their own serfs
• Tatar and Bashkir princes and murzas are equated to the Russian nobility
• The manifesto of May 19, 1779 somewhat limited the breeders in the use of peasants assigned to the factories, limited the working day and increased wages.

Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev (1740 or 1742-1775) was born in the Zimoveyskaya village on the Don (it was also the birthplace of S. T. Razin), in a family of poor Cossacks. With 17 years of military service. Member of the Seven Years and Russian-Turkish wars. For the courage shown in battles, he received the junior officer rank of cornet. In military campaigns, Pugachev fell ill and tried to retire due to illness, but they did not let him go. Avoiding military service, from the end of 1771, Pugachev was hiding in the Kuban, Terek, Lower Volga and the Southern Urals, where at that time there were popular unrest. In February 1772 he was arrested, but he soon fled, hiding among the Old Believers. On a denunciation, he was again arrested. In January 1773 he was taken to Kazan and sentenced to hard labor in Siberia. But in May 1773 he fled again. The famous portrait of Pugachev was painted over the image of Catherine II.

The instigators of the uprising were the Cossacks. And this is no coincidence. The position of the Cossacks changed in the 60-70s. XVIII century. Some ancient rights and liberties were taken away from the Cossacks, more and more often the government intervened in the Cossack self-government. At the beginning of 1772, a riot broke out among the Yaik Cossacks. Despite the fact that the speech was suppressed, the Cossacks did not reconcile. They were ready to continue the uprising, but there was no leader. It was at this moment that Emelyan Pugachev appeared in the circle of the Yaik Cossacks, who declared himself Emperor Peter III, forcibly deprived of the throne by the "evil wife Catherine".

In September 1773, Pugachev's manifesto was read to the Cossacks on Tolkachev's farm. According to this document, “Emperor Peter III” granted the Cossacks land along the Yaik River, grain salaries and money. Around Pugachev, a detachment of 80 people gathered, which moved to Orenburg, the largest fortress in southeastern Russia. On the way, the rebels captured small towns, the military garrisons of which went over to the side of the Pugachevites. The number of rebels increased every day: so attractive was what Yemelyan Pugachev promised in his manifestos. The detachment was joined by serfs and state peasants assigned to factories, artisans, as well as Bashkirs, Maris, Tatars, Udmurts and other peoples of the Volga region. As a result, a whole army of 2.5 thousand people, who had 20 guns, approached Orenburg.

In early October 1773, Pugachev surrounded Orenburg. The siege lasted six months, but the rebels failed to take the fortress. At the same time, the popular movement grew. Pugachev's associate Salavat Yulaev raised the Bashkirs to revolt. The Kalmyk army took the side of the rebels. As a result, Samara, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Krasnoufimsk were captured, Yekaterinburg, Ufa, Kungur were blocked.

Separate detachments of the rebels continued to resist. In November 1774, Salavat Yulaev was defeated and captured, until May 1775 Pugachev's colonel Pyotr Roshchin fought in the Mordovian forests. Only cruel repressions and a terrible famine that gripped the southeast of the Russian Empire pacified the rebels.

Pugachev was sent to Moscow in a wooden cage. On January 10, 1775, he and his closest supporters were executed on Bolotnaya Square. The authorities brutally dealt with ordinary participants in the rebellion: they were hanged, and rafts with gallows were launched along the Volga and other rivers. This, according to the government, was supposed to frighten the people and prevent new demonstrations.

Catherine II generously rewarded the punishers of the Pugachev uprising: she granted Mikhelson 600 peasants, majors of punitive detachments - 300 each, captains - 200 each, lieutenants - 150 each, second lieutenants - 100 each, warrant officers - 80 each.

Invariably called the golden age. The empress reigned on the throne, similar in her main aspirations to the great reformer Peter, just like him, who wants to make Russia a part of civilized Europe. The empire grows stronger, new lands are annexed by means of a powerful military force, sciences and arts develop under the supervision of an educated queen.

But there was also the "horror of the 18th century" - this is how Catherine the Great called the Pugachev uprising. Its results, as well as the causes and the course, revealed sharp contradictions hidden behind the luxurious facade of the golden age.

Causes of the uprising

The first decrees of Catherine after the removal of Peter III were manifestos on the release of the nobles from compulsory military and public service. The landlords got the opportunity to engage in their own economy, and in relation to the peasants they became slave owners. The serfs received only unbearable duties, and even the right to complain about the owners was taken away from them. In the hands of the owner was the fate and life of the serf.

The share of those peasants who were assigned to factories turned out to be no better. Assigned workers were mercilessly exploited by miners. In terrible conditions, they worked in heavy and dangerous industries, and they had neither the strength nor the time to work on their own allotments.

