The beginning of the first stage dates back to the appearance of Pugachev on the Yaik River, on the farm of the Cossack Pochitalin, Pugachev declared himself hiding from the nobles by Emperor Peter III and, as such, publishes his first "manifesto", where he favors the Cossacks "ryakoy from the tops and to the mouth, and the land and herbs, and cash wages, and lead, and gunpowder, and bread provisions "- a list of what is most more they needed. Already in the following days, the number of Pugachev's supporters began to increase rapidly due to the Cossacks who had gone over to his side, as well as the Bashkirs, Tatars and Kalmyks. In the hands of the rebels, thanks to the capture of neighboring fortresses, artillery appeared. In early October, the siege of Orenburg began - a strong fortress, the garrison of which consisted of 3 thousand people with 70 guns. The siege lasted 6 months, but they failed to capture the city. Meanwhile, events were developing rapidly. In October - November, the movement spread to the entire mining region of the Southern and Middle Urals and the middle reaches of the river. Kama. The uprising swept the whole of Bashkiria, one of those who led the rebels was Salavat Yulaev. The successes of the rebels frightened local authorities, and they decided to organize an assassination attempt on Pugachev. A former craftsman Afanasy Sokolov (Khlopusha) was released from the Orenburg prison and sent to the rebel camp in order to kill Pugachev. However, he went over to his side and became one of the most prominent rebel leaders.
Copying the imperial court, the appropriate etiquette was established in Pugachev's entourage. The "Imperial Palace" was a serviceable hut, covered with copper sheets imitating gold. With the "emperor" a semblance of a guard is created. Surrounding faces received "count dignity". A large state seal". All this was evidence of tsarist illusions, above which the rebels did not rise.
The attempt to introduce an element of organization into the elements of the Peasant War deserves special attention. Following the example of St. Petersburg, a "Military Collegium" is being established. Its members were given the names of famous officials. Pugachev generously gave his accomplices high military ranks. The task of the collegium was the formation of detachments, their armament and food supply, as well as the training of troops. The manifestos and decrees mentioned above are sent to the localities. All of them are composed according to the following stereotype. At the beginning there is a statement that he is the true Emperor Peter III. Then those to whom he addresses complain about exactly what the recipients most need. Further, there is a demand to join him and threats to those who refuse to do so.
The headquarters of the rebels was in the village of Berde, located five miles from the besieged Orenburg. In the territories covered by the war, the so-called "marching offices" are created, which have the same functions as the Military Collegium. The old government was abolished. Its carriers, if they fell into the hands of the rebels, were destroyed. New power was built on the principle of the Cossack circle and carried out the will of the rebel organs. Postal communications are being established, etc. This entire system of governance is traditionally called the “Pugachev State”. However, all these attempts to streamline the situation did not change the spontaneous nature of the Peasants' War. The main thing actor The peasant was, first of all, a small proprietor. He readily dealt with his and neighboring landlords, burned their estates, robbed property, but returned to his home, protecting his household from the encroachment of robber elements. Hundreds of thousands rebelled, and the rebel army was not numerous, its permanent core was even smaller, to which, accordingly, they joined, and then the inhabitants of the surrounding places departed from Pugachev's army, dispersing to their homes. The upheaval caused by the war sharply increased the number of rogue elements, main goal which was a robbery. Such was the picture of the Peasant War, accompanied by upheavals in the foundations of the state, the ruin and plunder of the territories where its elements raged.
Initially, the government underestimated the degree of danger, believing that here, on the river. Yaik, as in the past 1772, the uprising will be pacified. Only when the rebels defeated the military detachments led by General V. Kar and Colonel Chernyshev, sent to pacify, when the landowners' estates were on fire and the landowners, fleeing from reprisal, fled to Kazan under the protection of its fortress walls, Catherine II and her entourage realized the extent threats. Regular troops were sent against the rebels under the command of General A.I. Bibikov. AT detailed instructions, compiled by the empress herself, he was instructed to initially explain to the “lost” the hopelessness and perniciousness of the rebellion raised by the impostor, the fugitive Cossack Pugachev, “and since others will not come into obedience”, act against them military force according to circumstances. As a sign of solidarity with the Kazan nobility, Catherine declared herself a "Kazan landowner." Kazan met Bibikov as a savior - with fireworks. The army and the detachments of nobles formed to help it moved towards the besieged Orenburg to meet the rebels, the total number of which by that time reached 30 thousand people. But its ability to resist the regular army was not great: the vast majority of the rebels were not familiar with military affairs, many did not even have edged weapons. Their forces were divided and Pugachev managed to bring about 6 thousand people towards the government troops. The battle took place on March 22 near the Tatishchev fortress, lasted 6 hours and ended in the complete defeat of the rebels. Pugachev, pursued by the troops, with a detachment of several hundred people, fled to the Urals, where his ranks were replenished with working people from factories.
