"History of the Pugachev rebellion" and a fictional narrative in Pushkin's novel "The Captain's Daughter. Pugachev's uprising. Briefly

The Pugachev uprising (Peasant War of 1773-1775) is an uprising of the Cossacks, which developed into a full-scale peasant war led by Emelyan Pugachev. Basic driving force uprisings were made by the Yaik Cossacks. Throughout the 18th century, they lost their privileges and liberties. In 1772, an uprising broke out among the Yaitsky Cossacks, it was quickly suppressed, but the protest mood did not subside. Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev, a Don Cossack, a native of the Zimoveyskaya village, pushed the Cossacks to further struggle. Finding himself in the trans-Volga steppes in the autumn of 1772, he stopped in Mechetnaya Sloboda and learned about unrest among the Yaik Cossacks. In November of the same year, he arrived in the Yaitsky town and, at meetings with the Cossacks, began to call himself the miraculously saved emperor. Peter III. Shortly thereafter, Pugachev was arrested and sent to Kazan, from where he fled at the end of May 1773. In August, he reappeared in the army.

In September, Pugachev arrived at the Budarinsky outpost, where his first decree to the Yaik army was announced. From here, a detachment of 80 Cossacks headed up the Yaik. New supporters joined along the way, so that by the time they arrived at the Yaitsky town, the detachment already numbered 300 people. On September 18, 1773, an attempt to cross the Chagan and enter the city ended in failure, but at the same time a large group of Cossacks, from among those sent by the commandant Simonov to defend the town, went over to the side of the impostor. A second attack by the rebels on September 19 was also repelled with artillery. The rebel detachment did not have its own cannons, so it was decided to move further up the Yaik, and on September 20 the Cossacks camped near the Iletsk town. Here a circle was convened, at which Andrey Ovchinnikov was elected as a marching ataman, all the Cossacks swore allegiance to the great sovereign, Emperor Peter Fedorovich.

After a two-day meeting on further actions, it was decided to send the main forces to Orenburg. On the way to Orenburg, there were small fortresses of the Nizhne-Yaitskaya distance of the Orenburg military line.

2 Capture of the Tatishchev fortress

On September 27, the Cossacks appeared in front of the Tatishchev fortress and began to convince the local garrison to surrender and join the army of the "sovereign" Peter. The garrison of the fortress was at least a thousand soldiers, and the commandant, Colonel Yelagin, hoped to fight back with the help of artillery. The shooting continued throughout the day. A detachment of Orenburg Cossacks, sent on a sortie, under the command of the centurion Podurov, went over in full force to the side of the rebels. Having managed to set fire wooden walls fortress, which started a fire in the town, and taking advantage of the panic that began in the town, the Cossacks broke into the fortress, after which most of the garrison laid down their arms.

With the artillery of the Tatishchev fortress and replenishment in people, the 2,000-strong detachment of Pugachev began to pose a real threat to Orenburg.

3 Siege of Orenburg

The road to Orenburg was open, but Pugachev decided to go to Seitov settlement and the Sakmarsky town, since the Cossacks and Tatars who arrived from there assured him of universal devotion. On October 1, the population of Seitova Sloboda solemnly welcomed the Cossack army, placing a Tatar regiment in its ranks. And already on October 2, the rebel detachment entered the Sakmara Cossack town to the sound of bells. In addition to the Sakmara Cossack regiment, workers from neighboring copper mines, miners Tverdyshev and Myasnikov, joined Pugachev. On October 4, the army of the rebels headed for the Berdskaya Sloboda near Orenburg, whose inhabitants also swore allegiance to the "resurrected" tsar. By this time, the impostor's army numbered about 2,500 people, of which about 1,500 were Yaik, Iletsk, and Orenburg Cossacks, 300 soldiers, and 500 Kargaly Tatars. The artillery of the rebels consisted of several dozen cannons.

Orenburg was quite a powerful fortification. An earth rampart was erected around the city, fortified with 10 bastions and 2 semi-bastions. The height of the shaft reached 4 meters and more, and the width - 13 meters. WITH outer side The shaft was a moat about 4 meters deep and 10 meters wide. The garrison of Orenburg was about 3,000 men and about a hundred guns. On October 4, a detachment of 626 Yaitsky Cossacks, who remained loyal to the government, with 4 guns, led by the Yaitsky military foreman M. Borodin, managed to freely approach Orenburg from the Yaitsky town.

On October 5, Pugachev's army approached the city, setting up a temporary camp five miles from it. Cossacks were sent to the ramparts, who managed to convey Pugachev's decree to the garrison troops with an appeal to lay down their arms and join the "sovereign". In response, cannons from the city rampart began shelling the rebels. On October 6, Governor Reinsdorp ordered a sortie, a detachment under the command of Major Naumov returned to the fortress after a two-hour battle. On October 7, a military council decided to defend behind the walls of the fortress under the cover of fortress artillery. One of the reasons for this decision was the fear of the transition of soldiers and Cossacks to the side of Pugachev. The sortie showed that the soldiers fought reluctantly, Major Naumov reported that he found "timidity and fear in his subordinates."

The siege of Orenburg that began for six months fettered the main forces of the rebels, without bringing any of the parties a military success. On October 12, Naumov's detachment re-sally was made, but successful artillery operations under the command of Chumakov helped repulse the attack. Pugachev's army, due to the onset of frost, moved the camp to Berdskaya Sloboda. On October 22, an assault was launched; rebel batteries began shelling the city, but strong return artillery fire did not allow them to get close to the rampart. At the same time, during October, the fortresses along the Samara River - Perevolotskaya, Novosergievskaya, Totskaya, Sorochinsky, and in early November - the Buzuluk fortress passed into the hands of the rebels.

On October 14, Catherine II appointed Major General V. A. Kara as commander of a military expedition to suppress the rebellion. At the end of October, Kar arrived in Kazan from St. Petersburg and, at the head of a corps of two thousand soldiers and one and a half thousand militiamen, headed for Orenburg. On November 7, near the village of Yuzeeva, 98 versts from Orenburg, detachments of the Pugachev chieftains Ovchinnikov and Zarubin-Chiki attacked the vanguard of the Kara corps and, after a three-day battle, forced him to retreat back to Kazan. On November 13, a detachment of Colonel Chernyshev was captured near Orenburg, numbering up to 1100 Cossacks, 600-700 soldiers, 500 Kalmyks, 15 guns and a huge convoy. Realizing that instead of a prestigious victory over the rebels, he could get a complete defeat, Kar, under the pretext of illness, left the corps and went to Moscow, leaving command to General Freiman. The successes inspired the Pugachevites, the victories made a great impression on the peasantry and the Cossacks, increasing their influx into the ranks of the rebels.