No wonder it was in the Urals and in the Volga region that the Pugachev uprising flared up. The results of the repressive policy of the Russian Empire in relation to the national outskirts - the appearance in the rebel army of hundreds of thousands of Bashkirs, Tatars, Udmurts, Kazakhs, Kalmyks, Chuvashs. The state drove them from their ancestral lands, building new factories there, planted a new faith for them, forbidding the old gods.

On the Yaik River

The fuse, from which the huge space in the Urals and the Volga was engulfed in the flames of popular anger, was the performance of the Yaik Cossacks. They protested against the deprivation of their economic (the state monopoly on salt) and political (the concentration of power in the elders and atamans supported by the authorities) freedoms and privileges. Their performances in 1771 were brutally suppressed, which forced the Cossacks to look for other methods of struggle and new leaders.

Some historians express the version that the Pugachev uprising, its causes, course, results were largely determined by the top of the Yaik Cossacks. They managed to subjugate the charismatic Pugachev to their influence and make him their blind instrument in achieving Cossack liberties. And when danger came, they betrayed him and tried to save their lives in exchange for his head.

Peasant "anpirator"

The tension in the socio-political atmosphere of that time was supported by rumors about the forcibly overthrown royal wife of Catherine, Pyotr Fedorovich. It was said that Peter III prepared a decree "On the freedom of the peasants", but did not have time to proclaim it and was captured by the nobles - opponents of the emancipation of the peasants. He miraculously escaped and will soon appear before the people and raise them to fight for the return of the royal throne. The belief of the common people in the right king, who has special marks on his body, was often used in Russia by various impostors to fight for power.

Pyotr Fyodorovich, miraculously saved, really showed up. He showed obvious signs on his chest (which were traces of transferred scrofula) and called the nobles the main enemies of the working people. He was strong and brave, had a clear mind and an iron will. His birth name was

Don Cossack from the village of Zimoveyskaya

He was born in 1740 or 1742 in the same places where another legendary rebel, Stepan Razin, was born a hundred years before him. Pugachev's uprising, the results of his campaigns along the Volga and the Urals, so frightened the authorities that they tried to destroy the very memory of the "peasant king." There is very little reliable information about his life.

Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev from his youth was distinguished by a lively mind and restless disposition. He participated in the war with Prussia and Turkey, received the title of cornet. Due to illness, he returned to the Don, was unable to obtain an official resignation from military service and began to hide from the authorities.

He visited Poland, the Kuban and the Caucasus. For some time he lived with the Old Believers on the banks of one of the tributaries of the Volga - There was an opinion that it was one of the prominent schismatics - Father Filaret - who gave Pugachev the idea to say that he was miraculously saved by the true emperor. Thus, among the freedom-loving Yaik Cossacks, the "anpirator" Pyotr Fedorovich appeared.

Revolt or peasant war?

The events that began as a struggle for the return of Cossack freedoms acquired all the features of a large-scale war against the oppressors of the peasantry and working people.

Proclaimed on behalf of Peter III, the manifestos and decrees contained ideas that had a tremendous attraction for the majority of the population of the empire: the liberation of the peasantry from serfdom and unbearable taxes, the granting of land, the elimination of the privileges of the nobility and bureaucracy, elements of self-government of national outskirts, etc.

Such slogans on the banner of the army of the rebels ensured its rapid quantitative growth and had a decisive influence on the entire Pugachev uprising. The causes and results of the peasant war of 1773-75 were a direct product of these social problems.

The Yaik Cossacks, who became the core of the main military force of the uprising, were joined by workers and ascribed peasants of the Ural factories, landlord serfs. The cavalry of the rebel army was mainly Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Kalmyks and other inhabitants of the steppes on the edge of the empire.

To control their motley army, the leaders of the Pugachev army formed a military collegium - the administrative and political center of the uprising. For the successful functioning of this insurgent headquarters, the will and knowledge of the Pugachev commanders were not enough, although the actions of the rebellious army sometimes aroused surprise among the regular officers and generals who opposed them with their organization and common mind, although this was a rare occurrence.

Gradually, the confrontation acquired the features of a real civil war. But the beginnings of an ideological program, which could be seen in the "royal decrees" of Yemelyan, could not resist the predatory nature of his troops. The results of the Pugachev uprising subsequently showed that robberies and unprecedented cruelty in the reprisals against the oppressors turned the rebellion against the state system of oppression into that same - senseless and merciless - Russian revolt.