These events ended the first stage of the Peasant War, which was marked by the expansion of the uprising area, the joining of the working people of the Urals, the peoples inhabiting the Urals, to the rebels.
After this defeat, Pugachev was forced to lift the siege of Orenburg and, pursued by government troops, move east. April to June main events peasant war deployed on the territory of the mining Urals and Bashkiria. However, the burning of factories, the seizure of livestock and property from bonded peasants and working people, violence against the population of factory settlements, led to the fact that the factory owners managed to arm working people at their own expense, organize detachments from them and send them against Pugachev. This narrowed the base of the movement and broke the unity of the rebels. Near the Trinity fortress, Pugachev suffered another defeat, after which he rushed first to the northwest, and then to the west. The ranks of the rebels were replenished by the peoples of the Volga region: Udmurts, Mari, Chuvashs. When Pugachev approached Kazan on July 12, 1774, there were 20 thousand people in his army. He captured the city, but did not have time to take control of the Kremlin, where the government troops settled - Michelson arrived in time to help the besieged and inflicted another defeat on the rebels. On July 17, Pugachev, together with the remnants of the defeated army, crossed to the right bank of the Volga - to areas inhabited by serfs and state peasants. The third period of the peasant war began.
Pugachev's manifestoes were of great importance in restoring the number of rebel troops. Already in the manifestos promulgated in November 1773, the peasants were called upon "villains and opponents of my imperial will", which meant the landowners, to deprive them of life, "and take their houses and all their estate as a reward." The manifesto of July 31, 1774, which proclaimed the liberation of the peasants from serfdom and taxes, most fully reflected the peasant aspirations. The nobles, as "disturbers of the empire and destroyers of the peasants", were to "catch, execute and hang and act in the same way as they, having no Christianity in themselves, repaired with you, the peasants."
On the right bank of the Volga, a peasant war broke out with new force- rebel detachments were created everywhere, acting disconnectedly and out of touch with each other, which facilitated the punitive efforts of the government: Pugachev easily occupied the cities - Kurmysh, Temnikov, Insar, etc., but with the same ease and left them under pressure from superior forces of government troops . He moved to the Lower Volga, where barge haulers, Don, Volga and Ukrainian Cossacks joined him. In August, he approached Tsaritsyn, but did not take the city. With a small detachment, Pugachev crossed to the left bank of the Volga, where the Yaik Cossacks who were with him seized him and on September 12, 1774, handed him over to Michelson.
Peasant War 1773-1775 was the most powerful, but the numbness ended in defeat. Hundreds of thousands of people took part in it. The territory covered by it stretched from the Voronezh-Tambov region in the West to Shadrinsk and Tyumen in the east, from the Caspian Sea in the south to Nizhny Novgorod and Perm in the north. This peasant war was characterized by more a high degree organization of the rebels. They copied some organs government controlled Russia. Under the "emperor" there was a headquarters, a military collegium with an office. The main army was divided into regiments, communication was maintained, including by sending written orders, reports and other documents.
In the 60-70s. 18th century a wave of anti-feudal uprisings of peasants, Cossacks, ascribed and working people swept across the country. The main reason for the speeches was the growing dissatisfaction of the people with the activities supreme power. A series of decrees in the 60s turned the peasants into slaves without rights. The consequence of the process of decomposition of the feudal-serf system of management was an increase in the exploitation of the peasantry: the strengthening of corvée, the growth of monetary dues. The duties of the assigned state peasants who worked in factories and manufactories increased, the rights of the Cossacks were infringed.
In August 1773, the Don Cossack Pugachev announced to the leaders Yaik Cossacks that he is the surviving Emperor Peter III. On September 17, 1773, he published a manifesto granting the Cossacks lands, meadows, duty-free fishing, money, etc. This date is considered the beginning of the uprising.
At the first stage (September 1773 - March 1774) Cossack uprising escalated into a peasant war: a detachment of 200 people became an army of 30-50 thousand with artillery. At this stage, more than 20 fortresses went over to the side of the rebels. Particular scope was given to the uprising by the participation in it of serfs, artisans, working people and ascribed peasants of the Urals, as well as Bashkirs, Mari, Tatars, Udmurts and other peoples of the Volga region. In early October, a 6-month siege of Orenburg began. Troops were drawn to the area of the uprising, and in the decisive battle near the Tatishchev fortress on March 22, 1774, the rebels were defeated. The siege of Orenburg was lifted.
April - July 1774 is the second stage of the peasant war, when, after a series of battles in the Middle Urals, the main forces of the rebels moved along the Kama to Kazan. In early July 1774, Pugachev's army approached Kazan and captured it. But in the midst of the battle, government troops approached the city. The battle ended with the defeat of the rebels.