By January 1774, the situation in the besieged Orenburg became critical, famine began in the city. Having learned about the departure of Pugachev and Ovchinnikov with part of the troops to the Yaitsky town, the governor decided to make a sortie on January 13 to the Berdskaya settlement to lift the siege. But the unexpected attack did not work, sentinel Cossacks managed to raise the alarm. The chieftains who remained in the camp led their detachments to the ravine that surrounded the Berdskaya settlement and served as a natural defense line. The Orenburg corps were forced to fight in unfavorable conditions and suffered a severe defeat. With heavy losses, throwing guns, weapons, ammunition and ammunition, the semi-encircled Orenburg troops hastily retreated to Orenburg.

When news of the defeat of the Kara expedition reached St. Petersburg, Catherine II, by decree of November 27, appointed AI Bibikov as the new commander. The new punitive corps included 10 cavalry and infantry regiments, as well as 4 light field teams, hastily sent from the western and northwestern borders of the empire to Kazan and Samara, and besides them, all the garrisons and military units located in the uprising zone, and remnants of the Kara Corps. Bibikov arrived in Kazan on December 25, 1773, and immediately began the movement of troops to Samara, Orenburg, Ufa, Menzelinsk, Kungur, besieged by the Pugachevites. Having received information about this, Pugachev decided to withdraw the main forces from Orenburg, in fact lifting the siege.

4 Siege of the fortress of Michael the Archangel Cathedral

In December 1773, Pugachev sent Ataman Mikhail Tolkachev with his decrees to the rulers of the Kazakh Younger Zhuz Nurali Khan and Sultan Dusala with an appeal to join his army, but the Khan decided to wait for the development of events, only horsemen of the Sarym Datula clan joined Pugachev. On the way back, Tolkachev gathered Cossacks into his detachment in the fortresses and outposts on the lower Yaik and went with them to the Yaitsky town, collecting cannons, ammunition and provisions in the accompanying fortresses and outposts.

On December 30, Tolkachev approached the Yaitsky town and in the evening of the same day occupied the ancient district of the city - Kuren. Most of the Cossacks greeted their comrades and joined Tolkachev's detachment, but the Cossacks of the foremen's side, the soldiers of the garrison, led by Lieutenant Colonel Simonov and Captain Krylov, locked themselves in the "retrenchment" - the fortress of the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk Cathedral. Gunpowder was stored in the basement of the bell tower, and cannons and arrows were installed on the upper tiers. It was not possible to take the fortress on the move.

In January 1774, Pugachev himself arrived in the Yaitsky town. He took over the leadership of the protracted siege of the city fortress of the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk Cathedral, but after an unsuccessful assault on January 20, he returned to the main army near Orenburg.

In the second half of February and early March 1774, Pugachev again personally led attempts to capture the besieged fortress. On February 19, the bell tower of St. Michael's Cathedral was blown up and destroyed by a mine dig, but each time the garrison managed to repulse the attacks of the besiegers.

5 Assault on the Magnetic Fortress

On April 9, 1774, Bibikov, commander of military operations against Pugachev, died. After him, Catherine II entrusted the command of the troops to Lieutenant General F.F. Shcherbatov. Offended by the fact that it was not him who was appointed to the post of commander of the troops, sending small teams to the nearest fortresses and villages to conduct investigations and punishments, General Golitsyn with the main forces of his corps stayed in Orenburg for three months. The intrigues between the generals gave Pugachev a much-needed respite, he managed to gather scattered small detachments in the Southern Urals. The pursuit was also suspended by the spring thaw and floods on the rivers, which made the roads impassable.

On the morning of May 5, Pugachev's 5,000-strong detachment approached the Magnetic Fortress. By this time, the detachment of the rebels consisted mainly of poorly armed factory peasants and a small number of personal Yaik guards under the command of Myasnikov, the detachment did not have a single gun. The beginning of the assault on Magnitnaya was unsuccessful, about 500 people died in the battle, Pugachev himself was wounded in right hand. After withdrawing the troops from the fortress and discussing the situation, the rebels, under the cover of night darkness, made a new attempt and were able to break into the fortress and capture it. As trophies got 10 guns, guns, ammunition.

6 Battle for Kazan

In early June, Pugachev headed for Kazan. On June 10, the Krasnoufimskaya fortress was taken, on June 11, a victory was won in the battle near Kungur against the garrison that had made a sortie. Without attempting to storm Kungur, Pugachev turned to the west. On June 14, the vanguard of his troops under the command of Ivan Beloborodov and Salavat Yulaev approached the Kama town of Ose and blocked the city fortress. Four days later, the main forces of Pugachev came here and started siege battles with the garrison settled in the fortress. On June 21, the defenders of the fortress, having exhausted the possibilities of further resistance, capitulated.

Having mastered the Wasp, Pugachev ferried the army across the Kama, took the Votkinsk and Izhevsk factories, Yelabuga, Sarapul, Menzelinsk, Agryz, Zainsk, Mamadysh and other cities and fortresses along the way, and in the first days of July approached Kazan. A detachment under the command of Colonel Tolstoy came out to meet Pugachev, and on July 10, 12 versts from the city, the Pugachevites won a complete victory in the battle. The next day, a detachment of rebels camped near the city.

On July 12, as a result of the assault, the suburbs and the main districts of the city were taken, the garrison remaining in the city locked itself in the Kazan Kremlin and prepared for the siege. A strong fire began in the city, in addition, Pugachev received news of the approach of Michelson's troops, who were following him on the heels of Ufa, so the Pugachev troops left the burning city.

As a result of a short battle, Mikhelson made his way to the garrison of Kazan, Pugachev retreated across the Kazanka River. Both sides were preparing for the decisive battle, which took place on 15 July. Pugachev's army numbered 25 thousand people, but most of them were lightly armed peasants who had just joined the uprising, Tatar and Bashkir cavalry armed with bows, and a small number of remaining Cossacks. The competent actions of Mikhelson, who first of all hit the Yaik core of the Pugachevites, led to the complete defeat of the rebels, at least 2 thousand people died, about 5 thousand were taken prisoner, among whom was Colonel Ivan Beloborodov.

7 Battle at the Solenikova gang

On July 20, Pugachev entered Kurmysh, on the 23rd he entered Alatyr without hindrance, after which he headed for Saransk. July 28 on central square Saransk was read a decree on freedom for the peasants, the inhabitants were distributed stocks of salt and bread. On July 31, the same solemn meeting awaited Pugachev in Penza. The decrees caused numerous peasant uprisings in the Volga region.

After Pugachev's triumphant entry into Saransk and Penza, everyone expected him to march on Moscow. But Pugachev turned south from Penza. On August 4, the impostor's army took Petrovsk, and on August 6 surrounded Saratov. On August 7 he was taken. On August 21, Pugachev tried to attack Tsaritsyn, but the assault failed. Having received news of the arriving Michelson's corps, Pugachev hastened to lift the siege from Tsaritsyn, the rebels moved to the Black Yar. On August 24, at the Solenikov fishing gang, Pugachev was overtaken by Mikhelson.

