In January 1775, an illiterate deserting Cossack was hauled through Moscow in a custom metal cage. Yemelyan Pugachev had captured cities, forged artillery, and forced Catherine the Great to divert her finest generals. This deep dive examines the anatomy of the most destructive rebellion in 18th-century Russia.

A competent soldier born around 1742 in the Don Cossack region, Pugachev deserted after illness, cycled through prison escapes, and learned the grievances of serfs, Cossacks, and Old Believers before claiming to be the murdered Tsar Peter III and issuing decrees that mobilized tens of thousands.

• How a campfire boast about Peter the Great revealed the power of royal reverence
• His capture of the Ural mining heartland to forge cannons and build a war machine
• The myth of the good tsar that made his fabricated id ...