The third period began after the defeat near Kazan and the crossing of the Volga (July 1774 - 1775). The war engulfed the entire Volga region and threatened to spread to the central regions of the country. Selected army troops were moved against Pugachev. Under pressure from government troops, Pugachev withdrew to the south. Near Tsaritsyn, the rebels were defeated, their leader tried to break through to Yaik, but was captured by the Yaik Cossacks and handed over to the authorities. January 10, 1775 E.I. Pugachev was executed Bolotnaya Square in Moscow. By this time, scattered centers of the uprising had been suppressed.
Peasant war led by E.I. Pugachev ended in defeat for the same reasons as other major uprisings of the masses. The Peasant War forced Catherine II to carry out a series of reforms to centralize and unify governments in the center and locally, and to legislate the class rights of the population. The purpose of these reforms: to strengthen absolutism in Russia. The Cabinet of Ministers was created, the number of provinces increased sharply. A charter was given to the nobility. According to it, the nobility is considered a privileged class, the support of the throne. The economic support of the throne is fixed - serfdom. A letter of commendation was given to the cities. All citizens are divided into 6 categories. The most privileged are wealthy merchants and householders, revered foreigners, and the lowest rank are vile people.
These reforms strengthened absolutism in Russia.
It went on for almost two years. The uprising swept vast territories of the empire and gathered tens of thousands of people under its banners. Speaking about the stages of the peasant war, three periods can be conditionally distinguished.
The first stage of the peasant war
The beginning of the first stage, as well as the uprising as a whole, is considered the announcement of the order, declaring himself a miraculously saved sovereign, addressed to the Yaik army, on September 17, 1773. Immediately after this, a detachment of 80 Cossacks advances towards the Yaitsky town. When Pugachev approached the settlement, the number of supporters accompanying him exceeded 300 people. Take Yaitsky town failed, as the rebels did not have artillery.
Pugachev decides to move further upstream the Yaik. The rebels easily occupy the Iletsk town and, having replenished their ranks with new volunteers and having taken possession of the local artillery, continue to move up the river towards Orenburg. Along the way, the Pugachevites easily occupy the fortresses that stand in the way of their advance. The rebels received serious resistance only when the Tatishchevskaya fortress was taken, the garrison of which fought to the last.
The rebels soon reach Orenburg and on October 5 begin the siege of the city. At the same time, the rebel troops occupy more and more fortresses and capture a number of Ural factories. A military expedition led by Major General Kara, sent to lift the siege from Orenburg, was defeated and forced to retreat to Kazan.
Military successes inspired the rebels, their ranks are replenished with more and more new forces, mass accession of local indigenous peoples, especially the Bashkirs, to the Pugachevites begins. The situation is greatly disturbed in St. Petersburg, and a new one is sent to suppress the uprising. military expedition under the leadership of Bibikov. Pugachev decides to withdraw the main forces from Orenburg, lifting the siege from the city. The troops of the rebels concentrated in the Tatishchevskaya fortress. On March 22, 1774, a battle took place in which the Pugachevites were defeated. The leader with the remnants of the troops retreats to the Urals.
Second stage of the peasant war
With the defeat of the Pugachevites at the Tatishchevskaya fortress, the second stage of the war begins. Having gone to the Urals with a detachment of 400 people, Pugachev short time raising a new army most which is made up of Bashkirs and workers from the Ural factories. By the beginning of May, his troops already numbered more than 8,000 people. On the night of May 6-7, the rebels take the Magnetic Fortress and move further up the Yaik, capturing the fortresses. However, on May 21, the rebels suffer a serious defeat from the Dekolong corps that suddenly attacked them.
Detachments of Bashkirs led by Salavat Yulaev distract government forces, allowing Pugachev to withdraw. Taking advantage of this, he moves towards Kazan. On June 12, rebel troops entered the city. The surviving defenders locked themselves in the Kazan Kremlin and prepared for the siege. In the evening of the same day, Michelson's troops entered the city and drove the Pugachevites out of Kazan. A battle took place on the Kazanka River, as a result of which the rebels were utterly defeated. Pugachev, with the remnants of the army, runs across the Volga to reassemble the army.
The third stage of the peasant war
At the beginning of the third stage of the war, the newly formed rebel units capture a number of major cities the Volga region, such as Penza and Saransk. Pugachev issued decrees that referred to the release of serfs. This causes mass peasant unrest throughout the Volga region. There are statements about going to. However, Pugachev will soon turn south.
During the battle with government troops, which took place on August 25 at the Solenikova gang, the rebels suffer a crushing defeat. Pugachev flees again, but was captured by his own comrades-in-arms and handed over to the government. Emelyan Pugachev was executed in Moscow on January 10, 1775. unrest in various parts countries continued until the summer, but then stopped.