On August 25, the last major battle of the troops under the command of Pugachev with the tsarist troops took place. The battle began with a major setback - all 24 guns of the rebel army were repulsed by a cavalry attack. In a fierce battle, more than 2,000 rebels died, among them Ataman Ovchinnikov. Over 6,000 people were taken prisoner. Pugachev and the Cossacks, breaking up into small detachments, fled across the Volga. In pursuit of them, search detachments of Generals Mansurov and Golitsyn, the Yait foreman Borodin and the Don Colonel Tavinsky were sent. During August-September, most of the participants in the uprising were caught and sent for investigation to Yaitsky town, Simbirsk, Orenburg.

Pugachev fled with a detachment of Cossacks to Uzen, not knowing that since mid-August Chumakov, Tvorogov, Fedulev and some other colonels had been discussing the possibility of earning forgiveness by surrendering the impostor. Under the pretext of facilitating the escape from the chase, they divided the detachment in such a way as to separate the Cossacks loyal to Pugachev, along with Ataman Perfilyev. On September 8, near the Bolshoy Uzen River, they attacked and tied Pugachev, after which Chumakov and Curds went to the Yaitsky town, where on September 11 they announced the capture of the impostor. Having received promises of pardon, they notified the accomplices, and on September 15 they delivered Pugachev to the Yaitsky town.

In a special cage, under escort, Pugachev was taken to Moscow. On January 9, 1775, the court sentenced him to death. On January 10, on Bolotnaya Square, Pugachev ascended the scaffold, bowed on all four sides and laid his head on the chopping block.

The uprising of Yemelyan Pugachev is a popular uprising during the reign of Catherine II. The largest in the history of Russia. Known under the names Peasant War, Pugachevshina, Pugachev rebellion. It took place in 1773 - 1775. It happened in the steppes of the Trans-Volga region, the Urals, the Kama region, Bashkiria. Accompanied by great sacrifices among the population of those places, atrocities on the part of the mob, devastation. Suppressed by government troops with great difficulty.

Causes of the Pugachev uprising

The most difficult situation of the people, serfs, workers of the Ural factories
Abuse of power by government officials
The remoteness of the territory of the uprising from the capitals, which gave rise to permissiveness of local authorities
Deeply rooted distrust between the state and the population in Russian society
Faith of the people in the "good intercessor king"

Beginning of the Pugachev region

The revolt of the Yaik Cossacks laid the foundation for the uprising. Yaitsike Cossacks - settlers on the western banks of the Ural River (until 1775 Yaik) from the interior regions of Muscovy. Their history began in the 15th century. The main occupations were fishing, salt mining, and hunting. The villages were run by elected foremen. Under Peter the Great and the rulers following him, Cossack liberties were reduced. In 1754, a state monopoly on salt was introduced, that is, a ban on its free production and trade. Time after time the Cossacks sent petitions to Petersburg with complaints against the local authorities and general position cases, but it didn't lead to anything.

“From the very beginning of 1762, the Yaik Cossacks began to complain about oppression: about withholding a certain salary, unauthorized taxes and violation of the ancient rights and customs of fishing. Officials sent to them to consider their complaints could not or did not want to satisfy them. The Cossacks were repeatedly indignant, and major generals Potapov and Cherepov (the first in 1766, and the second in 1767) were forced to resort to force of arms and the horror of executions. In the meantime, the Cossacks learned that the government intended to form hussar squadrons from the Cossacks and that they had already been ordered to shave their beards. Major-General Traubenberg, who was sent to the Yaitsky town for this purpose, incurred the indignation of the people. The Cossacks were worried. Finally, in 1771, the rebellion was revealed in all its strength. On January 13, 1771, they gathered in the square, took icons from the church and demanded the dismissal of members of the office and the issuance of delayed salaries. Major General Traubenberg went to meet them with an army and guns, ordering them to disperse; but his commands had no effect. Traubenberg ordered to shoot; the Cossacks rushed to the guns. There was a battle; the rebels won. Traubenberg fled and was killed at the gates of his house ... Major General Freiman was sent from Moscow to pacify them with one company of grenadiers and artillery ... On June 3 and 4, heated battles took place. Freiman opened his way with buckshot... The instigators of the rebellion were punished with a whip; about one hundred and forty people were exiled to Siberia; others are given into the soldiers; the rest are pardoned and re-sworn. These measures restored order; but the calm was precarious. "It's only the beginning! - said the forgiven rebels, - are we going to shake Moscow up? Secret meetings took place in the steppe minds and remote farms. Everything foreshadowed a new rebellion. The leader was missing. The leader was found ”(A. S. Pushkin“ The History of the Pugachev Rebellion ”)

“In this troubled time, an unknown tramp staggered around the Cossack courtyards, hiring as workers to one owner, then to another, and taking up all sorts of crafts ... He was distinguished by the audacity of his speeches, reviled the authorities and persuaded the Cossacks to flee to the Turkish Sultan; he assured that the Don Cossacks would not hesitate to follow them, that he had two hundred thousand rubles and seventy thousand worth of goods prepared at the border, and that some pasha, immediately upon the arrival of the Cossacks, should give them up to five million; for the time being, he promised everyone twelve rubles a month of salary ... This tramp was Emelyan Pugachev, a Don Cossack and schismatic, who came with a false written appearance from beyond the Polish border, with the intention of settling on the Irgiz River among the schismatics there "(A. S. Pushkin" History of the Pugachev rebellion

The uprising led by Pugachev. Briefly

“Pugachev appeared on the farms of the retired Cossack Danila Sheludyakov, with whom he had previously lived as a worker. At that time meetings of intruders were held there. At first, it was about escaping to Turkey ... But the conspirators were too attached to their shores. They, instead of escaping, decided to be a new rebellion. Imposture seemed to them a reliable spring. For this, only a stranger was needed, daring and resolute, still unknown to the people. Their choice fell on Pugachev ”(A. S. Pushkin“ The History of the Pugachev Rebellion ”)

“He was about forty, medium height, thin and broad-shouldered. There was gray in his black beard; living large eyes and ran. His face had an expression rather pleasant, but roguish. Hair was cut in a circle" (" Captain's daughter»)

