Pugachev Rebellion
The Pugachev Rebellion (1773–1775) — led by Yemelyan Pugachev, a Don Cossack who falsely claimed to be the murdered Tsar Peter III — was the largest popular uprising in Russian history before 1917. Pugachev mobilised Cossacks, Ural factory workers, Bashkir and Tatar peoples, and millions of serfs with promises of freedom from serfdom, taxation, and military service. His army of 30,000 captured Orenburg, besieged Kazan, and threatened to march on Moscow. The rebellion exposed the volcanic social pressures beneath Catherine the Great's Enlightened surface — and her reaction was savage: Pugachev was captured, brought to Moscow in an iron cage, and publicly quartered in January 1775. The rebellion accelerated Catherine's tightening of noble control over serfs, the exact opposite of what Pugachev had fought for.
- Year: 1773 CE
- Category: Military
