Person

Yemelyan Pugachev

c. 1742–1775 · 18th century

Yemelyan Pugachev was a Don Cossack who in 1773 claimed to be the murdered Emperor Peter III and led the largest Cossack and peasant rising in Russian history against Catherine the Great. Backed by Yaik Cossacks, Bashkirs, factory serfs and peasants, his forces burned Kazan and swept through the Volga region. Defeated in 1774, he was betrayed by his own followers and executed in Moscow in January 1775.

Yemelyan Pugachev — Image: Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Ural Cossack Host

See also

Cite this entry

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Yemelyan Pugachev. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/yemelyan-pugachev
MLA: “Yemelyan Pugachev.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/yemelyan-pugachev. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Yemelyan Pugachev.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/yemelyan-pugachev.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Yemelyan Pugachev’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/yemelyan-pugachev (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