1742 - Emelyan Pugachev was born
1772, January 13 - Cossack riot in Yaitsky town (now Uralsk)
1772, June 3, 4 - the suppression of the rebellion by the detachment of Major General Freiman
1772, December - Pugachev appeared in the Yaik town
1773, January - Pugachev was arrested and sent under guard to Kazan
1773, January 18 - the military board received a notification about the identity and capture of Pugachev
1773, June 19 - Pugachev escaped from prison
1773, September - rumors spread around the Cossack farms that he had appeared, whose death was a lie
1773, September 18 - Pugachev with a detachment of up to 300 people appeared near the Yaitsky town, Cossacks began to flock to him
1773, September - Capture of the Iletsk town by Pugachev
1773, September 24 - the capture of the village of Rassypnaya
1773, September 26 - the capture of the village of Nizhne-Ozernaya
1773, September 27 - the capture of the Tatishchev fortress
1773, September 29 - the capture of the village of Chernorechenskaya
1773, October 1 - the capture of the Sakmara town
1773, October - The Bashkirs, excited by their foremen (whom Pugachev managed to load with camels and goods captured from the Bukharians), began to attack Russian villages and join the army of rebels in heaps. On October 12, foreman Kaskin Samarov took the Voskresensky copper smelter and formed a detachment of Bashkirs and factory peasants of 600 people with 4 guns. In November, as part of a large detachment of Bashkirs, Salavat Yulaev went over to the side of Pugachev. In December, he formed a large detachment in the northeastern part of Bashkiria and successfully fought with the tsarist troops in the area of the Krasnoufimskaya fortress and Kungur. Service Kalmyks fled from outposts. Mordvins, Chuvashs, Cheremis ceased to obey the Russian authorities. The master's peasants clearly showed their allegiance to the impostor.
1773, October 5-18 - Pugachev unsuccessfully tried to capture Orenburg
October 14, 1773 - Catherine II appointed Major General V. A. Kara as commander of a military expedition to suppress the rebellion
1773, October 15 - government manifesto about the appearance of an impostor and exhortation not to succumb to his calls
1773, October 17 - Pugachev's henchman captured Demidov's Avzyan-Petrovsky factories, collected guns, provisions, money there, formed a detachment of artisans and factory peasants
1773, November 7-10 - battle near the village of Yuzeeva, 98 miles from Orenburg, detachments of the Pugachev chieftains Ovchinnikov and Zarubin-Chik and the vanguard of the Kara corps, Kara retreat to Kazan
1773, November 13 - a detachment of Colonel Chernyshev, numbering up to 1100 Cossacks, 600-700 soldiers, 500 Kalmyks, 15 guns and a huge convoy, was captured near Orenburg
1773, November 14 - the corps of brigadier Korf, numbering 2,500 people, broke into Orenburg
1773, November 28-December 23 - unsuccessful siege of Ufa
November 27, 1773 - General-in-chief Bibikov was appointed the new commander of the troops opposing Pugachev
1773, December 25 - Ataman Arapov's detachment occupied Samara
1773, December 25 - Bibikov arrived in Kazan
December 29, 1773 - Samara was liberated

In total, according to rough estimates of historians, in the ranks of the Pugachev army by the end of 1773 there were from 25 to 40 thousand people, more than half of this number were Bashkir detachments

1774, January - Ataman Ovchinnikov stormed the town of Guryev in the lower reaches of the Yaik, captured rich trophies and replenished the detachment with local Cossacks
1774, January - A detachment of three thousand Pugachev men under the command of I. Beloborodov approached Yekaterinburg, capturing a number of surrounding fortresses and factories along the way, and on January 20 captured the Demidov Shaitansky plant as the main base of their operations.
1774, end of January - Pugachev married a Cossack Ustinya Kuznetsova
1774, January 25 - the second, unsuccessful assault on Ufa
1774, February 8 - the rebels captured Chelyabinsk (Chelyaba)
March 1774 - the advance of government troops forced Pugachev to lift the siege of Orenburg
1774, March 2 - the St. Petersburg Carabinieri Regiment under the command of I. Mikhelson, previously stationed in Poland, arrived in Kazan
1774, March 22 - a battle between government troops and Pugachev's army at the Tatishchev fortress. Defeat of the rebels
1774, March 24 - Mikhelson in the battle near Ufa, near the village of Chesnokovka, he defeated the troops under the command of Chiki-Zarubin, and two days later captured Zarubin himself and his entourage
1774, April 1 - the defeat of Pugachev in the battle near the Sakmarsky town. Pugachev fled with several hundred Cossacks to the Prechistenskaya fortress, and from there he went to the mining region Southern Urals where the rebels had reliable support
1774, April 9 - Bibikov died, lieutenant general Shcherbatov was appointed commander instead of him, which took Golitsyn terribly offended
1774, April 12 - the defeat of the rebels in the battle near the Irtets outpost
1774, April 16 - the siege of the Yaitsky town is lifted. continued from December 30
1774, May 1 - Guryev town was recaptured from the rebels

The general squabble between Golitsyn and Shcherbatov allowed Pugachev to recover from defeat and start the offensive again.

1774, May 6 - Pugachev's five thousandth detachment captured the Magnetic Fortress
1774, May 20 - the rebels captured the strong Trinity Fortress
1774, May 21 - Pugachev's defeat at the Trinity Fortress from the corps of General Dekolong
1774, 6, 8, 17, 31 May - battles of the Bashkirs under the command of Salavat Yulaev with the Michelson detachment
1774, June 3 - Detachments of Pugachev and S. Yulaev united
1774, early June - the campaign of Pugachev's army, in which 2/3 were Bashkirs, to Kazan
1774, June 10 - Krasnoufimskaya fortress was captured
1774, June 11 - victory in the battle near Kungur against the garrison that made a sortie
1774, June 21 - capitulation of the defenders of the Kama town of Osa
1774, late June-early July - Pugachev captured the Votkinsk and Izhevsk ironworks, Yelabuga, Sarapul, Menzelinsk, Agryz, Zainsk, Mamadysh and other cities and fortresses and approached Kazan
1774, July 10 - at the walls of Kazan, Pugachev defeated a detachment that came out to meet under the command of Colonel Tolstoy
1774, July 12 - as a result of the assault, the suburbs and the main districts of the city were taken, the garrison locked himself in the Kazan Kremlin. A huge fire broke out in the city. At the same time, Pugachev received news of the approach of Michelson's troops, marching from Ufa, so the Pugachev detachments left the burning city. As a result of a short battle, Mikhelson made his way to the garrison of Kazan, Pugachev retreated across the Kazanka River.
1774, July 15 - Michelson's victory near Kazan
July 15, 1774 - Pugachev announced his intention to march on Moscow. Despite the defeat of his army, the uprising swept the entire western bank of the Volga.
1774, July 28 - Pugachev captured Saransk and on the central square announced the "tsar's manifesto" about freedom for the peasants. The enthusiasm that seized the peasants of the Volga region led to the fact that a population of more than a million people was involved in the uprising.