The course of the uprising

The fire of the uprising engulfed a gigantic space from the Volga to the Urals. At first, the performance of the Yaik Cossacks, led by a self-proclaimed spouse, did not cause concern to Catherine. Only when Pugachev's army began to replenish rapidly, when it became known that the "anpirator" was met with bread and salt in small villages and large settlements, when many fortresses in the Orenburg steppes were captured - more often without a fight - did the authorities really care. Pushkin, who studied the results and significance of the uprising, explained the rapid intensification of Cossack indignation precisely by the inexcusable negligence of the authorities. Pugachev led to the capital of the Urals - Orenburg - a powerful and dangerous army, which defeated several regular military formations.

But the Pugachev freemen could not really resist the punitive forces sent from the capital, and the first stage of the uprising ended with the victory of the tsarist troops at the Tatishchev fortress in March 1774. It seemed that the Pugachev uprising, the results of which consisted in the flight of an impostor with a small detachment to the Urals, was suppressed. But that was only the first stage.

Kazan landowner

Already three months after the defeat near Orenburg, a 20,000-strong rebel army came to Kazan: the losses were made up for by an instant influx of new forces from among those dissatisfied with their position. Hearing about the approach of "Emperor Peter III", many peasants themselves dealt with the owners, met Pugachev with bread and salt and joined his army. Kazan almost submitted to the rebels. They could not take by storm only the Kremlin, where a small garrison remained.

Wishing to support the Volga nobility and the landowners of the region engulfed in rebellion, the empress declared herself a “Kazan landowner” and sent a powerful military group to Kazan under the command of Colonel I.I. Mikhelson, who was ordered to finally suppress the Pugachev uprising. The results of the Kazan battle were again unfavorable for the impostor, and he with the remnants of the army went to the right bank of the Volga.

The end of the Pugachev uprising

In the Volga region, which was a zone of continuous serfdom, the fire of the uprising received new fuel - the peasants, freed from captivity by the manifesto of "Peter Fedorovich", poured into his army. Soon, in Moscow itself, they began to prepare to repel a huge rebel army. But the results of Pugachev's uprising in the Urals showed him that the peasant army could not resist the trained and well-armed regular units. It was decided to move south and raise the Don Cossacks to fight, on their way there was a powerful fortress - Tsaritsyn.

It was on the outskirts of it that Michelson inflicted a final defeat on the rebels. Pugachev tried to hide, but was betrayed by the Cossack foremen, captured and handed over to the authorities. In Moscow, a trial took place over Pugachev and his closest associates, in January 1775 he was executed, but spontaneous peasant uprisings continued for a long time.

Prerequisites, causes, participants, course and results of the Pugachev uprising

The table below briefly characterizes this historical event. It shows who and for what purpose participated in the uprising, and why it was defeated.

Mark on history

After the defeat of the Pugachev region, Catherine the Great tried to do everything to make the memory of the uprising disappear forever. It was renamed Yaik, the Yaik Cossacks began to be called Ural Cossacks, the Don village of Zimoveyskaya - the birthplace of Razin and Pugachev - became Potemkinskaya.

But the Pugachev turmoil was too great a shock for the empire to disappear into history without a trace. Almost every new generation evaluates the results of the uprising of Yemelyan Pugachev in its own way, calling its leader either a hero or a bandit. It just so happened in Russia - to achieve a good goal by unrighteous methods, and hang labels while being at a safe temporary distance.

Pugachev's court. Painting by Perov V., 1879, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

When and where did it happen

1773-1775

Volga region, Ural, Yaik

Causes

The deterioration of the position of the Cossacks

The introduction of a state monopoly on fishing and salt extraction, the state's attack on the Cossack liberties

Difficult working conditions at the Ural factories (operation, 12-15 hour working day)

Strengthening the arbitrariness of the landlords over the serfs (bullying, exile to Siberia for a fault under the decree of 1765, the right of the landowners to sell their serfs into recruits, the reduction of peasant allotments, etc.)

The disenfranchised position of the non-Russian people of the Volga region, the Urals (Tatars, Kalmyks, Bashkirs).

Goals

Return former liberty, independence for fishing and salt mining

Stop the lawlessness of the local administration

Free the peasantry from oppression, return their will and land

Improve the position of the Ural workers

Increase the rights of the population of the national outskirts

driving forces

Cossacks

Peasants

Serf Workers

Soldiers of the garrisons of the Yaitskaya line

Peoples of the Volga region

Stages of the uprising

At this stage, a large number of Cossacks, peasants, working people joined Pugachev, hoping to get freedom, land, the number of rebels increased. Pugachev took one fortress after another.

