Uprising led by Pugachev1773-1775 is the largest peasant uprising in Russian history. Some scholars call it an ordinary popular revolt, others - a real civil war. It can be said that the Pugachev rebellion looked different at different stages, as evidenced by the issued manifestos and decrees. And this is not surprising, because over time, the composition of participants has changed, and hence the goals.
At the initial stage of the uprising Yemelyan PugachevIt was aimed at restoring the privileges of the Cossacks. The peasants who participated in it demanded freedom for themselves from the landlords. Already in 1774, the July Manifesto came out, in which the focus was just on the peasants, who were to be exempt from all taxes and endowed with land. Nobles were proclaimed the main troublemakers of the empire. It was at this time that the Pugachev uprising acquired a bright anti-serfdom and anti-state character, but it still lacks any constructive content, which is why many historians call it an ordinary riot.
Pugachev declared himself the resurrected king Peter IIIand called the Cossacks to his service. He managed to gather an army, which in its fighting capacity could well compete with the government. Starting on September 17 with the performance of a Cossack detachment, the uprising covered a vast territory: the Urals, the Lower and Middle Volga and the Orenburg region. After a short period of time, both the Bashkirs, the Tatars, and the Kazakhs decided to join the Cossacks. Of course, factory workers and landowners peasants from the provinces in which hostilities took place, usually gladly met Pugachev and joined his army. After the seizure of factories in the Urals, the rebel army moved to Kazan, but was defeated by the Michelson troops. It seemed that the Pugachev rebellion was over, but in fact it did not happen at all. Having replenished their forces on the right bank of the Volga, Pugachev turned south in the hope of raising the Don Cossacks. But these plans did not come true, and the Pugachev rebellion was finally crushed by the Michelson troops. In January 1775, the instigator was executed in Moscow. In his last hours, Pugachev, according to eyewitnesses, behaved with courage and dignity.
For the years 1773-1775 there was a lot of peasantriots. For the disobedience of the peasants landowners were severely punished, but the unrest did not stop. To suppress them, the government created a special punitive detachment, which was given the authority to judge and punish the peasants at its own discretion. Particularly notable for the cruelty of measures to eradicate riots, Count Panin, who ordered to hang every three hundredth person. It should be noted that even without his command blood flowed like a river, and often with whips they beat both the right and the guilty. Only with the help of cruelty, the Pugachev uprising was suppressed, and the abolition of serfdom in Russia was postponed for almost another 100 years.