“We grant this nominal decree with our royal and paternal mercy to all who were previously in the peasantry and in the citizenship of the landowners, to be loyal slaves to our own crown; and we reward with an ancient cross and prayer, heads and beards, liberty and freedom and forever Cossacks, without requiring recruitment kits, poll and other cash taxes, ownership of lands, forest, hay land and fishing, and salt lakes without purchase and without dues; and we free everyone from the nobles and Gradtsk bribe-takers-judges who were previously inflicted from villains by the peasants and all the people of the taxes and burdens imposed. Given on July 31st, 1774. By the grace of God, we, Peter the Third, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia and the like"

1774, July 29 - Catherine II endowed General-in-Chief Pyotr Ivanovich Panin with emergency powers "in suppressing the rebellion and restoring internal order in the provinces of Orenburg, Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod"
1774, July 31 - Pugachev in Penza
1774, August 7 - Saratov is taken
1774, August 21 - unsuccessful assault on Tsaritsyn by Pugachev
1774, August 25 - the decisive battle of Pugachev's army with Michelson. Crushing defeat of the rebels. Flight of Pugachev
1774, September 8 - Pugachev was captured by the foremen of the Yaik Cossacks
1775, January 10 - Pugachev executed in Moscow

The centers of the uprising were extinguished only in the summer of 1775.

Reasons for the defeat of the peasant uprising Pugachev

The spontaneous nature of the uprising
Belief in a "good" king
Lack of a clear action plan
Vague ideas about the future structure of the state
The superiority of government troops over the rebels in armament and organization
Contradictions among the rebels between the Cossack elite and the barren, between the Cossacks and the peasants

The results of the Pugachev rebellion

Renames: the Yaik River - to the Urals, the Yaitsky army - to the Ural Cossack army, the Yaitsky town - to Uralsk, the Verkhne-Yaik pier - to Verkhneuralsk
Disaggregation of provinces: 50 instead of 20
The process of transformation of the Cossack troops into army units
Cossack officers are more actively transferred to the nobility with the right to own their own serfs
Tatar and Bashkir princes and murzas are equated to the Russian nobility
The manifesto of May 19, 1779 somewhat limited the breeders in the use of peasants assigned to the factories, limited the working day and increased wages.

HISTORY OF THE PUGACHEV REVOLT

History of the Pugachev rebellion
excerpts

CHAPTER TWO

Appearance Pugachev a, - Flight of the ego from Kazan. - Testimony of Kozhevnikov. - The first successes of the Pretender. - Treason of the Iletsk Cossacks. — Capture of the fortress Rassypnaya. — Nurali Khan. — Reynedorp's order. - The capture of Nizhne-Ozernaya. - Capture of Tatishcheva. — Council in Orenburg. - The capture of Chernorechensek, - Pugachev in Sakmarsk.

In these troubled times, an unknown vagabond wandered around the Cossack courtyards, hiring himself as a worker for one master, then for another, and taking up all sorts of crafts. Sn was a witness to the pacification of the rebellion and the execution of the instigators, went away for a while to the Irgiz sketes; from there, at the end of 1772, he was sent to buy fish in the Yaitsky town, where he stood with the Cossack Denis Pyanov. He was distinguished by the impudence of his speeches, blasphemed the authorities and persuaded the Cossacks to flee to the area of the Turkish Sultan; he assured that the Don Cossacks would not hesitate to follow them, that he had two hundred thousand rubles and seventy thousand worth of goods prepared at the border, and that some pasha, immediately upon the arrival of the Cossacks, should give them up to five million; for the time being he promised each of them twelve rubles a month's salary. Moreover, he said, as if two regiments were marching against the Yaik Cossacks from Moscow, and that there would certainly be a riot around Christmas or Epiphany. Some of the obedient wanted to catch him and present him as a rebel in the commandant's office; but he hid with Denis Pyanov and was caught already in the village of Malykovka (which is now Volgsk) at the direction of a peasant who was traveling with him on the same road. This vagabond was Emelyan Pugachev, a Don Cossack and schismatic, who came with a false written form from beyond the Polish border, with the intention of settling on the Irgiz River among the schismatics there. He was sent under guard to Simbirsk, and from there to Kazan; and as everything related to the affairs of the Yaitsky army, under the circumstances could seem important, the Orenburg governor considered it necessary to notify the State Military Collegium of this by a report dated January 18, 1773.

Yaik rebels were not rare then, and the Kazan authorities did not pay much attention to the sent criminal. Pugachev was kept in prison no stricter than other slaves. Meanwhile, his accomplices did not doze off.

PORTRAIT DESCRIPTION

...Emelyan Pugachev, Zimoveyskaya village, a serving Cossack, was the son of Ivan Mikhailov, who died in ancient years. He was forty years old, of medium height, swarthy and thin; his hair was dark blond, his beard was black, small and wedge-shaped. The upper tooth was knocked out in childhood, in a fistfight. On his left temple he had a white spot, and on both breasts there were signs left after an illness called black sickness. He was illiterate and was baptized as a schismatic. About ten years ago, he married a Cossack woman, Sofya Nedyuzhina, with whom he had five children. In 1770, he was in the service of the second army, was at the capture of Bender and a year later was released to the Don due to illness. He went to Cherkassk for treatment. Upon his return to his homeland, the Zimovey ataman asked him at the stanitsa gathering, where did he get the brown horse on which he came home? Pugachev replied that he bought it in Taganrog; but the Cossacks, knowing his dissolute life, did not believe it and sent him to take a written testimony to this. Pugachev left. Meanwhile, they learned that he was inciting some of the Cossacks settled near Taganrog to flee beyond the Kuban. It was supposed to give Pugachev into the hands of the government. Return in the month of December, he was hiding on his farm, where he was caught, but managed to escape; wandered for three months, no one knows where; Finally, in Great Lent, one evening he came secretly to his house and knocked on the window. His wife let him in and let the Cossacks know about him. Pugachev was again caught and sent under guard to the detective, foreman Makarov, to the Lower Chirskaya village, and from there to Cherkassk. He ran off the road again and since then has not been to the Don. From the testimony of Pugachev himself, who was brought to the Chancellery of Palace Affairs at the end of 1772, it was already known that after his escape he was hiding behind the Polish border, in the schismatic settlement Vetka; then he took a passport from the Dobryansky outpost, claiming to be a native of Poland, and made his way to Yaik, eating alms.

- All these news were made public; meanwhile, the government forbade the people to talk about Pugachev, whose name worried the mob. This temporary police measure had the force of law until the very accession to the throne of the late sovereign, when it was allowed to write and print about Pugachev. Until now, the aged witnesses of the then confusion are reluctant to answer curious questions.

