Yemelian Pugachev (c. 1742-1775)

On January 10, 1775, Pugachev, the leader of the Russian peasant uprising, was executed.

Yemelen Pugachev (about 1742-1775) was born in a poor peasant family and served in the military at the age of 18. In 1773, Pugachev gathered 80 Cossacks in the uprising, opening the prelude to a peasant war in Russian history against the oppression of the bourgeoisie.

This peasant war was caused by the intensification of class contradictions. At that time, feudal serfdom relations in Russia were about to collapse and capitalist relations were becoming more and more formed. The aristocracy and the autocratic state continued to strengthen the oppression of serf owners, which aroused strong resistance from the people. The main driving force of this peasant war was the peasants, and in addition, the Cossack working class and mining workers also participated in this movement. Also hearing the wind of righteousness were Bashkir, Tatar, Kalmyk, and other non-Russian nations in the left bank of the middle and lower Volga. Shortly before the outbreak of this peasant war, in 1771, an uprising of the lower classes of the citizens broke out in Moscow ("the plague rebellion"). In 1772, the Yayk Cossacks rose up against the Cossack leaders, and in the same year, there were also riots in the Volga and Don Cossack villages and towns. The government of Catherine II relied on military force to barely control the oppressed peoples of the vast empire. The Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774) exacerbated domestic social contradictions, and the growing burden aroused the dissatisfaction of the toiling masses.

On September 17, 1773, Pugachev, the Don Cossacks, claimed to be Emperor Peter III, gathered a team of 80 Yayk Cossacks and issued a denunciation announcing that the benefits and privileges enjoyed by ancient Cossacks would be given to the Cossacks, Tartars and Kalmyks who had served in the Yayk army.

On September 18, the rebels arrived at the heavily fortified town of Yayk (Uralsk), but gave up the strong assault due to the lack of artillery, leaving only some troops to encircle it. Pugachev led the rest of his troops to march towards Orenburg, a military and political strategic location in southeastern Russia. Pugachev's ranks quickly grew as farmers, Yayk Cossacks, fugitive soldiers, Tatars, Kazakhs, Kalmyks, and Ural factory and mining workers volunteered to join the uprising. The rebels seized a large number of weapons (including artillery and ammunition) and food in various fortresses that surrendered to Pugachev (Ilek towns, Tatisheva, Sakmara towns, etc.).

On 5 October, Pugachev's rebels (about 2,500 men, 20 artillery pieces) began a six-month siege of Orenburg. To suppress the peasant war and reinforce Orenburg, the government sent a crusade led by Major General Karl (3,500 men, 10 artillery pieces), but were defeated by the rebels led by Ovchinnikov and Chika (Zarubin) in fighting near the village of Yuzeyeva on 7-9 November.

In November, government troops sent from Siberia and Simbirsk (Ulyanovsk) to the uprising areas were also defeated. Pugachev's station, Beltskaya Sloboda (6 kilometers from Orenburg), was the center of command of the Peasants 'War. Farmer volunteers from all over Russia gathered here to join the army and fight.

By December 1773 Pugachev had about 25,000 men and 86 artillery pieces near Orenburg. The peasant war engulfed most of the provinces of the South Urals, Astrakhan and Kazan, Western Siberia and West Kazakhstan. Jinja Arslanov and Saravat Yulayev led the people of Bashkir to rise. In Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk) (Belobordov), Chelyabinsk (Gryaznov), Samara (Kubyshev) (Arapov), Stavropol (Derbetov), Kungul and Krasnofimsk (Kuznetsov, Sarawat Yulayev), the town of Yayik (Tolkachev) and many other large centers of uprising led by prominent military leaders. The main force under Pugachev was the main force of the uprising.

