Contemporaries
Yemelyan Pugachev
Social movements · rebellion
Show on the timeline- Period of activity shown
- 1773–1774
A Don Cossack, Pugachev led a major rebellion against Catherine II’s government while claiming to be the surviving Emperor Peter III. His movement drew together Cossacks and diverse communities of the Volga and Urals. Rebels besieged Orenburg and stormed Kazan before government forces defeated them. His associates surrendered him in September 1774. He was tried and executed in Moscow; resistance continued in some areas into 1775.
- Lifetime
- c. 1742–1775
- Period shown
- 1773–1774: his personal leadership of the rebellion, ending with his capture in September 1774
- Date distinction
- The rebellion is usually dated 1773–1775; Pugachev was executed in January 1775