PUGACHEV UNDER KURMYSH

On July 20, Pugachev crossed the Sura near Kurmysh. The nobles and officials fled. The mob met him on the shore with icons and bread. An outrageous manifesto was read to her. The disabled team was brought to Pugachev. Major Yurlov, the chief of this, and a non-commissioned officer, whose name, unfortunately, has not been preserved, alone did not want to swear allegiance and denounced the impostor in the eyes. They were hanged and the dead were beaten with whips. Yurlov's widow was saved by her yard people. Pugachev ordered that state-owned wine be distributed to the Chuvash; hanged several nobles brought to him by their peasants, and went to Yadrinsk, leaving the city under the command of four Yaik Cossacks and giving them at their disposal sixty serfs who had stuck to him. He left behind him a small gang to detain Earl Mellin. Mikhelson, who was on his way to Arzamas, sent Kharin to Yadrinsk, where Count Mellin was also hurrying. Pugachev, having learned about it, turned to Alatyr; but, covering his movement, he sent a gang to Yadrinsk, which was repulsed by the governor and the inhabitants, and after that they were met by Count Mellin and completely dispersed. Mellin hurried to Alatyr, casually freed Kurmysh, where he hanged several rebels, and took the Cossack, who called himself a governor, like a tongue. The officers of the disabled team, who swore allegiance to the impostor, justified themselves by the fact that they took the oath not from a sincere heart, but to observe the interest of Her Imperial Majesty.

PUGACHEV CAUGHT...

Pugachev wandered on the same steppe. Troops from everywhere surrounded him; Mellin and Mufel, who also crossed the Volga, cut off his road to the north; a light field detachment marched towards him from Astrakhan; Prince Golitsyn and Mansurov blocked him from Yaik; Dundukov with his Kalmyks roamed the steppe: sidings were established from Guryev to Saratov and from Cherny to Krasny Yar. Pugachev did not have the means to get out of the networks that constrained him. His accomplices, on the one hand, seeing imminent death, and on the other, the hope of forgiveness, began to conspire and decided to extradite him to the government.

Pugachev wanted to go to the Caspian Sea, hoping somehow to get into the Kirghiz-Kaisak steppes. The Cossacks pretended to agree; but, having said that they wanted to take their wives and children with them, they took him to Uzen, the usual refuge of local criminals and fugitives, on September 14 they arrived in the villages of the local Old Believers. This is where the last meeting took place. The Cossacks, who did not agree to surrender into the hands of the government, dispersed. Others went to Pugachev's headquarters.

Pugachev sat alone in thought. His weapon hung to one side. Hearing the Cossacks entering, he raised his head and asked what they needed. They began to talk about their desperate situation, and meanwhile, moving quietly, they tried to block it from the hanging weapons. Pugachev again began to persuade them to go to Guryev town. The Cossacks answered that they had been following him for a long time and that it was time for him to go after them. "What? - said Pugachev, - do you want to cheat on your sovereign? - "What to do!" - answered the Cossacks and suddenly rushed at him. Pugachev managed to fight them off. They took a few steps back. “I have seen your betrayal for a long time,” said Pugachev and, calling his favorite, the Iletsk Cossack Tvorogov, held out his hands to him and said: “knit!” Curd wanted to twist his elbows back. Pugachev did not give in. "Am I a robber?" he said angrily. The Cossacks put him on horseback and took him to the Yaik town. All the way, Pugachev threatened them with the revenge of the Grand Duke. Once he found a way to free his hands, grabbed a saber and a pistol, wounded one of the Cossacks with a shot and shouted to knit the traitors. But no one was listening to him. The Cossacks, approaching the Yaik town, sent to notify the commandant. Cossack Kharchev and Sergeant Bardovsky were sent to meet them, received Pugachev, put him in a block and brought him to the city, directly to the guard captain-lieutenant Mavrin, a member of the commission of inquiry.

Mavrin interrogated the impostor. Pugachev opened up to him from the first word. “God was pleased,” he said. - to punish Russia through my wretchedness. - It was ordered to the inhabitants to gather in the city square; the rebels, kept in fetters, were also brought there. Mavrin brought Pugachev out and showed him to the people. Everyone recognized him; The rebels bowed their heads. Pugachev loudly began to accuse them and said: “You have ruined me; for several days in a row you begged me to take on the name of the late great sovereign; I denied it for a long time, and when I agreed, everything that I did was with your will and consent; but you often acted without my knowledge and even against my will. The rebels did not answer a word.

Meanwhile, Suvorov arrived at Uzen and learned from the hermits that Pugachev had been tied up by his accomplices and that they had taken him to the Yaik town. Suvorov hastened to the same place. At night, he lost his way and found on the lights laid out in the steppe by the thieving Kirghiz. Suvorov attacked them and drove them away, losing several people and among them his adjutant Maksimovich. A few days later he arrived in Yaitsky town. Simonov gave him Pugachev. Suvorov asked the glorious rebel with curiosity about his military actions and intentions and took him to Simbirsk, where Count Panin was also supposed to come.

Pugachev was sitting in a wooden cage on a two-wheeled cart. A strong detachment with two guns surrounded him. Suvorov did not leave him.

History of Pugachev

"History of Pugachev" was published in 1834 under the title "History of the Pugachev rebellion. Part one. History. Part two. Applications." On the back of the title page, instead of the usual censorship permission, it was marked: "With the permission of the Government."

The second part of the "History of Pugachev", containing documentary appendices to the main text (manifestos and decrees, secret reports to the Military Collegium about the fight against Pugachev, letters from A. I. Bibikov, P. I. Panin, G. R. Derzhavin, "The Siege of Orenburg "P.I. Rychkov and other primary sources) is not reprinted in this edition.

The time of completion of the "History" is determined by the date of the preface to it - November 2, 1833, and on December 6, Pushkin already asked A. Kh. Benckendorff to submit the book "for the highest consideration."

Pushkin's hopes that Nicholas I's attention to his manuscript could secure permission for its publication were unexpectedly justified. Pushkin received an interest-free loan from the treasury in the amount of 20,000 rubles for the publication of History. When approving this appropriation, Nicholas I on March 16, 1834, proposed, however, to rename Pushkin's work: instead of "History of Pugachev", the tsar "his own hand" wrote "History of the Pugachev rebellion."

The book, the printing of which began in the summer, was published (in the amount of 3000 copies) at the end of December 1835.

Pushkin continued to study materials about Pugachevism even after the publication of his History. On January 26, 1835, he turned to the tsar with a request for "highest permission" to print out the "investigative file" about Pugachev (which he had previously been denied), in order to draw up a "brief extract, if not for printing, then at least for the completeness of my work, already imperfect, and for the reassurance of my historical conscience. On February 26, Pushkin received permission to work on the "investigative file", the study of which continued until the end of August 1835.

In the memoirs of the folklorist I. P. Sakharov, who visited Pushkin a few days before his duel, there is evidence that the poet showed him "additions to Pugachev" that he had collected after publication. Pushkin thought "to remake and republish his Pugachev" ("Russian Archive", 1873, book 2, p. 955).