Pugachev was born in the ranks (he served as a second lieutenant in the Cossack army) and tried to give his troops some kind of regular army structure. The insurrectionary army consists of regiments (usually 500 people per regiment), with companies (about 100 people per company) under the command of each company. Each company has a 100-man commander or is commanded by a captain. Commanders are elected by the soldiers 'meeting. Many regiments and companies are organized according to social origin (farmers, workers, Yaik Cossacks, soldiers, etc.), ethnicity (Bashkir, Tartar, etc.) or regional characteristics. The main force and each regiment issued military flags with the slogan from Pugachev's order written on it. When the rebels were stationed in Beltskaya Sloboda, they learned military affairs: stabbing, shooting with guns, digging tunnels, burying mines, and building bunkers. Pugachev and his commanders tried to coordinate operations between regiments and detachments, organize reconnaissance, and strive to strengthen discipline.

Medals are awarded to recognize those who have made military achievements. These medals are converted from silver rubles and medals from the tsar. To lead the uprising, Pugachev established a Military Council in November 1773, which existed until the end of August 1774. The members of the Military Council are: Vitoshnov, Shigayev, Tvorogov, Pochtalin, Gorshkov and others (the members later changed). The Military Council was responsible for directing the operations of the various insurgent armies, organizing weapons manufacturing in various Ural factories; replenishing the insurgent troops, supplying food, and weapons; fighting robbery, etc. In addition to military duties, military commissions also perform administrative and judicial functions. Ovchinnikov was one of the talented commanders in this Peasants 'War. The Privy Council he presided over was Pugachev's staff headquarters, and the operations of the main force were personally commanded by Pugachev. All combat operations were organized and implemented under the direct leadership of Pugachev.

The main army has a sound system, which is based on the establishment of the Cossack army. The fighting core of the insurgent army is Cossacks, but most of the Cossack troops are farmers and workers without military training. The insurgent army is poorly equipped, mainly cold weapons (sabers, spears, battle axes, short swords, feather spears, flails, sickles, sticks, etc.) and bows and arrows; guns, less artillery. This peasant war has the characteristics of: locality, regional dispersion, spontaneity and disorganization, that is, with various weaknesses inherent in the previous peasant movements of the feudal era. The lack of a unified strategic plan and the poor connection between the independent uprising areas prevented Pugachev and the military council from exercising leadership over the uprising movements in various places, and the independent uprising centers lost unified leadership. Pugachev's preoccupation with besieging the towns of Orenburg and Yayik, rather than marching into the Volga Valley (where the people had been prepared to support him), resulted in the strategic base of the peasant war being limited to the southeastern corner of the Russian Empire, giving Catherine II time to mobilize troops.

The tsarist government hoped to use local troops to suppress the uprising. After failing to succeed, in December 1773, it sent Grand Governor Bibikov to lead a punitive army (several cavalry and infantry regiments, totaling about 6500 people, and 30 artillery pieces) to suppress the Pugachev Rebellion. Without assistance from Pugachev's main force, which was besieging Orenburg in vain, some scattered and poorly equipped rebels suffered defeat near Samara and Kungur. It was not until after the fall of Buzulukskaya that Pugachev withdrew some of his troops from near Orenburg in an attempt to prevent the tsarist army from continuing to advance.

However, on 22 March 1774, a decisive battle between the two armies near the fortress of Tadiseva, which lasted for more than six hours, the main force of Pugačev was defeated by the government army, about 2,000 people were killed, 4,000 were wounded captured, and lost all the artillery. On 24 March, another squad of insurgents was destroyed near Ufa by Lieutenant Lieutenant Michelson, and soon Chika (Zarubin) and Heropsha (Sokolov) were captured. Pugačev evacuated Beltskaja Sloboda and abandoned the siege of Orenburg.

On April 1, 1774, he fought again with the crusaders near the town of Sakmara, but was defeated (more than 400 killed, more than 2,800 captured), and many close aides (Higayev, Padurov, Vitoshnov, Gorshkov, Pochitarim) were captured. Pugachev led a force of 500 men to break through the siege and hide in the Ural Mountains. By mid-April 1774, although the major centers of the uprising had been destroyed, the troops of Saravat Yurayev, Belobordov, and Ovchinnikov were still active in Bashkir, near Ekaterinburg, and in the Orenburg border area, respectively.

