Pugachev, << poo guh CHAWF, >> Emelian Ivanovich (1742?-1775), a Russian soldier, led a revolt against Russian landowners in 1773 and 1774. Pugachev’s followers killed thousands of persons before the revolt was crushed.
Pugachev was born in southern Russia. He served with distinction in the Seven Years’ War and the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774. But he was arrested several times for resisting authority. In 1773, he convinced peasants in the Ural Mountains that he was Czar Peter III. Peter had been dead more than 10 years, but many peasants believed he was still alive. Posing as the czar, Pugachev promised to free the peasants, who were forced to work much like slaves. He called for a peasant war against the landowners. With more than 20,000 followers, he swept westward across the Volga River and seized several cities. Government forces captured him in 1774. He was executed in Moscow.