Riot Notes.

These materials were presented by Pushkin to Nicholas I through Benckendorff in a letter addressed to the latter dated January 26, 1835. The draft manuscript of these "Remarks", with some significant additional considerations of Pushkin about the leaders of the uprising and its suppressors, which were not included in its white edition, was published in academic edition of the complete works of Pushkin, vol. IX, part I, 1938, pp. 474-480.

About the "History of the Pugachev rebellion".

Pushkin's article, published in Sovremennik, 1835, No. 1, ed. 3, pp. 177-186, was a response to an anonymous analysis of the "History of Pugachev" in the "Son of the Fatherland" in 1835. The belonging of this analysis to Bronevsky was indicated by Bulgarin in "The Northern Bee" dated June 9, 1836, No. 129.

Bronevsky Vladimir Bogdanovich (1784-1835) - member of the Russian Academy, author of "Notes of a Naval Officer" (1818-1819), "History of the Don Army" (1834), etc.

In Pushkin's letter to I. I. Dmitriev dated April 26, 1835, there is a clear allusion to Bronevsky's review of the "History of Pugachev": not Byronov "In a couple, I willingly send them to Mr. Polevoy, who, probably, for a reasonable price, will undertake to idealize this person according to the latest style."

Recordings of oral stories, legends, songs about Pugachev

I. Testimony of Krylov (poet). For these notes by Pushkin, see above.

II. From a travel notebook. These notes were made during Pushkin's trip in September 1833 to Orenburg and Uralsk.

The soldier's anti-Pugachev song, partially recorded by Pushkin ("From Guryev Gorodok" and "Ural Cossacks"), is fully known from the later recording of I. I. Zheleznov. For Pushkin's use of it, see N. O. Lerner's article "The Song Element in the History of the Pugachev Riot" (collection "Pushkin. 1834", L. 1934, pp. 12-16).

III. Kazan records. The stories of V.P. Babin about the capture of Kazan by Pugachev, recorded by Pushkin on September 6, 1833, were widely used in the "History of Pugachev", ch. VII.

IV. Orenburg records. These records were used in the "History of Pugachev" (ch. III and notes to chapters II and V) and in "The Captain's Daughter" (ch. VII and IX). See about these sources the article by N. V. Izmailov "Pushkin's Orenburg materials for the "History of Pugachev" (collection "Pushkin. Research and Materials", M. - L. 1953, pp. 266-297).

V. Dmitriev, legends. For the stories of I. I. Dmitriev, written down by Pushkin around July 14, 1833 in St. Petersburg, see the book by Yu. G. Oksman "From the Captain's Daughter to the Hunter's Notes", Saratov, 1959, pp. 52-60.

VI. Recording from the words of N. Svechin. Pushkin's informant was probably Infantry General N. S. Svechin (1759-1850), married to the aunt of his friend S. A. Sobolevsky.

About Lieutenant of the 2nd Grenadier Regiment M.A. Shvanvich, see above.

Pushkin the historian essentially refuted official version that the rebellion was caused by the intrigues of "Emelka", the "atrocity" that angered the people. On the contrary, Pugachev was "searched" for a case that had already objectively matured due to a number of social and political reasons. If it were not for Pugachev, another leader of the uprising would be “sought out”.

In this view of the causes of great social upheavals, the mature historicism of Pushkin's thinking was fully revealed, to the characterization of which we will return later. Volkov G.N. Pushkin's world. - M., 1989. - 133 s

The rebellion was caused by unjust oppression by the government. It, and not the Cossacks, are guilty of it. Here is Pushkin's main conclusion!

Thus began the "Pugachevshchina", which covered vast expanses Russian Empire, "shaking the state from Siberia to Moscow and from the Kuban to the Murom forests." Pugachev approached Nizhny Novgorod and threatened Moscow. The government of Catherine II trembled, her military leaders more than once suffered a crushing defeat from the "Emelka", whose forces were multiplying.

Then happiness began to change Pugachev. Then, utterly defeated, he fled with a handful of comrades-in-arms, but after a short time he reappeared at the head of huge peasant militias, terrifying everyone.

Pushkin writes about the very last period of the Pugachev uprising: “His successes have never been more terrible, the rebellion has never raged with such force. The indignation passed from one village to another, from province to province. The appearance of two or three villains was enough to revolt entire regions.

What is the reason for such a strong explosion? "Pugachev declared freedom to the people, the extermination of the noble family, the release of duties and the non-monetary distribution of salt."

Poorly armed, scattered rebels, led by illiterate Cossacks who did not know how to conduct major military operations, could not, of course, resist regular government troops for a long time.

The uprising was crushed, Pugachev was quartered. “... And the whole thing was ordered to be consigned to eternal oblivion. Catherine, wishing to destroy the memory of a terrible era, destroyed ancient name river, whose banks were the first witnesses of the disturbance. The Yaitsky Cossacks were renamed into the Ural Cossacks, and their town was called by the same name. But, - Pushkin finishes his research, - the name of the terrible rebel rumbles even in the regions where he raged. The people still vividly remember the bloody time, which - so expressively - he called Pugachevism. Volkov G.N. Pushkin's world. - M., 1989. - 135 s

What did Pushkin really want to say with his History of Pugachev? 0 pushed him to the theme of the peasant revolt that shook Russia sixty years before? Long gone times!

Yes, but just two years before the creation of Pugachev, Russia again experienced something similar. In 1831, an uprising of military settlers broke out in the city of Staraya Russa, not far from St. Petersburg, which rapidly spread to neighboring regions and acquired alarming proportions and power. About military settlements - this martinet idea of Alexander and Arakcheev - has already been mentioned. Nikolai removed Arakcheev, but left the settlements. And then there's the cholera epidemic. In the tightness, poverty, overcrowding of barracks life in military settlements, cholera reaped its harvest abundantly. In the minds of the settlers, the blind elements of the cholera epidemic and the wild arbitrariness of the authorities merged into one. Rumors spread that the epidemic was caused by German doctors, that the authorities intended to repel "the entire lower class of the people."

It was a match brought to a long-filled powder keg. Flashing into Staraya Russa, the uprising spread to Novgorod settlements. The rebels were supported by the grenadier divisions. They expected that the rebels were about to move on Petersburg.

The riot was bloody and merciless. Pushkin wrote in August 1831

Vyazemsky: “... you must have heard about the indignations of Novgorod and Old Russia. Horror. More than a hundred generals, colonels and officers were slaughtered in Novgorod settlements with all the subtleties of malice. The rebels flogged them, beat them on the cheeks, mocked them, plundered their houses, raped their wives; 15 healers killed; escaped alone with the help of the sick lying in the infirmary; having killed all their chiefs, the rebels chose others for themselves - from engineers and communications ... But the Old Russian rebellion has not yet ended. Military officials do not yet dare to show themselves in the street. There they quartered one general, buried the living, and so on. The peasants were acting, to whom the regiments had given their commanders. - It's bad, Your Excellency. When there are such tragedies in the eyes, there is no time to think about the canine comedy of our literature.

