ARTICLE OF THE DAY:

Emelian Ivanovich Pugachev
Pugachev was a Russian peasant leader and head of the peasant rebellion of 1773 to 1774. A Don Cossack, he exploited a widespread peasant belief that Peter III had not actually been murdered. Claiming to be Peter III, he soon found himself at the head of an army and of a revolutionary movement. His army won early victories and threatened the throne of Catherine II, but Pugachev was betrayed, taken to Moscow, and beheaded.