Table of contents:
- Patriotic father and thieving son
- Interaction with schismatics, or Pugachev - henchman of opposition Old Believers
- Another emperor who miraculously escaped, or why the masses followed Pugachev
- Who recruited Pugachev - French, Poles or Turks?
Video: The impostor who succeeded: were influential foreigners really behind Emelya Pugachev?
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Yemelyan Pugachev managed to remain in history one of the most famous state criminals for centuries. The rebellion raised by him covered vast lands, and the success of the business seriously threatened the imperial power. Most historians agree that there were serious forces behind the false Peter III, who was portrayed as a fugitive Cossack. After all, there were many impostors in Russia at that time, but only he succeeded.
Patriotic father and thieving son
Pugachev was the son of a simple Don Cossack, distinguished in the service by diligence, courage and loyalty to Peter the Great in a clash with Charles XII and the Turks. He died in another battle already under Anna Ioannovna, forever remaining an honest son of his fatherland. Emelyan Pugachev himself also distinguished himself on the battlefields, participating in the Seven Years War with Prussia and in the operation to capture Bendery from the Turks in 1769, for which he was awarded the rank of cornet.
In 1771, due to poor health, Emelyan was released for treatment. From the testimony of his wife Sophia, Pugachev was a rather violent person, he did not restrain himself in strong expressions, for which he more than once fell under the whip. At the same time, he did not differ with a big mind, he periodically wandered. In addition, colleagues told about Yemelyan Ivanovich that he was also a thief. The ataman of the village in which Pugachev was standing, assured that after leaving for treatment, the future impostor returned back a month later on a thoroughbred horse. Pugachev claimed that he had acquired a horse in Taganrog, but the Cossacks did not believe him, because of which he had to hide.
Interaction with schismatics, or Pugachev - henchman of opposition Old Believers
In 1772, Emelyan left his family and disappeared, and a few months later he was arrested for talking about fleeing to the Turkish sultan. Documents of Polish origin were found at Pugachev's. After leaving the Cossack ranks, allegedly for treatment, Pugachev fled abroad to Poland and lived there for some time in a schismatic monastery. And according to the documents, Emelyan Ivanovich was listed as a schismatic. This fact prompts the researchers of the Pugachevism to think that Pugachev could have been a henchman of the schismatic Old Believers.
Being in extreme opposition to the government and the official Russian Church, they had reason to raise an uprising in Russia, trying to weaken the power and demonstrate their own strength. The next step could be an end to the persecution of free religion. The Old Believer emigration on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth may have had its own agent network in Russia, one of the strong points of which were the schismatics. Pugachev could have been chosen as one of the instigators of the schismatic rebellion, receiving support from the Old Believers in money and people.
An escape was arranged for Pugachev from the confinement in the Kazan casemate, which may indicate the powerful forces behind the schismatics. As the Kazan chronicler N. Agafonov reported, after the escape, Emelyan Pugachev hid in local settlements with schismatic merchants. How could such a concern of wealthy Old Believers for a fugitive Cossack without family and tribe be explained? Perhaps only by the fact that he was entrusted with a special mission, which he soon realized. In the fall of 1773, Emelyan Pugachev openly declared himself the miraculously escaped Emperor Peter III.
Another emperor who miraculously escaped, or why the masses followed Pugachev
The idea of proclaiming himself Peter III was not original in Russia at that time. Rumors about the living Tsar Pyotr Fedorovich, who miraculously escaped death, spread and multiplied from the very day of his death in 1762. So at the time of Pugachev's message about his royal origin, there were many such initiatives. Some daredevils, identifying themselves as the next Peter III, immediately promised the serfs and honor to the Cossacks, urging them to stand up against the nobles. But all these impostors very quickly fell into the hands of the investigators of Catherine II, and their lives ended on the chopping block.
Of all the impostors who appeared at that time, only Yemelyan Pugachev managed to provoke a peasant revolt and lead a cruel war of commoners with their own masters. Pugachev skillfully played his role both in the residence and on the battlefield. He issued royal decrees both in his own name and from the "son" - the heir to the throne of Paul. Often Emelyan Ivanovich publicly took his portrait in his hands and pronounced theatrically: "How sorry I am for Pavel Petrovich, if only the villains did not exhaust him!"
As reliable evidence of his royal blood, Pugachev more than once demonstrated birthmarks on his body to his associates. Then the people believed that kings are born with special marks. The image of a true sovereign was completed by an expensive red caftan, a fur hat, a shining saber and a confident "royal" look. He became such a "king" as the popular fantasy wanted him to be: dashing, insanely brave, just and formidable. Pugachev read his first monarch's manifesto to 80 Cossacks. The next day, 200 supporters gathered around him, and another day later - 400. It took Yemelyan less than a month to begin the siege of Orenburg, accompanied by 2,500 associates.
Who recruited Pugachev - French, Poles or Turks?
In that historical period, the Poles were primarily interested in weak Russia. Therefore, historians put forward a version that the eminent Polish gentry stood behind Pugachev. These people plotted the Russian turmoil in order to divert attention and forces from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and free themselves from the Russia-oriented king Stanislav Poniatovsky. The version with the most probable complicity of the French Pugachevism is also being studied. In this version, everything is so that Pugachev is not sculpted by individuals like the Polish script. Supporters of the French recruitment of the impostor argue that it was in fact a conspiracy by one major state against another. Voltaire wrote about this in a letter to Catherine II, admitting participation in the organization of the riots of the French consul Tott.
France helped the Turks to fight with Russia, so there could be several goals here. Unleashing a civil war among the Russians, the enemy not only weakened a powerful competitor, but also formed a second front, drawing off significant forces from the Turkish front. Be that as it may, but the bet on the Cossack deserter was made serious. However, it all ended in a known way - the demonstrative execution of Pugachev and his associates at the Execution Ground in Moscow. But for some reason, Catherine II was in no hurry to accuse foreigners of the Pugachev conspiracy, and the materials of the interrogations of the “sovereign's” associates were not disclosed in full.
Later in the empire, before the revolution, there were only national uprisings, such as in Turkestan.
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