Pugachev's Rebellion 1773-1775

[cuprum]

The largest peasant uprising in Russia against serfdom.
Read more here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pugachev%27s_Rebellion

The uprising was of a large-scale nature, the battles often looked like regular battles, the parties were distinguished by extreme cruelty towards each other.

Fragments of the feature TV movie "The Captain's Daughter" with episodes reflecting this war:

[has.been]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

[Armstrong47]

I have been interested in Pugachev and his rebellion since I read The Cossacks" by Phillip Longworthy many years ago at college.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to find anything more up to date,at least not in English.
I guess Seven Years War Russians could be used to represent the Government forces,and the various Renaissance Cossack ranges,and Russian peasants from the Perry Napoleonic range would be ok for Pugachev's forces.
I'm also interested in the career of Stenka Razin a century before Pugachev.
Appropriate figures are probably easier to find,but against n there seems to be a lack of up to date reference material.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,
Andy

[cuprum]

Paintings can be viewed here:
http://emelyan.ru/pamjat/istoricheskie-kartiny-posvjashhennye-pugachevskomu-vosstaniju


Yes, this figurines can be used.

"Uniform" of the rebels (according to the book by Zemtsov V.N., Lyapin V.A. "Ekaterinburg in uniform"):



This is what the Cossacks looked like a little later.



The Yaitsky (later - Ural) Cossacks (like all others) at that time did not have an approved uniform, but they observed a certain "Cossack" style of dress. The Cossacks at that time were prescribed certain colors in military clothing, but this was not strictly observed, although this color still prevailed.
The Ural Cossacks (the bulk of the rebellious Cossacks, although there were Don, Volga, Orenburg, Astrakhan and other regiments among them) were supposed to have light blue caftans and trousers, raspberry sashes and a raspberry top fur hats.
The Don Cossacks were prescribed blue caftans, bloomers and tops of hats. Moreover, the caftans had red collars, cuffs and lining (inside out). Crimson sashes (belt scarves) with red fringe.
The Volga Cossacks wore mostly red clothes with a blue sash.
Orenburg - like the Don, but with a black sash.
The Astrakhan Cossacks were dominated by a dark brown color, sashes were blue.
As a rule, all Cossacks had caftans trimmed with narrow yellow braid.
The officers had gold trim on their caftans and on the top of their hats. Their sashes were either embroidered with silver and gold, or were generally gold and silver. The officers' boots were made of colored leather (red or yellow). For ordinary Cossacks, boots are mostly black. Hats - from gray or black fur for all Cossacks.

The Cossacks were armed with sabers with a copper or iron frame, pikes with a red shaft, guns of arbitrary designs, often Turkish or Persian. The officers' weapons were decorated with silver and gold.



The banners were of various colors, but made according to the same pattern, they carried the image of an eight-pointed Orthodox cross.


Prosperous Russian peasant of the 18th century

The infantry consisted of peasants, as well as a considerable number of deserters from the tsarist army (these often wore elements of military uniforms). Peasants wore traditional peasant clothes. The predominant color is homespun cloth, light gray, rarely black. Wealthy peasants could have clothes made of colored cloth - blue, brown or cherry.



They were poorly armed, there were few firearms. The main weapons are spears, clubs, axes and the like.



The banners (one per regiment) were mostly made of yellow or red silk with a straight cross sewn on, less often the face of the Savior or Nicholas the Wonderworker.
There was also one “real” banner - the Delvig Dragoon Regiment (from the Holstein troops of Peter 3, for whom Pugachev pretended to be).

Pipes and drums were not used

Most Cossacks and all peasants wear beards.

Pugachev's army was divided into regiments, regiments into companies. But discipline, especially in non-Cossack units, remained rather weak.

Artillery did not have a definite organization and was the most diverse, captured in the garrisons of subordinate cities, from defeated army units, and also made specifically for the rebels at the Ural factories by the insurgent workers.

Bashkirs, Kalmyks and other militias of non-Russian nationalities have national clothes. You can use figurines for 1812 in national costumes (not in official uniform).

I will describe the weapons and uniforms of government troops later.

[Armstrong47]

WOW!! Thank you very uch for all the info Cuprum
I can't wait for your post about the government troops.
Thank you,once again.
Andy

[cuprum]

I apologize for such a long delay with the promised publication of information on the government army.
It turned out - this is a very interesting and little-studied topic. I could not even find a complete list of units involved in the suppression of the uprising. There are only scattered references in various sources. In addition to the regular army and garrison troops, it turns out that volunteer units, formed by nobles, merchants and townspeople, also acted against the rebels in a considerable number. Moreover, some units had the name and uniforms of hussars and uhlans!
Information about their uniforms is fragmentary, incomplete and completely unsystematized.
The uniform of the regular units during this period is well known, so I will not talk about it. But I’ll tell you more about the uniforms of the internal troops.

