Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev (e. 1742 – 21 January [O.S.

January 10] 1775) is a pretender to the Russian throne who lead a great Cossack insurrection during the reign of Catherine II.

Alexander Pushkin writes a remarkable history of the rebellion, The History of Pugachev, and he recounts some of the events in his novel The Captain's Daughter (1836).