2023-09-16 23:30:18
The impostor was executed on January 21, 1775 on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow. The uprising of Emelyan Pugachev, which began 250 years ago, on September 17, 1773, is studied in the school curriculum in history, and also in literature – thanks to Pushkin’s “The Captain’s Daughter”. But most of us still have fragmentary knowledge. It’s a pity, because you start to refresh your memory and realize: there are many parallels with the present time.
What do we remember? Once upon a time there lived a Don Cossack, Emelyan Pugachev. He fought, was arrested, fled, gathered an army and moved to capture the Urals, followed by Siberia. He gave out promises of a beautiful life to the Cossacks and peasants, recruited more and more associates, they robbed and destroyed villages and cities on their way, brutally killed and raped, and not always nobles, landowners and merchants – and the same peasants got it. He held out with varying success for two years, after which the tsarist army nevertheless defeated the rebels.
However, any historical event, especially of such a scale, must be considered in conjunction with others that occurred in parallel. And at that time, our main enemy was France, which was terribly afraid of the growing influence of Russia. Constantly branding our country barbaric and backward, France is ready to do anything to weaken it. “Anything that can plunge her into chaos and force her to plunge back into darkness is in my interests,” is the instruction Louis XV gives to the ambassador appointed to Russia.
The king’s envoy in Constantinople plays a successful game of instigator, and in 1768 the Russian-Turkish war for Polish lands begins. The French spare no expense in supporting the Turks: this massacre should exhaust and humiliate Russia, so that it would be discouraging to carry out European affairs on an equal footing with others.
But this is not enough, and anti-Russian forces in Poland and Sweden also receive “grants” from Louis’ agents. French instructors go to these countries to teach and monitor the course of events.
Very nice, king!
Let’s return to Pugachev. Having deserted from the army, he hides for some time in Poland, which is full of French agents. He wanders around the south of Russia, closely communicating with the Old Believers, who were supported a lot by Europeans. And then it comes specifically to the Yaik Cossacks – they raised an uprising a year ago, and after it was suppressed they calmed down, but did not resign themselves. That is, it goes to where it is smoldering and you just need to blow it up a little.
Declares: very nice, Tsar Peter III. Obviously, he doesn’t look like a nobleman, let alone a tsar. But the official Parisian Gazette de France calls him exclusively Emperor Peter, and his “royal decrees” are taken seriously by his associates. To do this, it was necessary to carry out preparatory work – it’s not like throwing a fake on the Internet. It was necessary to send messengers to tell stories, they say, the good father has risen and will now save everyone from autocracy and tyranny. It is convincing to tell that a simple Cossack, completely different from the late husband of Catherine II, was mistaken for who he is being given out as. This kind of work should pay well.
So, you still need to supply and arm the assembled army. Where does the rootless Cossack get his money? Yes, from the same place – from France and Turkey. It is beneficial for the Turks to delay attention, because the course of the war is clearly not in their favor. And in 1774, Russia will sign peace on terms that are completely unfavorable for itself, because it will have to pull some of its troops to Siberia. That is, they will achieve their goal.
By the way, the “people’s uprising” and “peasant war” turn out to be the robbery of the Cossacks, together with the Kalmyks, Bashkirs, Tatars, Kazakhs and other peoples on the outskirts of the country, who are easily stirred up on national grounds. Moreover, Emelyan negotiated with the bais and khans. Of course, they didn’t send their people with him for “Peter’s” beautiful eyes, but for a decent kickback. Plus they ravaged Russian villages and burned 89 metallurgical and mining plants in the Urals!
In 1774, the uprising began to decline, many stopped believing Pugachev and following him. And then he drops an infobomb: I grant freedom to all serfs! Almost a million people rise immediately. Why didn’t the Tsar-Father think about them before and didn’t free them a year ago? Yes, because they didn’t care about the people, the uprising had other goals: destruction of the population, separation of territories from Russia, weakening of industry (the destruction of the Ural factories corresponds in terms of damage to the destruction of the Nord Streams). However, as now.
Independence from civilization: the prototype of Mel Gibson’s hero in the film “The Patriot” (2000) is the American Brigadier General Francis Marion. Planter and slave owner
Money in a barrel
At Pugachev’s headquarters in Berdskaya Sloboda, 17 barrels of copper coins with a portrait of Peter III and the inscription in Latin “I have risen and am beginning to take revenge” were found. Where did they come from? It was not the Cossacks who minted their own. Obviously, somewhere in enlightened Europe they helped.
Generous land
Emelyan Pugachev was born in the village of Zimoveyskaya (now Volgograd region). Stenka Razin was born there a century before him. And in 1867, the Narodnaya Volya member Vasily Generalov, who, together with Alexander Ulyanov, committed an attempt on the life of Alexander III.
Love is evil
At the age of 18, our hero married a Cossack girl from a neighboring village, Sofya Nedyuzheva. When he deserted from the army, his wife turned him in to the authorities. Pugachev later escaped from arrest, and Sophia and her son and two daughters had to beg – her offended husband left her without funds.
Later, the “emperor” found his wife and children and took them to headquarters. By that time, he had found a new wife – a Yaik Cossack woman, Ulyana Kuznetsova, who was married to him by force. In addition, there were several women who were obliged to live with him in the same tent, including Sophia.
After Pugachev’s execution, both wives and three children were imprisoned in the Karelian fortress of Kexholm. One of the daughters was raped by the commandant; she gave birth to a child, but he died a few weeks later. In 1803, 28 years after Emelyan’s death, Alexander I allowed the prisoners to live behind the fortress wall. True, under strict supervision.
The famous commander Suvorov was called to suppress the uprising
Erased the memory
Catherine II, wanting to erase the memory of the rebellion, renamed the Yaik River to the Ural, the Yaik Cossacks and the Yaik town to the Ural, and Pugachev’s native village to Potemkinskaya. In defiance of the tsarist regime, the Soviets gave her the name Pugachevskaya, and also perpetuated the memory of the rebel in different parts of the USSR. For example, in the Saratov region there is the city of Pugachev, in the Arkhangelsk region there is the village of Pugachevskaya, in Udmurtia there is the village of Pugachevo, and on the Volga railway there is the Pugachevsk station.
World without USA
Alexander Suvorov himself escorted the prisoner Pugachev to Moscow. Somewhere along the way, he had to personally watch Emelya, tied to a cart, all night, because a fire broke out in the hut where he was left for the night. The false emperor was executed in January 1775. And in the summer, Catherine II received a dispatch from Foggy Albion. King George III asked for help in suppressing American settlers who had risen to fight the Revolutionary War. They asked for 20 thousand soldiers, promising full support and travel at their own expense.
The Tsarina refused, citing the fatigue of the army and commanders after six years of war and two Pugachev rebellions. Thus, it provoked the formation of the United States. Because, if she agreed, Suvorov, the most successful commander at that time, would have led the expeditionary force. He would have defeated the Congress army, and America would have remained an ordinary British colony. Oh, it’s a pity, history cannot be turned back.
Photo source: Stills from films, Globallookpress.com/© Columbia Pictures, Commons.wikimedia.org, Murmansk.kp.ru
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