With difficulty suppressing the rebellion, the government surpassed the rebels in cruelty and savagery.

Isn't that what Pushkin wrote about in his "Pugachev"? He had no time for literary squabbles then, no time for polemics with Grech and Bulgarin. Pushkin plunged headlong into the history of the Pugachev rebellion in order to understand the bloody tragedies that played out before his eyes, in order to tell Russia in the words of the Yaik Cossacks:

“All the black people were for Pugachev,” wrote Pushkin, summing up his work. “The clergy favored him, not only priests and monks, but archimandrites and bishops. One nobility was openly on the side of the government. Pugachev and his accomplices wanted at first to win the nobles over to their side, but their benefits were too opposite.

In 1774-1775, the nobility alone was on the side of the government against the "black people". Half a century later, in December 1825, the nobility, represented by its best representatives, opposed the government, but without the "black people". These two forces remained separate. What if they unite? It's only the beginning!

In 1834, in a conversation with Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, Pushkin dropped:

There is no such terrible element of revolts in Europe either.

Sometimes they write that Pushkin allegedly showed in the "History of Pugachev" the senselessness of the peasant revolt: "God forbid to see a Russian revolt, senseless and merciless!"

Ruthless, cruel - yes. Senseless - only in the sense that it is an uncontrollable terrible element, devoid of strict organization and definite goals, well-thought-out actions. But not in the fact that the uprising did not bear any fruit, it did not make sense for the historical fate of Russia. The poet-historian himself says: “There is no evil without good: the Pugachev rebellion proved to the government the need for many changes, and in 1775 a new institution followed for the provinces. State power was concentrated; provinces, too extensive, were divided; the communication of all parts of the state has become faster, etc. ”137 Volkov G.N. Pushkin's world. - M., 1989. - 137 s

These lines, as well as the words that the rebels did not manage to win over the nobility at that time, were written in “remarks about the rebellion”, which were intended specifically for Nicholas I. After all, Catherine went

on certain, albeit very minor, reforms after the Pugachev rebellion. Nikolay did not draw any conclusion either from the events of December 14 or from the events in Staraya Russa. "Wishing to draw a lesson from the history of the Pugachev rebellion for the present and future of Russia, Pushkin, of course, did not reduce his task to the role of an instructive, moralizing historiographer. On the contrary, any biased, tendentious attitude to the historical past, the desire to take from it only illustrations for sentiments about contemporary problems was, as already mentioned, alien to Pushkin in this period of his life as a historian. He demanded from the historian "accurate news and a clear presentation of incidents", without any "political and moralizing reflections", demanded "conscientiousness in work and prudence in testimony." Not the subjective position of the historian, but the impartially and objectively presented history itself should have thrown clearer light not only on the “sick problems” of the reader today, but also on the secret laws of the entire historical process. In this context, obviously, Pushkin's remark should be understood: “Voltaire was the first to follow new road-- and brought the lamp of philosophy into the dark archives of history.

Reflecting on the past of Russia, Pushkin established himself in a clear understanding that people are by no means free in choosing the goals and means of their activities. Great people, even more so. There is something that dictates the direction of the application of their energy and will.

The "spirit of the times" is the source of the needs and demands of the state. This spirit of the times, that is, the urgent need for change, brings to life the energy of great people and major historical figures, forms certain personalities out of them. And so Godunov, False Dmitry, Peter I, Pugachev appear on the historical arena ...

And that is why, we emphasize once again, when talking about Pugachev, Pushkin searches for the socio-economic and political reasons that caused the rebellion, and does not reduce the matter to the personal rebellious intentions of the dashing Yaik Cossack. Pushkin quotes “wonderful lines” from Bibikov’s letter to Fonvizin: “Pugachev is nothing but a scarecrow played by thieves. Yaik Cossacks: it is not Pugachev that is important, it is the general indignation that matters. There would be no Pugachev, another "leader" would be found.

And Pushkin shows that Pugachev often makes his decisions under the power of circumstances, under the pressure of the Cossack elders around him. “Pugachev was not autocratic. The Yaik Cossacks, the instigators of the rebellion, controlled the actions of the newcomer, who had no other dignity, except for some military knowledge and extraordinary audacity. He did nothing without their consent; they often acted without his knowledge, and sometimes against his will. They showed him outward respect, in front of the people they followed him without hats and beat him with their foreheads; in private they treated him like a comrade and drank together, sitting in front of him in hats and in only shirts and singing burlatsky songs. Pugachev missed their guardianship. “My street is cramped,” he said ... "

This idea is further developed by Pushkin in The Captain's Daughter. This whole story illuminates Pugachev from two

different and seemingly incompatible sides: Pugachev himself, in his personal relationship with Grinev. And Pugachev as the leader of the rebels, as the supreme expression of the element of rebellion, as its personification and its blind instrument. Volkov G.N. Pushkin's world. - M., 1989. - 138 s

In the first plan, this is a savvy, muzhik-like smart, insightful person who appreciates courage and straightforwardness in people, in a fatherly way helps the barchuk who has fallen in love with him. In a word, a man who is unusually endearing to himself.

In the second - an executioner, mercilessly hanging people, executing innocent people without blinking an eye old woman, the wife of commandant Mironov. A man of disgusting and senseless, bloody cruelty, acting like "sovereign Peter III."

Indeed a villain! But, Pushkin makes it clear, the villain willy-nilly. In The History of Pugachev, the formidable leader of the rebels utters a remarkable phrase before his execution:

God was pleased to punish Russia through my wretchedness.

He himself understands that it’s good or bad, but he only played the “main role” in the element of rebellion and was doomed as soon as this element began to wane. The same foremen who made him a "leader" handed him over to the government bound.

And yet he was not just a "scarecrow" in the hands of these foremen. Pushkin shows with what energy, courage, perseverance, even talent "Emelka" fulfills the role that has fallen to his lot, how much he does for the success of the uprising. Yes, he is called to the historical arena by the force of circumstances, but he also creates these circumstances to the fullest extent of his capabilities. He, while dominating them, yet in the end always finds himself at the mercy of them. Such is the dialectic of the historical process and the historical personality that expresses this process, guessed by Pushkin, as a historian and as a writer.

Power, Pushkin thought, has its own laws and forms in its own way the person who possesses it. The proof of this was not only the history of Pugachev or the history of Peter I, but, alas, contemporary Russian reality. Volkov G.N. Pushkin's world. - M., 1989. - 139 s