Pugachev's Rebellion
Pugachev's Rebellion (Peasants' War 1773-75, Cossack Rebellion) of 1773-75 was the principal revolt in a series of popular rebellions that took place in the Russian Empire after Catherine II seized power in 1762. It began as an organized insurrection of Yaik Cossacks headed by Yemelyan Pugachev, a disaffected ex-lieutenant of the Imperial Russian Army, against a background of profound peasant unrest and war with the Ottoman Empire. After initial success, Pugachev assumed leadership of an alternative government in the name of the assassinated Tsar Peter III and proclaimed an end to serfdom. This organized leadership presented a challenge to the imperial administration of Catherine II.
Peter Petrovich Dolgorukov (general, born 1777)
When war broke out with the First French Empire in 1805 he returned to Berlin to try to persuade the Prussian king to act in concert with Russia and the Austrian Empire. Before the battle of Austerlitz Napoleon sent general Anne Jean Marie René Savary to Alexander I to offer a personal meeting between Napoleon and the tsar. Alexander declined to go himself and in his place sent Dolgorukov, who was very much in favour of the war and confident the Russian troops could beat Napoleon. He was received graciously by Napoleon but responded proudly and arrogantly, rejecting all of Napoleon's proposals and presenting his own proposals brusquely. He reported back to Alexander that Napoleon was afraid of fighting the Russian army and insisted on giving battle, contrary to the opinion of Mikhail Kutuzov - Russian officers and noblemen thus later gave Dolgorukov most of the blame for the ensuing defeat. During the battle he was an infantry commander in Prince Pyotr Bagration's corps, showing great courage and repulsing the enemy attacks several times. He was sent back to Berlin on the day after the battle to induce Frederick William III of Prussia to declare war on Napoleon as soon as possible.