Opposition & Rebellion

Why was Catherine’s position as tsar vulnerable (2)?

• she herself was a usurper

• she had no legal right to the throne

Who were the three obvious claimants to the throne?

• Peter III — her husband, falsely rumoured to still be alive

• Paul — her son

• Ivan VI — deposed by Elizabeth in 1741 and held in prison until 1764

What was the plot against Catherine in 1764? How was it thwarted?

• group of Guards officers attempted to liberate Ivan VI from prisoner

• only thwarted by a jailer who strangled Ivan in accordance with orders

What were the plots in 1769—70 centered around which were detected and snuffed out?

favouring Paul to put him on the throne

What did Catherine lessen savage sentences to?

exile to the Kamchatka peninsula in Siberia

What did plotters do in 1771?

killed an incompetent commandant and escaped in a commandeered ship to France

How many pretenders pretending to be Peter III appeared during Catherine’s reign? How many of them were in the first decade?

at least 24, 10

Where did plots in favour of Paul typically come from?

the elite

Where did plots of pretenders typically come from?

volatile frontier lands and humble origins

When did Feodor Kazin emerge as a plotter?

1772

What was Feodor Kazin’s alias?

Bogonomov

Who was Feodor Kazin?

runaway serf and army deserter

What happened to Feodor Kazin (5)?

• convinced some Don Cossacks he was Peter III

• arrested and imprisoned

• freed by a mob

• rearrested, whipped, branded and mutilated

• died on the way to Siberian exile

Where was Feodor Kazin imprisoned?

Tsarytsin-on-the-Volga

Where did Feodor Kazin’s followers go after his death (2)?

• turned to pretender/brigand leader Riazin

• turned to pretender Emilian Pugachev

Where was Emilian Pugachev from?

Don Cossack from a community with a tradition of turbulent resistance to Tsarist rule

What was Pugachev’s experience at the military like?

called for service at 17, where he quickly attracted attention for unusual intelligence and energy

What was Pugachev’s military experience/background (2)?

• Seven Years’ War: commended for efficiency

• Catherine’s 1st war against the Turks: commissioned as junior lieutenant of cavalry

Why did Pugachev decide to become a deserter?

was taken from his wife and sons to fight the Turks in 1769

1771: on sick leave and decided not to return

What was the most important reason for the Pugachev revolt, according to Dukes, Dixon, and Madriaga?

festering discontent from Peter I’s reign over the pace of Russian colonisation and interference from Russian officials

Why did the Pugachev revolt fail, according to Dukes?

treachery and the abrupt removal of a charismatic leader

Why did the Pugachev revolt fail, according to Sumner (7)?

• Pugachev was illiterate

• forces were poorly coordinated and undisciplines

• early victories against second-rate garrisons gave way to defeats against proper fighters

• supplies were in short supply

• rebel armies generally are near-impossible to keep together for long

• troops reluctant to fight far from home

• loyalty was conditional

What other military weaknesses did the Pugachev revolt face (3)?

• lack of clear command structure

• lack of scientifically-advanced siege-craft

• tactical inability to face regular troops in battle

What were the consequences of the Pugachev revolt (3)?

• frightened the government → savage reprisals

• Catherine became much less receptive to proposals for relieving serfdom and abolishing capital punishment

• reforms designed to strengthen local government in regions the revolt had attacked collapsed

What was a cause of the Pugachev revolt, according to Sumner?

the region of the revolt was a haven for peasants fleeing serfdom, bandits, and other fugitives

Why were the peasants resentful of the ruling elite, as a cause of the Pugachev revolt?

the 1762 edict allowing their masters to control their lives and exploit their labour

How had discontent escalated by 1772?

flared into rebellion in valley of Iaik (alt: Yaik) Cossacks

What events sparked the Pugachev revolt (5)?

• unpopular government inspector General Taubenberg and some Cossack leaders (who’d collaborated with the state) were murdered

• rebels needed a leader, preferably a Peter III whose presence would give the uprising legitimacy

• Pugachev passed himself off as Peter III

• Pugachev arrested twice for sedition (inciting rebellion)

• 1773: took command of the rebellion

What rumours surrounded Peter III which contributed to the support and uprising of the Pugachev revolt (3)?

• 1762 was created by Peter III’s enemies (“good tsar, bad boyars”)

  • a good governing Tsar chosen by God (i.e. Peter III) would protect personal and communal liberties

• he’d been removed to prevent a proclamation which would emancipate the serfs

• he was still alive and would come and save his people

How many men had Pugachev amassed for his army within 3 months?

24,000

How many factories in the Urals were destroyed by the Pugachev revolt?

23 out of 89

How many factories in the Urals were looted by the Pugachev revolt?

33

What was the death toll of the Pugachev revolt?

2716

How did the law dictate that Pugachev’s death penalty should’ve been carried out? What did Catherine personally order instead?

legs and arms cut off first before the head → Catherine ordered beheading first