The garrison units consisted of separate battalions. In Russia there were 84 of them, and they were divided into three categories: Border, Border on the internal salary, and Internal. Each border battalion consisted of four combat companies, one disabled company and one artisan company; each internal battalion consisted of five combatant companies and one invalid. (The disabled company consisted of old or crippled soldiers who carried only guard duty).

Ordinary soldiers had a green caftan without lapels, with a collar, cuffs and red lining. The floors of the caftan were buttoned and fastened. On both sides there were 10 copper buttons arranged in pairs; a woolen epaulette was sewn on the left shoulder (color at the discretion of the battalion commander). The camisole was green with two rows of copper buttons; green trousers, black flemish canvas boots (canvas) with yellow metal buttons. Round-toed shoes served as shoes, and on the head was a triangular hat with white lace in the form of teeth and a white bow without a plume, side tassels in the color of the commander's choice. A white sling was thrown over the right shoulder for carrying a cartridge bag, and a sword belt ran along the camisole belt. Epancha (cloth cloak) of cornflower blue cloth with red lining (only 10 pieces per company were made). The soldiers were armed with a fusee with a triangular bayonet and a sword with a copper hilt, worn in a black leather sheath with a copper rim.
Company drummers have a woolen lace sewn on their uniforms in the color of the commander's choice.
Non-combatant collars and cuffs are green.
Non-commissioned officers were distinguished by a narrow gold lace on their hats and cuffs (the number of stripes on the cuffs depends on the rank).
The officers had a caftan with lowered floors, hats without lace, with a white plume, side tassels of gold with an admixture of black threads. On the belt of the chief officers was an officer's scarf made of yellow silk with an admixture of black threads. The staff officers have a scarf not of yellow threads, but of gold. The distinctions of the staff officers were also gold galloons according to ranks on the sides of the camisole. The armament consisted of an officer's sword with a lanyard, and a cane in his hands.



Staff officer, chief officer, non-commissioned officer, drummer, private, epancha.



Staff officer, chief officer, private, non-commissioned officer.
I have a mistake in this picture - the chief officer's scarf on his belt is not gold, but simply yellow.

Later I will report on the uniforms of the Light Field Teams and Salaried (Shtatnaya) teams.

[cuprum]

For those who are interested in the topic of one of the largest peasant wars, I recommend reading this book:



https://www.amazon.com/Emperor-Cossacks-John-T-Alexander/dp/0872910458

Pretty accurate and interesting story. Can serve as a good source of scripts for a gaming company.


A small addition to the appearance of the Cossacks. They fought both on the side of the rebels and on the side of government troops.



In pairs. The first figure is an officer, the second is an ordinary Cossack.
Don Cossacks, Volga Cossacks, Yaik (Ural) Cossacks, Orenburg Cossacks, Astrakhan Cossacks

[FramFramson]

Amazing research. Thanks for all your hard work Cuprum!

[cuprum]

Thank you! This topic seems very interesting to me.

A rather unusual type of garrison troops was present in the region of the uprising - TROOPS OF THE MOUNTAIN METALLURGICAL SITES.
These military units were engaged in the protection and defense of the Ural government metallurgical plants. They guarded the factories themselves, escorted convoys with ore and metals, guarded banks and cash desks, and exercised control over the order in the territories belonging to metallurgical plants.
These troops took part in the defense of metallurgical plants as well as the city of Yekaterinburg from the rebels. The management of the Ural factories was located in Yekaterinburg, and two companies of soldiers "Mountain" and "Coin" (bank security) were assigned to it.




These troops wore uniforms in the colors of the Mining Ministry. Red uniform with white trim, red camisole and trousers for privates. The officers' pants and camisole are fawn. Applied metal (buttons and other metal fittings) - yellow (bronze, gold for officers). Officers did not use army officer insignia (metal plates) on their chests. For artillerymen, the white details of the uniform were replaced with black ones.

[Emir of Askaristan]

Id no idea these troops existed. Thanks for sharing!

[cuprum]

I also didn't know about their existence before. I think the point here is that these units were not listed in the military department, but in a formally civilian one. And so they passed by the eyes of most researchers.