In April 1774, the second phase of the peasant war began. Pugachev recruited new troops in the Ural industrial and mining areas and Bashkir, and on May 5, 1774, he led his troops (5,000 men) to capture Magnitnaya Fortress and join forces with Beloborodov and Ovchinnikov's forces. The insurgents went up the Yayk River and captured Troitsk Fortress on May 19. But on May 21, the insurgents were defeated, and Pugachev retreated to the Ural steppe. The government continued to pursue, hitting the insurgents several times, but Pugachev used guerrilla tactics skillfully and finally escaped the pursuit of the enemy and preserved the main force. The insurgents were continuously replenished by farmers, workers, and Bashkirs.

In mid-June 1774, Pugachev was forced to withdraw from the Ural industrial and mining areas and led his troops towards the Volga River in an attempt to realize the original plan of marching into Moscow. On July 12, 1771, the rebels occupied Kazan through strong assault, but failed to conquer the heavily fortified inner city defended by the remnants of the garrison. Mihersson led his troops to promptly rescue the inner city defenders. They fought bloody battles in the plains of Arsk and defeated the rebels on July 15. About 2000 rebels were killed and 5000 captured. In this battle, Beloborodov, one of the outstanding leaders of the Peasants 'War, and his troops all captured prisoners. In order to escape the pursuit, Pugachev crossed to the right bank of the Volga River with an elite army. The second phase of the Peasants 'War came to an end. Many of the events in the second phase occurred mainly in the Urals and in the piedmont of the western Urals.

In the third stage, the uprising re-emerged. It was widely supported by serfs and people of all ethnic groups in the Volga Valley (Tatar, Chuvash, Mordovan, Mali, Mesieriak). Hundreds or thousands of peasant guerrillas were spontaneously established in various places. The uprising swept through most of the Volga Valley counties and spread to the border of Moscow Province, directly threatening Moscow, causing chaos among the lower classes, workshop workers, and aristocratic servants. However, Pugachev made a strategic mistake at this stage: he abandoned the direct drive towards Moscow and left the area where the peasant movement was the largest and headed south, in order to return to the center of Russia after being replenished by Cossacks in the Don River. On the way south, Pugachev's team received support from the civilians wherever they went.

On July 20, 1774, Pugachev occupied Kurmesh, followed by Lenk Alatri (7.23), Saransk (7.27), Penza (8.2), Petrovsk (8.4), and Saratov (8.6). However, the local and decentralized nature of the peasant uprising movement at this stage was particularly evident: the uprising peasants usually fought actively in their hometowns and counties, but stopped fighting when they reached neighboring counties.

In August 1774, Catherine II sent a large army - 20 cavalry and infantry regiments, in addition to Cossack troops and noble volunteers - to suppress the peasant war. The crusade forced Pugachev to withdraw to Heiar. On August 25, near Solenikovataga (75 kilometers south of Sorizin), the last battle of this peasant war was held. As soon as the battle broke out, the rebels lost their artillery and were defeated due to the rebellion of a small group of Yayk Cossack gentry. Pugachev led a small team to the grasslands on the left bank of the Volga River, where they were captured by traitors and handed over to the government. Pugachev and his comrades were tried in the town of Yayk, Simbilsk and Moscow.

On January 10, 1775, Pugachev, Perfilyev, Shigayev, Padurov, and Tornov were executed in Boloto Square in Moscow. Chika (Zarubin) was executed in Ufa in February 1775. Thousands of uprising officers and soldiers were flogged or exiled to Siberia.

Although the peasant war led by Pugachev failed, it severely struck the autocratic rule of the tsar, shaken the national foundations of bourgeoisie, accelerated the collapse of Russian feudal bourgeoisie, leaving a glorious page in Russian history.

Recommendation: In a sense, Pugachev's peasant uprising and China's Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Revolution have the same effect, and Pugachev himself and Hong Xiuquan have the same fate.