The siege of Orenburg was lifted, the rebels moved east. The army was replenished with working people from the Ural factories who brought guns, and non-Russian peoples

(number reached 20 thousand).

This is the most massive stage of the uprising. The army was replenished with peasants, whom in the "manifesto" Pugachev promised freedom and land, freed from dependence and taxes.

The course of the uprising:

Reasons for the defeat

The spontaneous, unorganized nature of the uprising

Lack of a clear program of action, organization, weapons, military training

The rebels dreamed of a "good king" who would free them from oppression, give land and freedom. They did not advocate the overthrow of the foundations of autocracy.

Results

The cruel reprisal against Pugachev and the mass executions of the rebels.

The uprising or, as it is called, the war led by Yemelyan Pugachev significantly destabilized the country, became a real natural disaster.

Catherine II forbade even reminding of Pugachev, tried to erase everything connected with him in the memory of the people: the Yaitsk River was renamed the Ural, the Zimoveyskaya village where Pugachev lived was named Potemkinskaya. Even the Yaik Cossacks themselves began to be called Ural.

In 1775, the Zaporozhian Sich was liquidated - the remnant of the liberty of the Cossacks.

The uprising did not improve the situation of the peasants

The repressive nature of domestic policy in the country in relation to the entire taxable population has intensified.

The situation of working people at the Ural factories did not improve (only in a number of cases wages increased slightly and working conditions changed, but these were exceptions).

Significance of the rebellion

The Pugachev uprising is the largest uprising of the people in the history of Russia.

For the first time there was a struggle against serfdom for the abolition of serfdom

The first major joint performance of the Cossacks, peasants, working people, national minorities

The uprising forced Catherine II and the government to pay serious attention to the peasant question, to understand how terrible the rebellion was in Russia, what consequences it could lead to.

Any uprising is a sign of an unstable situation in the country. The Pugachev uprising showed the need for reform in the country.

Why can Pugachev's uprising be called a peasant war?

The uprising led by Yemelyan Pugachev is often called peasant war, thereby emphasizing the scale of the uprising, the large number of participants and their heterogeneous composition, the presence of weapons, the promotion of slogans of national importance (the abolition of serfdom, for example), specific goals, objectives, the presence of certain documents (Pugachev's manifesto, his letters).

In addition, a certain organization of the troops was created: regiments were created, headed by "officers" appointed by Pugachev, there was a Military Collegium, which concentrated military, administrative and judicial power, a "great state seal" was placed, and Pugachev's guards were his guards.

A historical portrait of Emelyan Pugachev can be found on my websitehistorical-portrait.en

Material prepared: Melnikova Vera Aleksandrovna

"Pugachev in Kazan is doing court", postcard 1931, edition of the Museum of the Revolution of the USSR

Pugachev under escort. 18th century engraving

"Execution of Pugachev". Engraving from a painting by A. I. Charlemagne. Mid 19th century

1.2 Causes of the peasant war

The discontent of the people is the main reason for the uprising. And each part of the social group that participated in the peasant war had its own grounds for discontent.

1. The peasants were outraged by their lack of rights. They could be sold, played at cards, given away without their consent to work at a factory, etc. The situation was aggravated by the fact that in 1767 Catherine II issued a decree forbidding peasants to complain to the court or the empress about the landowners.

2. The annexed nationalities (Chuvash, Bashkirs, Udmurts, Tatars, Kalmyks, Kazakhs) were dissatisfied with the oppression of their faith, the seizure of their lands and the construction of military installations on their territories.

3. The Cossacks did not like that their freedom was being infringed upon. Their rights were increasingly limited: for example, they could no longer choose and remove the chieftain as before. Now the Military Collegium did it for them. The state also established a monopoly on salt, which undermined the economy of the Cossacks. The fact is that the Cossacks mainly lived by selling fish and caviar, and salt played an important role in increasing their shelf life. The Cossacks were not allowed to extract salt themselves, the Cossacks were also not happy with this. Finally, the Cossack army abandoned the pursuit of the Kalmyks, which was ordered to them by the top. The government sent a detachment to pacify the Cossacks. The Cossacks responded to this only with a new uprising, which was brutally suppressed. People were horrified by the punishments of the main instigators and were tense.

The reasons for the uprising can also include all kinds of rumors that circulated among the people. It was rumored that Emperor Peter III survived, that it was planned to soon release the serfs and grant them lands. These words, unconfirmed by anything, kept the peasants in tension, which was ready to turn into an uprising.

Also speaking about the reasons for the Pugachev uprising, one cannot but say about the leader himself. After all, in those days there were many impostors, and only he was able to gather thousands of people around him. All this thanks to his mind and personality.

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